Nevada!!

 

Nevada Day parade.



The Truckee river in downtown Reno.





After driving down from Tioga pass, the trip into Carson City was an easy drive, because the roads are mostly flat and straight!  We pulled into our campground and found that our new neighbors were traveling with 3 kids just like us!  Our kids were so happy to have kids to play with and I think the feeling was the same with their kids.  They didn't take long to become friends.  We even introduced (accidentally) the new neighbor kids to video games.  Their parents had kept them clear of them to keep them focused on other things in life and we changed all that in just 1 day with the Wii!  Carson City was a nice little town with all the creature comforts of a big city without all the traffic.  Norman had to ride in Reno which was about 30 minutes north of our campground, so our location worked out great.  I took the opportunity to have the tires rotated on the truck and gave both the truck and trailer a bath!  Karen and Norman's show was a hit as usual.  We got a call from some friends of ours from Georgia, Kathy and Ron, who were visiting Carson City also, They had just happened to catch Norman on the news and called us up in amazement at the coincidence that we were both here in Carson City at the same time.  We setup lunch plans the following day and had fun sharing our adventures with them and hearing about the old neighborhood. It was nice seeing a familiar face out on the road like that. 

From Carson City we visited a neat little town called Virginia City.  It was an old gold mining town turned tourist stop.  We took the gold mine tour.  The kids really enjoyed it.  They even asked if they could ride in a mining car.  Maybe next mine will have them! 

Lake Tahoe was also a short 30 minute drive from home base, so we took a day to do the 70 or so mile trip around the lake.  We were blessed with perfect weather for viewing the lake and all its surrounding beauty!  We even booked an extra day at the campground to see the "Nevada Day" parade which runs down the heart of Carson City. This was the 1st town on our journey, that I told Karen I could see myself moving to.  She on the other was not totally sold on it due to the cold weather! Oh well Carson City/Reno/Tahoe was a great stop on our journey!  Next stop Bonneville Salt Flats and Salt Lake City!



Virginia City.



Yosemite!!!!!!



They called this Redwood the Grizzly Giant and some of the limbs at the top were over 7 feet around!





Bridal Veil Falls





Big trees drop big cones!





This flock of turkeys walked right through our campsite!





As you can tell by Kaylee's expression school work is not the kids favorite thing to do.





The fall colors in full swing!



Look closely and you will see smoke coming from the brakes!



Leaving Monterey, we headed east in hopes of sunshine.  Once we crossed over the the mountains into the valley we were rewarded with a beautiful sunny drive! We are rolling up highway 5, smooth sailing and I see a sign that says " Yosemite next exit." I tell Karen and we decided to reroute from our original directions.  Sometimes the directions we get from our Gps are not the best!  Sooooo as we get closer to Yosemite I see a sign warning of large trucks with long trailers not advised, but we were a good hour into this route so we carried on.  Well I found out why it was illadvised to take this route when I came to a sign that said "Steep grade ahead, please turn off air conditioners".  For the next 6 miles we went up with more curves and switchbacks and a speed limit in places of 15 miles per hour!  Needless to say it was all we could do to get up the mountain without destroying the transmission.  We had to pull over once to let everything cool down, but we eventually made it.  When we pulled into the campground, I let the camp host know how bad of a pull it was and she says "You pulled that 5th wheel up highway 49?  Oh well, live and learn! We spent the next few days exploring Yosemite National Park under some absolutely perfect weather!  One of our favorite spots was Mariposa Groves!  It is home to some of the biggest Redwood trees on the west coast.  We spent the day hiking through the Redwoods and enjoying the nice weather. From Yosemite we planned on going to the Reno/Carson city area which meant we had to go over the Sierra Nevada mountain range!  I was a little shell shocked from our earlier journey up highway 49, so I asked every local person I could find about how the trip was and would it be out of the question in our 5th wheel.  After a lot of research we headed up the Tioga Pass to cross over the mountain range!  The truck performed great and the drive was magnificent!  There was even a a nice place to stop on top of the mountains for lunch!  We stopped for lunch and let the kids burn off some energy and play in the snow!  The top of the pass was just under 10,000 feet highm so it was tundra like with little vegetation and small trees not to mention cold and windy! After lunch, we headed down the other side which was a little dicey with some 8% grades which are pretty steep considering we have 16,000 lbs pushing the truck down the hill!..... I stopped several times to let the traffic go around or snap a few pics.  At one of my stops I smelled the brakes and upon further inspection I found the trailer brakes smoking.  Needless  to say we let the brakes cool down and finished our descent, then made our way into Carson City!



Tioga Pass!





Look at this ridge of clouds being held back by the mountain range!



Monterey, California.



Tight squeeze for fuel!



 



Ferrari Spyder in downtown Carmel.





Well we headed south from Crescent City and found an economical campground  about 350 miles south called Walmart!  We actually parked closer to the Home Depot for a little quieter nights sleep. Up and at it the next morning I went into Home Depot for a piece of Plexiglas for the front door.  Norman decided to make his own doggy door with the screen portion of the front door.  This was made apparent to us the day before we left Crescent city, as I found Norman roaming the campground while returning from the laundrymat with a full load of clean laundry in my arms!  I called to Norman, but he was too interested in another dog to come to me.  I walked to the camper thinking Karen was training Norman...Come to find out Norman had taken it upon himself to push the screen out of the door and check out the campground for himself.  The look on Karen's face was priceless when she came out of the camper.  She heard me trying to get Norman to come back!  Hence the need for Plexiglass! 

Back on the road again this time only 150 more miles to go!  We thought we had a reasonably priced campground lined up, but it fell through as the office staff couldn't be reached by phone or even when we drove up.  Off to the next campground 8 miles up the road!  We checked in with a charge of  $62 a night, but we were 300 yards from the beach.  We made our way to the site and...... someone was in it!  Back to the office only to find out the people in our site should be gone by now, so we wait an hour for them to leave.  Finally  500 miles and a day and a half later we setup the camper and relax for the rest of the day!  All this driving and searching for a campground just wears me out and makes me grouchy!  The next morning, I woke up and I told Karen to take the kids to the aquarium without me so I could unwind from the day before!  Karen took the kids to the Monterey Aquarium and Norman and I hung out around the house for some much needed R&R.   We spent the next few days visiting Carmel, The Big Sur and the surrounding beaches looking for that elusive sunshine!

Next stop, Yosemite NP and hopefully some sunshine!

Where is the Sun????

 

Three weeks and we have only seen the sun for a total of maybe 4 days! The temperatures have hovered around 55 degrees during the day with lows at night in the 40s.  The entire inside of the trailer is getting moist and even the widows are wet on the inside! Its official, we have cabin/trailer fever!  We headed south from the Portland area for a 3 day stay in Florence, Oregon and then on to Crescent City, California.  Karen had a show to do in Eugene,Oregon, which is about 1-1/2 hours east of Florence.  This meant Karen was up at 3:30am getting ready for work!  It brings back memories of me getting up at 5:45am while everyone else is sleeping and making my way into work. My how things have changed. The drive down the coast was a nice trip.  We had opportunities to stop and stretch our legs at some beautiful beach front rest areas!  We even popped open the slides and made lunch while watching the waves crash ashore!  The kids and I hiked down to the shoreline to look for sea lions and other marine life while Karen snapped pictures of Norm.  This gave Bryson time to completely destroy his clothes and shoes, but hey he's a 6 years old boy! The only downer is the absence of sunshine!  It really does seem to drain the life out of you!  Karen and I need at least 3-4 days of sunshine or we begin to get a little edgy. Once in Crescent City, we visited the Redwood forest and that was absolutely amazing. The picture of the kids and Karen standing in the left over stump should put it into perspective of how massive these beautiful trees are.  The sun managed to show its face the day before we left so we took the kids to the beach and let them dip their toes in the frigid water!  We, on the other hand brought the chairs and just sat there recharging our batteries with nice warm sun.  The Northwest coast is a beautiful place to see, but timing is everything!  When the sun is shining there is no other place you want to be, but when the fog and mist roll in its time to head south!