Our trip to Carson City, NV and South Lake Tahoe, CA

Hat Creek Rim Overlook in CA. The mountain peaking thru the trees is Mount Shasta.
Misty wanting Rich to play "Sticky" with her. Sticky is a dowel with boot laces tied to it. Rich slings it back and forth and Misty chases it.
Rich went outside to smoke and Misty was concerned that he was leaving again. She hates to be home by herself for more than just a few hours.

This photo was taken of the devestation of the Angora Fire in South Lake Tahoe. When we lived in SLT our home was about 2 miles from the fire.
It was sunset before I got a chance to take photos of Lake Tahoe. This is a photo of the dock across from Camp Richardson.
Rich (on the right) and one of the Austrailia bikers that stayed at Motel 6 in Carson City, NV.
The Shoe Tree between Reno, NV and Susanville, CA.
Mount Lassen from the Hat Creek Rim Overlook.

Sugarloaf Peak. I took this photo while Rich was driving 65 mph.
Going thru Cave Rock on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe at Cave Rock. Rich took this photo thru side window while I was driving.
Angora Fire.
Angora Fire

Long Stretch between Mc Cloud, CA and Burney Falls Junction, CA. I was trying to get a photo of a logging truck. This photo was taken thru the windshield while Rich was driving around 65 mph.
Self-portrait while Rich was driving.
Rich driving from McCloud, CA to Susanville, CA.
One of 6 times we were held up for road construction between McCloud and Susanville. On the road sign they called it "Road Rehabilitation".
Some of the road construction equipment.

I'm really sorry that the photos jump around. I just can't seem to get the hang of downloading photos in the order I really want them.

May 27, 2007

Rich and I left our home at 5:30am for Carson City, Nv and South Lake Tahoe, CA. It was 54 degrees. We had reservations to stay at Motel 6 in Carson City from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning.

We had decided to keep a journal of our trip. Both Rich and I wrote in the journal. Rich's first entry was at 5:30am when we left............."Left for trip and I already miss my little girl (Misty)!!!!!

We stopped in Phoenix, OR for breakfast at McDonald's.

We crossed the border into California at 8:22am and it was 66 degrees.

We had to stop in Yreka, CA to get Rich some allergy medicine as he had forgot to bring his.

At 9:39am we exited off Interstate 5 onto State 89. I was glad to be off the freeway..........freeway driving is boring to me.

We stopped in McCloud, CA for a break. I always buy a CA Lotto ticket here. I also bought some postcards of Mount Shasta. It was 68 degrees.

At this point we were 119 miles to Susanville, CA 204 miles to Reno, NV 234 miles to Carson City, NV and 264 miles to Lake Tahoe, NV. It's 10:08am.

From McCloud to Susanville we had to stop for road construction 6 times. The sign on the side of the road called it "Road Rehabilition". I don't care what they called it...........it was annoying.

We finally got to Susanville at 12:55pm. We stopped and filled up the gas tank. Gas was $3.27 a gallon. We checked our gas mileage from last fill up in Winston, OR. We was getting 25.63 miles per gallon. We drive a "94" Plymouth Grand Voyager LE. It was now 90 degrees...........and I don't like it that hot!!!!!!!!!!!

We reached Reno, Nv at 2:44pm. Traffic was heavy. I always get in the lane next to the fast lane. You don't have to worry about exiting and merging traffic. Of course you have to drive about 75 - 80 mph to keep from getting your butt ran over. Oh, well!!!!!! By now it's 95 degrees. The only accident we saw was on the freeway in Reno. Thank goodness it was in the north bound lanes and we was heading south. It didn't look like anybody was hurt. It did back traffic up to a crawl for about 6 miles.

We got checked into our motel room about 4:00pm. Rich turned on the air-conditioning and ordered a pizza from Dominoes. Rich decided to go out and smoke before the pizza arrived. As he was limping out the door.............I said to him, "Old Man, you think we ought to drive just 50 miles and pull over to spend the night." His reply, "Sounds about right to me."

After eating our pizza we rested for a while. We left to go up to Lake Tahoe around 6:00 pm to visit friends. I wanted to take photos of the lake and the area of the Angora Fire. The fire was finally contained about 2 miles from where we lived in 2001. When we heard about the Angora Fire we immediately called our friend Ted. He lives about 5 miles from the fire. He told us at that time he could see the flames leaping above the trees about 200 feet or more. He said he was all packed to evacuate if necessary. He told us that he would go down off the mountain to his sister's in Carson City.

At 6:23 we reached the top of Spooner Mountain (elevation 7146 feet) and it was a pleasant 74 degrees.

We sure surprised Ted when we showed up at Harvey's Casino and Hotel Resort where he works as a Security Officer. In fact, Ted trained Rich at Harrah's Casino and Hotel Resort when we first moved to Lake Tahoe in 1989. Back then Harvey's and Harrah's were owned by separate corporations. Now both are owned by Harrah's corporations. The also own Bill's Casino too! That means they own 3 of the 6 casinos on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. We were able to visit with Ted for a while. We had brought him a pint of Blackberry Jelly and Cherry Jam that we had made this summer. I was carrying it in a brown paper bag.........I'm surprised that Security didn't stop me and check out the bag.

I put $1 in and $1 slot machine and didn't win a thing. Last of the big spenders........that's me. Rich didn't even gamble a penny while we was in the casinos.

After visiting with Ted and other people that Rich had worked with at Harrah's and Harvey's we left and went to take photos of the Angora Fire area. It was so sad to look at the results of one person and their illegal campfire.

As we came back around the lake we stopped and took a few photos of the sunset across from Camp Richardson.

We got back to the motel around 10:00pm. We called it a day and went to bed.

May 28, 2007

Rich got up around 6:30am and went to the office for coffee. He met 34 bikers from Melbournne, Austrailia. They had shipped their Harleys to San Francisco, CA on a ship. They flew over and picked up their Harleys and toured San Francisco. They had spent the night in Carson City and was traveling to Sturgis, SD for the ralley. They were so funny. They told Rich that he had a accent and it was hard for them to understand him. Some of the guys had brought there mates with them. One man told Rich that he had left his mate at home so he could have fun. One of the men was eating a huge piece of Cornbread. He was so excited about it................it seems that he had never eaten Cornbread before as they don't have it in Austrailia.

I finally crawled out of bed at 7:30am.

We went to Cactus Jack's for breakfast. It's a local's hangout. Rich had the Howdy Special..........2 hotcakes, 2 eggs, sausage patty and coffee for $2.99. I had Biscuits and Sausage Gravy and a diet soda for $3.50.

The purpose of this trip to Carson City was not pleasure. We needed to get some "treasures" out of storage. We packed our van full..........still have more left down there. We worked at this project from 9:30am to 2:00pm.

We got back to the motel and we were both exhausted. I was so tired and dirty that I took a shower right away. I prepared us sandwiches and chips as Rich took his shower. After eating we laid down and rested for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We watched The Deadliest Catch on TV until around 7:00 and went to sleep.

May 29, 2007

We got up about 6:30am. Rich went to get coffee. I can't believe he's out there barefoot running around visitng with the other guests. Rich brought me a Diet Pepsi as I can't stand coffee.

We finished packing our stuff into the van and took off at 7:50am. We stopped and filled gas tank at the Arco Station in downtown Carson City. It was $2.83 a gallon. I checked to see what kind of mileage we had got from last fill up in Susanville. We had only got 22.20 miles per gallon. That's what I get for stopping at a off brand station.

We stopped at Cactus Jack's at 8:00am for breakfast. We ordered same as yesterday. While we was waiting for our food I decided to play one of the penny slot machines that was right behind where I was sitting. It was called "Wolf Run". As you know I have a passion for wolves............so I had to play. I put in $1.............I ended up winning $11.35. I cashed out and redeemed my ticket for my money and put it in my pocket. The cook, Sally, said that she had never seen anybody win anything from that particular machine. I told her, "The Spirit of the Wolf was watching over me." Then I had to explain to her about my passion for wolves.

We left Carson City at 9:00am. It was already 74 degrees.

We hit the NV/CA border at 10:13am and it was 78 degrees.

We stopped at the Shoe Tree at 10:24am. It's a tradition for people to tie pairs of shoes, boots, etc together and throw them up in the tree. Every fall the highway department removes most of them. When the shoes get wet with rain and snow they become very heavy and it breaks the limbs on the tree. The tree has lost a couple of limbs since we first saw it in 1989.

We stopped at Honey Lake Rest Stop just about 23 miles outside of Susanville. The had completely rebuilt the restrooms. They put in more parking and picnic tables. Very nice. It's now 83 degrees.

We continued on our way home. We stopped at 12:55pm for lunch at Hat Creek Rim Overlook. We ate our lunch and then we had a lot of fun looking at the view and reading all the information plaques. They had 2 talking plaques that told a lot of the history from pioneers of the area. They also had 2 sets of large binoculars that you could look at all the sites. They were free.............no quarters required to look thru them. We could see Mount Lassen, Burney Mountain, Sugarloaf Peak, Mount Shasta and several small peaks. We could see Hat Creek Valley. You could see Highway 89 running thru the valley.

We reached Mc Cloud at 3:02pm. We stopped for a break. I checked my Lotto ticket..........only got 1 number. So I didn't win any money. We bought ice cream bars for a snack. I bought 2 iced cream bars and 2 pint bottles of water.......it was $5.67. Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!! It is now 87 degrees..............remember I'm not a happy camper when I get hot!!!!!!!!!

We crossed the CA/OR border at 4:45pm. We continued north toward home. We reached Medford around 5:00pm. We had decided not to stop and see Mike and Bobbie as we were so tired. We thought if we stopped and sit for long we would never get home.

We stopped at Rogue River and filled up gas tank. At the Chevron it was $2.99 a gallon. I checked gas mileage again. We had got 27.07 miles per gallon from Carson City. That is awesome.............especially hauling a load in the van.

We got home at 6:48pm and it was a nice cool 73 degrees with a nice cool breeze. Misty was so happy to see us. She doesn't like to be left at home by herself for long periods of time. Rich doesn't like to leave her either. Okay, I admit it.................I don't like it either.

Called Bobbie to let her know we was back home and why we didn't stop to visit. She told me that they was out to dinner at 5:00pm. Then called Dad and Mae to let them know we was back home.

May 30, 2007

We spent the day unloading the van and resting. Rich has to go back to work tomorrow. Dad and Mae stopped by for a visit. Dad had been into Canyonville to transfer title on one of his vans he bought. He now owns 3 vans and a Motorhome. That's another story!!!!

As I told my fellow scrapbookers at Scrap 101...........Rich and I doddle along the way when we are traveling. On Friday it took us 10 hours and 25 minutes to go from Myrtle Creek, OR (our home) to Carson City, NV. Driving time was 8 hours and 17 minutes. Doddling time was 2 hours and 8 minutes.

Hope that you had fun reading about our adventure. We sure had a lot of fun on our adventure.