When you are camped in the mountains, with a high ridge to the east, the sun takes a long time to come up. So I can say I was up and outside before the sun was up, even though the sky was brightening considerably.
It’s quiet here. There are a couple other campers and a tent trailer. When was the last time you saw an actual tent trailer? Well here was one in use. I should have taken a picture.
The guys in the trailers looked like they were here for the duration. Lots of stuff scattered about the campsite, a couple of ATVs parked nearby, and a large bag hanging from a tree. I would guess they were hunters, taking the ATVs farther up the road and doing their thing, and one of their trophies was currently in the bag hanging from the tree. They came roaring by long after dark last night and again at 6:30 this morning on the ATVs, breaking the near absolute silence.
Since we got here in the pitch dark, I launched the drone to take a look around. If others can run around on ATVs at 6:30, I can certainly fly a drone at 7:00.
The dirt road continued to wind its way up the ridge, disappearing into the distance. The whole area is just hills and sage brush as far as the drone can see. Not much civilization here, other than us crazies that drive rough dirt roads in the dark to get to a camp site.
We continued south on US-395 for a couple hours, arriving in Reno, Nevada, late morning. We stopped at a tiny trailhead for the Tom Cooke Trail, a 3.7-mile loop trail that started along the Truckee River and climbed up into some of the dry hills on the edge of town. Downtown Reno could be seen from a distance. Nice, fairly easy trail. A bit rocky at times. It felt good to walk in the sunshine. The distances between stops can be quite large in this area of the country, so getting out and taking a hike helps to break that up.
Reno seems to be a lot like Bend, Oregon. Outdoor haven, lots of growth, busy. We saw several people on this trail that looked the outdoorsy part. Brand name clothing, tanned, driving Range Rovers and Subarus, very serious about their hiking or mountain biking. Yeah, I’m probably stereotyping here so I’ll move on.
We walked in nearby Mayfield Park for a bit along the Truckee River. Great spot for a picnic or to bike along the adjacent bike trail. This town appears to be quite bike-friendly.
We stopped in Carson City to pick up a few supplies and to fuel up. Diesel was $4.95 here, which sounds like quite a bargain from the nearly $5.50 average I have been paying. Once we drive into California, the price jumps by at least a dollar and a half, so better to cross the border with the tank full.
A few hours farther down US-395 we turned off on Buckeye Road, with the intent to see Buckeye Hot Springs. It took a long time to drive the five miles as the road is a one-lane dirt road, with rocks and a washboard surface, just to make things interesting. We got to the tiny parking area just as the sun was setting and decided to disperse camp in this area, as there were several sites about a half mile further up the road. We’ll check out the hot springs in the morning.
This is a pretty popular place. The parking lot was nearly full and most of the dispersed camp sites are occupied. We did find one, even a semi-level one, and claimed it for the night.
Dinner on the road is always a bit of a challenge and you have to be a bit creative when you lack a full kitchen with a large refrigerator and an oven. We decided to try loaded baked potatoes and had the choice of using either the microwave or the instant pot to bake the potatoes. Our microwave is rather anemic so that would take a while and a lot of battery power, so we thought we would experiment with the instant pot. Two things we found out: First, it is possible to bake a potato in the instant pot, and Second, it takes a lot less battery power than I expected. It’s a lot more efficient than the microwave. So we will be probably doing more meals in the instant pot.
The potatoes were delicious.
We’ve been without cell phone service for the last two nights. It doesn’t help that we drive dirt roads way back into the hills to camp. It does remind me how much we rely on the Internet. In addition to not being able to post these journals online for the last couple days, we are unable to look up how to bake a potato in the instant pot, Google Maps doesn’t work, we can’t check our email, and pictures of our grandson don’t come in. Even the Bible study materials I am working on ask you to look up some things on the Internet. It’s just assumed. While we were driving on US-395, we had good signal, so Deb was able to look up whatever she wanted, but here in this camp, nothing.
But all is not lost. Deb is currently on the bed, surrounded with the road atlas, several brochures that she obtained from the various ranger stations and visitor centers, and some guidebooks purchased online and printed into 3-ring binders. The paper library is alive and well. And we are busy planning the next few days with it. Stay tuned for where we will show up next...
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