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Published: July 26th 2012
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Another historic Freeway
There seems to be more than one famous highway in the US. Today we set a record. Up at 6:30, out of the campground by 7:20, including a shower. It helps we were still on Mountain time (so it felt later) and we did a 97% setup last night.
We ate at a nice diner in Ely. The decor was modern camoflage. It was quite busy... we think much busier than they expected. After about 15 minutes, a new lady showed up to wait tables to asssit the obviously harried solo waitress that was there to start with.
We left Ely and headed out into the Nevada mountain and desert passes. Lots of passes here also, and the gasoline problem became intolerable to the point where we drove with our windows down the entire way (it was near 90 degrees).
Leaving Ely, we shared the road with a group of college students doing a 4000 mile trip to support cancer research. We passed a number of other people also bicycling Route 50, some of them solo.
Nothing eventful happened after Ely until we got to Fallon, almost to Reno in West Nevada. We decided to stop for lunch at a park where Michelle got a chance to play on
Michelle's solution to the glare
It's almost like watching a movie in a theater. the playground. There was a swimming pool with water slides and diving board next door, and we stared longingly at it for a while, but decided to not delay our drive any.
After Fallon, we passed through another state capitol (Carson City, NV) and headed up hwy 50 into the Sierras. The road was a very steep incline, and we passed many cars and trucks on the way up (some of them giving us a bewiltered stare). Lake Tahoe was beautiful, and we have added it to our list of places to come spend time at. Originally we were going to stop by Harrahs to look at the stateline pool and restaurant... but alas, there was no easy parking, and the area was quite crowded... we'll return without the trailer next time!
Hwy 50 on the west side of the Sierras is a fantastic drive. Plenty of amazing scenery, nice smooth 2 lane highway. Some neat small towns. Beats Highway 80 hands down for driving pleasure (and didn't take too much longer either.) We dropped down into the Sacramento area and made it all the way to downtown before encoutering traffic (just after 5PM. Why do we keep
doing that to ourselves?. We had planned to stop for dinner when we hit traffic and wait out rush hour... but the traffic broke very quickly, and Highway 80 West had Zero traffic on it (unexpected). We decided to push through to Petaluma without stopping (Except for Gas in Napa) and eat some dinner at Anne's mother's house.
Tonight we sleep in REAL BEDS. Tomorrow, we'll sleep in, and finish our trip with an easy 5 hour drive to Atascadero, CA!!!!
Tony's Trailering Tips: Expect decreased gas mileage when going over mountain ranges (I am talking 50% decrease).
Anne's Anecdotes: The closer you get to home, the more likely you are to say "I'll visit that another time".
Michelle's Musings: Sometimes you can have fun in the car without watching movies.
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