Spring Break 2018 second post Bend to Ely, Nevada

First evening had a nice rainbow to the north east

Highway 97 just before California

Set up at Michael's rice farm

It was a rainy day as we pulled out of Bend.  Actually it was just a little damp.   Great weather to travel.  California greeted us with lite snow but the only place the snow stuck was on the windshield of the truck.  Shasta Lake was still a little low but  it always looks low..   We drove to my cousins rice farm and parked behind the house.   We had planned on spending a couple of nights in Gridley before cross the Sierra Nevada Mts but a late spring snow storm delayed our departure.  I did not want to drive Donner Pass during a snow event.  The highway was steep and it was not worth the risk.  Our truck and trailer is quite heavy and even with tire chains it would be risk.  We waited a few days and the road crews and warmer weather cleared the highway.  This was a good decision, the road was snow and ice free and the back up of traffic from the storm had passed.   We had planned for a visit to Bobbe's cousin in Reno but due to the delay we did not stop but continued along Nevada Highway 50, "The Loneliest Highway in America".   Highway 50 took us through a lot of new country.  I was not aware how high much of Central Nevada was.  We traveled from 3,500 to 7,500 feet elevation along this route.  I tried to park in a BLM campground just off the highway but the road was snowy and muddy,  Bobbe was not happy and the rig acquired a few hundred pounds of mud.   We finally stopped in a KOA in Ely, NV.   The site was not level and was too short for our rig.  We spend an uncomfortable night and moved on the next morning early.

Weather began to clear as days passed

Heading over Donner Pass

could not believe the elevation in Nevada

family dinner before we left to head east

lots of new country in Central Nevada

Spring Break 2018, first post

This is the first Spring Break when we are retired.  Now we are freer to travel at our pace and not tied to our work schedules.   This year we were gone 16 days, drove 8 of those days and covered nearly 2500 miles.  I took nearly 300 photos and videos. 

This year we tried to get an overview of southern Utah and central Nevada.  These destinations were too far from Central Oregon to explore during our normal weekend or extended weekend trips.  Now that we have completed the overview trip we are planning future trips.  Next fall we plan to take our canoe and travel down the Green River from Green River, Ut. to Mineral Bottom near the north boundary of Canyon lands NP.  This is the first of several posts to document our trip. 

Rig loaded and wheels ready to roll

Rain as we left Central Oregon and
snow as we entered California