We woke early to overcast skies and calm conditions. After a quick breakfast hit the road. Our destination was Fallon, Nevada, but if conditions were favorable we would go all the way to Carson City.
Once again, the drive was along a well maintained highway with panoramic views of snowcapped mountains. The heavy weather had smothered the Sierras with snow and the view was spectacular.
On our way through the small town of Hawthorne, Nevada we fueled the coach — it would be the only place to buy clean diesel for a while and we were down to half a tank.
Just outside of Hawthorne, a pickup towing a trailer was poking along the highway at 45 miles per hour with a long string of vehicles piled up behind. The road is lightly traveled and passing is usually not a problem, but at this time the terrain was somewhat hilly and passing could be tricky. Eventually we got past him. Jeanne reported the guy driving was older than dirt and leaning into the steering wheel to get a better view of the road. It reminded us of a Florida experience.
When we moved to Florida, I got there first and Jeanne followed a few months later. When we went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get Jeanne her Florida driver license, we got into a conversation with a guy that was 96. Amazingly, he just received a five year license, which was probably a ‘lifetime’ license in his case. He said his home state, Ohio, had declined to issue him a license. Knowing we were sharing the highway with this guy was not reassuring.
Crossing over a 6,000 foot pass and dropping into Fallon, the winds started to howl. Dust, tumbleweeds and Walmart bags started blowing across the highway. A light rain turned the dust on the windshield to mud. It was only noon and we didn’t want to camp in a wind-tunnel, so we kept going. As we approached Carson City, the winds abated somewhat. We fueled the coach again before arriving at the RV park.
We’re camped at the south end of town near the intersection of Highways 95 and 50. You can clearly see snow on the east slope of the Sierras. Setting up was a challenge since our spot is not quite level, but after a few tries we finally got it right.
We were tired and didn’t want to cook. For the first time in a long time we had a burger at In-N-Out, which was a real treat. The rest of the evening was quietly spent watching Death Wish II on TV.