Memory lane.....

 7:49 am - Sunday - October 15th - Tri County Fairgrounds, Bishop, CA - 43° F, humidity 64%, wind 4 mph out of the northwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 82°.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were having dinner with Don Neff, whom I've known since I was in 7th grade, at Christy Hill in Tahoe City...this was our first time eating there, and we have returned two more times since....amazing ambiance, food, and service.....↴

It was one of those stormy Lake Tahoe nights

....the view this morning.....↴

Normally TLE and I like to stop over in Gardnerville, NV for a couple of days on our way south, do some shopping at Trader Joe's, COSTCO, and have lunch at In 'N Out Burger, and we have pretty much done that without fail every time we find ourselves southbound on US-395 for many years in succession.  Nevertheless, there is always an exception to the rule, and the exception this time around is our children, and grand kids, who mostly live in and around Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside and Claremont in SoCal.  We haven't seen them, with the exception of Meredith, who joined us for our anniversary celebration in Tahoe City in August, for a year, so we decided to drive from the Honey Lake Rest Area all the way to Bishop, CA where we will spend two days, and then arrive at the Elks Lodge in Fontana, CA on Monday afternoon, thereby giving us at least 3 days to see everyone.

Our favorite part of the southern portion of US-395 is the section from Carson City, NV south to Olancha, CA.  The scenery is spectacular, and the memories for TLE and I are thick along this stretch of asphalt.  We call US-395 our 'Mother Road'.  We've traveled it from San Diego, CA all the way to its intersection with I-90 in Washington.  As I have written previously, there are 5 grades along this stretch of road that must be surmounted to reach Bishop, CA (Simme Dimeh, Devil's Gate Summit, Conway Summit, Dead Man Summit, and Sherwin Grade).  Conway is the highest point on the entire length of US-395 standing at 8,143' above sea level.  Going south out of Bridgeport the climb is about 8 miles long at 6+% grade, which means 2nd gear moving along at about 30 mph at red line on the tachometer (2,100 RPM's).  The Sherwin Grade going south is an 8 mile descent at 6+% grade, which means 2nd gear with the 'Jake' brake running around 37 mph.  The old saying about climbing and descending in a large RV is to go down the grade in the same gear you went up it.

We were up around 6 am on Saturday morning at the Honey Lake Rest Area.  I wanted to get my blog posted, and be on our way between 7 and 8 am.  We awoke to heavily overcast skies, and thought it might rain on our way south, but it did not.  We were on the road by 7:15 am heading south just as the sun began to crest the mountains to the east.  The distance to our first stop of the day (Maverick fuel station in Gardnerville, NV) would be 117 miles.  We passed through downtown Reno around 9:20 am, and were in Gardnerville, NV by 9:45 am.  On our way south of Reno we were able to witness a 90% eclipse of the sun by the moon.  I had just turned off the cabin chassis heater when the eclipse began, and suddenly it got very cold again, so I turned it on again....lol.

Diesel is running $4.85/gallon in Gardnerville/Minden.  From examining the Newell fuel gauge it appeared we had used 60 gallons since our last fill up last April 12th, but I am never sure, because it is not always very accurate above 1/2 full, so I had TLE take $400 inside, and began to top off the Newell tank (180 gallons).  For once I was pretty close....it took just 58 gallons to top off the tank, and only cost us $281.  We hope not to fill up the tank again until we return to Gardnerville in April...

US-395 southbound north of Reno

Topaz Lake just south of Gardnerville (just past Simme Dimeh Summit)

.....we were back on the road in about 30 minutes, and headed for our first summit of the day....Simme Dimeh.  The climb was uneventful, and the Newell performed well, as it always does.  Within 30 minutes we were re-entering California, and within another 20 minutes we had arrived at Walker, CA, and one of our favorite US-395 eateries....Walker Burger.  We haven't had one of their hamburgers in a few years as we have either passed through Walker on a Tuesday, when they are closed, or just before, or after they had opened for the season.  Saturday was our lucky day as they are open this year until October 30th.....

....we parked across the street, and walked over to order our burgers.  TLE rarely, if ever, orders the same thing I do, but on this day she ordered the same as I.....Walker Bacon Cheese Burger....we shared a large order of fries.

After that brief, heavenly, culinary break we were once again cruising southward on US-395 along the Walker River drainage.....if you are going southbound you are going uphill from Walker all the way to Devil's Gate Summit....about 20 miles.  From Devil's Gate it is all down hill to Bridgeport, and then you begin the long, 8 mile grind to the top of Conway Summit. We always stop at the Mono Lake Vista point just south of Conway Summit to take pictures....I mean always....rain, snow, or shine, and we continued that tradition.....

Now, Saturday, October 14th

Then, April 11th

....all that stood between us and Bishop, CA now was Dead Man Summit, and the Sherwin Grade.  The drive continued to be spectacular, and the Newell continued to purr like a kitten, whether on the flat, on a long climb, and 'jaking' down a long grade.  We arrived at Tri County Fairgrounds in Bishop around 2:30 pm, and within a few minutes had snagged one of the last available spots.  As you can tell from the 'view this morning' picture above, the RV park is quite full as this weekend is the annual 'Dual Sport' motorcycle convention, or what ever you would call it.  Anyway, the park is as full as we have ever seen it, but we managed to get a 30 amp spot (no water, or sewer) for two nights.  As soon as I finish posting this missive, TLE and I will get dressed and walk over to Eric Schat's Bakery for coffee and pastries, which is also one of our US-395 traditions.

As we drove ever southward Saturday the memories of many trips north and south along this stretch of US-395 flooded our collective consciousness.  Little has changed along this highway over the years, and that continuity is one of the things we love about this Eastern Sierra byway.

Thanks for stopping by!