Conway, Bridgeport, Walker, Coleville, Topaz, Gardnerville, Minden.....

We awoke to a mostly sunny day Friday, and were rolling our wheels by 9:30 am headed north on US HWY 395 towards our first summit of the day.....Conway Summit, elevation 8,143' above the level of the sea.....the highest point on all of US HWY 395.  In all there would be three passes for us to conquer....Conway (8,143'), Devil's Gateway (7,519') and Simee Dimeh (5,987').  Last year as we passed the Conway Summit sign snow was piled up around the sign........

May 8, 2015

.....this time last year there had hardly been any snowfall in the Eastern Sierras, but as luck would have it a lot of snow fell in early May......this year the snowfall has been significant all winter, but there was no snow on the ground as we passed by the summit sign once again (I forgot to have TLE take a picture, but you can use your imagination).

From Conway summit it was an 18 mile slide down to Bridgeport, and then we were on our way up to the second summit of the day (Devi's Gate).  The scenery was just idyllic all day long.  

As we skirted along the banks of the Walker River towards Walker, CA we decided to take a rest stop next to the river......

I tried to convince TLE it wasn't cold outside, but I was unsuccessful

....it has been a long time since we took a rest stop along the Walker River.

Just past Walker a few miles we pass through Coleville, then Topaz, and finally Topaz Lake where we cross into Nevada......our first state line in 3 months.....then the long climb to our final summit for Friday.....Simee Dimeh.  From that summit it is a long, leisurely downhill run into Gardnerville, then Minden, then Carson City where we called a halt to our day's travels after covering just 99.9 miles.

Lee Vining to Bridgeport

  Bridgeport to Topaz

Topaz to Silver City RV Resort

Since this weekend is the beginning of the fishing season in the Eastern Sierras we did something we do not normally do...we made reservations at Silver City RV Resort, and it is a good thing we did......we usually stay here on our way south in November and it is usually pretty empty, but when we arrived at their doorstep Friday morning about 11:15 the park was quite full....our reservation had secured one of the last 70' sites!

Once we were in our site we headed out in the VW to have lunch at the local In 'N Out Burger........

Now I ask you....is that a look of contentment, or what?

.....next up was a drive over to one of our favorite Goodwill Thrift stores....I was hunting for a couple more flannel long sleeve shirts, and maybe another pair of cargo shorts.....most of current pairs of cargo shorts I wear on a regular basis have been purchased at this store.  As it turned out I found one flannel shirt, one L.L. Bean wool long sleeved shirt and another nice pair of cargo shorts.....total for the day...$18....TLE looked up the L.L. Bean shirt on their site and it was listed at over $100....I paid $6.49....virtually brand new!

On our way back to Silver City we made one last stop at Trader Joe's to top off our vino supply....we won't be back down in Carson City until late May.....we love their Blue Fin Pinot Noir ($4.99/bottle) and their Coastal Zinfandel ($3.99/bottle).....it's pretty easy to be wino at those prices.....lol!

Early evening the forecast rain arrived, and it rained for a few hours before abating.....it appears that simultaneously it was snowing in South Lake Tahoe, so we will have to see what Saturday brings.....we are pretty sure we will be able to get over our final summit of this trip....Spooner (7,146') and slip into the Tahoe Basin by noon time....we'll see.

Just 31.3 miles more to South Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Valley Campground where we will drop anchor for the summer months at a cool, and pleasant 6,300' elevation.....every time we drop into the Tahoe Basin over Spooner Summit we feel as if we have 'come home', and we have come to love the South Lake Tahoe vibe.

Thanks for stopping by!