We're Home!

Another beautiful sunny day! We went to the Sparks United Methodist Church with Judi and Brad and took off from there. Its a long day - 150 miles to Winnemucca on I-80, then another 250 miles on Rt 95 to Boise. As long and deserted as it is, its still a pretty ride!

We logged about 2600 miles and got 43 mpg. The WV ran flawlessly as always!

It was great trip but we're glad to be home! It's fun to see how the garden grew while were gone. And Max was glad to see us .....I guess.

Now, back to the grind!

"Coke"

Sparks UMC

Reno and Carson City with Judi and Brad Stone

We headed out after a nice breakfast, first to visit the Nevada State Railroad Museum down in Carson City. Its small but they have some nice rolling stock on display. A couple of working steam locomotives that were used by the Virginia and Truckee Railroad in the mining and timber industries in late 1800's. Another locomotive named Glenbrook had just had its renovation completed and they were preparing for a "reveal" later this month.

The coolest piece on their collection is the McKeen Motor Car No.22, supposedly the last remaining example of 155 cars built in the early 1900s. Its been designated a National Historic Landmark. The folks here at the museum have completely restored it - its beautiful! Also unusual - it was originally powered by a 100 hp 6 cylinder gas engine!  (this one has been re-fitted with a Cat diesel) Very inefficient and underpowered. The design features, with sharp-nosed prow and round windows, are said to reflect Mr. McKeen's love for ships. (read about it here: McKeen #22 )

After the museum, we headed up the mountain to Virginia City (elev.6200). At one time, in the mid 1800's, the population was over 20,000, making it the largest city in the state. This was the home of the famous "Clondike" gold strike. It was also where Sam Clemens spent two years as a reporter for the newspaper, reportedly this was the first place he penned the name "Mark Twain". You can read all his experiences in "Roughing It".

This is no ghost town! Its now thrives on tourism. Lots of saloons, restaurants, curio shops all down Street "C", the main drag. We had lunch at the Red Dog. We also toured the fully restored Fourth Ward School, St. Mary's Catholic Church (both had really interesting museums) and the Episcopal church.

To return to Reno, we went down the Geiger Grade, a steep and twisty road with spectacular views.

Once back in town, we stopped at the Jimmy Beans Wool warehouse, one of the largest yarn wholesalers in the country. The knitters amongst us were impressed!

Papa Murphy's pizza for supper - an interesting combo pie that was Brad's favorite (no tomato?)

So tomorrow we head for home. The trip is about over. Its been great but we're ready!

Stone's House in Reno

McKeen Car

St. Mary's Catholic

Episcopal

Beautiful Lake Tahoe and on to Reno

Another beautiful, sunny day as we continue on uphill to over 7000 feet to the south end of Lake Tahoe. We're a bit early in the season so many things weren't open yet. And, in any normal year, there would still be snow on the ground. Not this year. We were told that the level of the lake is the lowest in 70 years. We heard on the TV news that the snowpack was 3% of average - that's THREE percent; and that the May 1st snowpack measurement was cancelled since there was NO snow on the ground.

Nevertheless, Tahoe is beautiful! We drove up the west side which is less developed. Occasional stops for pine cone collecting and just to admire the view. The villages of Tahoe City and Carnelia Bay had lots to offer. We continued on down the east side about halfway where we picked up our friend Route 50 which took us down the mountain into Carson City.

Carson City is the state capital. There are, of course, some casinos. We walked around the grounds of the state offices with beautiful big trees, walkways and flowers.

From Carson City, we headed north up Rt 395 to north Reno and arrived at our friends house by about 5:00PM. It was good to see Judi and Brad and enjoy a wonderful grilled chicken dinner.

More Wine and on to Sacramento

We started our day by continuing to explore the Napa/Sonoma/St. Helena area, looking for more wineries. Its not just the wine tasting, its these fabulous estates! They must have to sell an awful lot of wine just to pay for the real estate! We visited Domaine Carneros, Napa Wine Co., Opus One and Robert Mondavi. (Of course, we bought a bottle or two just to be nice). Except for Napa Wine Co, which was really a processing plant for lots of other wineries, the other three were "over the top"!

Heading east on Rt 128 you go up into the "hill country" and quickly leave the vineyards behind. We pass by the lower end of Lake Berryessa, a good size reservoir which, although down considerably, seems to be holding its own.

Then down into the Sacramento Valley and once again amongst all sort of unidentifiable crops and nut trees (we think mostly almonds and walnuts, with an occasional field of garlic). Stop at a roadside stand for fresh strawberries.

Then through Davis, home of UC Davis, and into Sacramento, state capital. Right near the capital building we find a spectacular rose garden next to a very moving Vietnam War memorial.

From Sacramento we head east up Route 50 (the same Rt 50, although this time its not so lonely!) up toward  Lake Tahoe. We came across a brand new town called El Dorado Hills (near Folsom) which features a mega shopping mall complex which make our Villages at Meridian look very plebian!

Stopped for the night at a Best Western in Placerville, halfway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. Excellent Mexican dinner right next door.

Note: we have noticed all through California that the price of diesel is very variable, but almost always significantly LESS than the price of regular gas. Go figure!

Domaine Carneros

Opus One

Robert Mondavi

Lake Berryessa

Garlic

Note gas prices

Sacramento

Vietnam Memorial

CA state house

Rt 50, not so lonesome 

El Dorado Hills