TVC Interlude.....

 As I sit down to compose today's entry regarding yesterday's happenings the temperature here just south of Carson City, NV is 23 degrees.....the skies are clear, and there is a puddle of frozen water just across the aisle from our coach.....not the coldest we have been in with the Newell, but it was certainly cold enough for long enough last night to freeze water.  

When I left off yesterday's post it was snowing, but by 0930 it had stopped, the sun came out, and we decided go ahead and make our scheduled run up to South Lake Tahoe to visit friends at TVC.  We left around 1120 to make the drive up and over Spooner Summit (7,200') and over to TVC.  The drive was uneventful, full of sunshine, but very cold.....in fact it was only a couple of degrees colder in South Lake Tahoe than at our RV park.....

.....TLE snapped this picture as we entered TVC around 1215......looks much different than it did just 9 weeks ago.  We exchanged greetings and hugs with our friends, then headed off to lunch with our good friend Merlin to catch up on the last 2 months.....

Merlin is on the left in this picture

.....a lot has happened, and the purpose of our short 2 hour visit was to get a feel for what is going to happen next summer based on the changes that have been made since our departure.  I'm glad we had lunch with Merlin, because we feel much more optimistic about next summer now.  We had lunch at Bert's (they are open until 1400 for breakfast and lunch.....breakfast is served all day).  Once again I had their Huevos Ranchero.....one of the best of its kind I have ever had.....TLE had the Rueben which she just adored.  We're also discussing a couple of other possibilities with Merlin for next fall after TVC, which are very exciting to us.

On our way back across SLT to Stateline I parked the car on a side street next to Campground by the Lake so I could walk across the street and take the following pictures......

 .....to illustrate how much lower the water level is just since we left a little over two months ago......it was, frankly, shocking.  I have never seen the lake this low in all the years I have been visiting since 1953.  On a positive note this early, relatively heavy snowfall is a good sign of things to come this winter......we need massive amounts of snow the next few years to begin to blunt the effect of the current drought, and chronic mismanagement of our water resources by the state.

TLE was impressed by how much snow was on the trees as we approached Spooner Summit for our return trip to Carson City.......

.....and the view of the Carson Valley in the distance.........

We were home by 1530, and by 1700 were seeing the first vestiges of Wednesday's sunset.....

We have one more day in the lovely Carson Valley before we continue south in our quest for warmer climes.......thanks for stopping by!