Touchdown! Tues, 5/11/21

 

"Only" 260 miles to reach home.  Not as long as the past three or four days, but still a fairly long drive.  This time we have a real prize at the end:  Home.  Thus finishes a nearly seven-week journey from the west coast to the east coast to see and hug people we haven't seen in a year or more.  Everyone we visited had been vaccinated, so we felt safe being close.  On a different note:  we discovered new sights, enjoyed new activities, hiked new trails and met new friends.  Win-win-win!

I always wonder how far it is from where I am, above, to the road's vanishing point, yonder.  Yet, I don't believe I've ever remembered to check the odometer when I got to that point!  What might it be?  Ten miles, twenty miles?  Five?

Here in Nevada, Hwy 50 crosses several large desert valleys separated by those north/south mountain ranges towering over the valley floors, as above, in what is known as the Basin and Range province of the Great Basin.  What goes up does come down.  Up and down.  I felt like my ears would blow up from all the altitude changes!

Near Middlegate Station is/was the Shoe Tree.  People have pitched hundreds of pairs of shoes into its reaches ... at least till 2010 when some heartless cad chopped down the tree.  A sister Cottonwood then became the new Shoe Tree.  I'm sorry to report that this tree didn't look alive when we whizzed past.

The dry desert has its moments of color, though this section of Hwy 50 is more known for its desolation.

As well as sand dunes.

Dropping into Carson Lake Salt Flats.

Deep and wide, you wouldn't want to step onto it.

You'd probably sink into it. Yuck.

As usual, people want to be recognized.  I was here; look at me.  In this case, people are using volcanic rocks to tell the world I passed by.  Floodwaters wash them away, and more come to rebuild.

We stopped at a Pilot gas station in Fernley to fill up Tergel ($3.39/gal) one last time before entering California with their higher prices.  Jimmy was driving.  The station was crowded.  I hopped out to assist in guiding him to a pump without a line.  Just then a motor home pulled up to where I was standing.  A woman tentatively smiled, and asked, "Aren't you Nickie?"  My eyebrows scaled up to my hairline!  "Yes, but ..."  She said, "I'm Karen from Rolling in an RV blog."  She and I follow each other's blogs, but neither of us had any idea where the other was.  "How did you know it was me?" I asked?  She said she recognized me from my blog.  I clasped her hands in mine.  What a wonderful surprise!  Or just plain serendipity!  We couldn't visit long, but we exchanged phone numbers, and maybe they'll stop by Nevada City on their travels.  This still blows me away.  I love how we connect with each other.  Wow.

Our first glimpse of the spectacular Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Almost home ....

A welcome sign!

Looks like the Truckee River is rippin' downhill.

We made it home somewhere between 2-3pm, happy to get out of Tergel and stretch.  We commenced unloading; it's what we do.  Get 'er done.  I looked around, and I was aghast at our yard!  We live on half an acre.  When we left last March, it was cold and barely spring.  The trees were still bare and the flowers were asleep.  Now we have foot-high grass and weeds, and all the flowers have finished, even the beautiful Dogwood blooms were spent.  I guess this is the first time we were away during prime spring.   It's gone green!

I don't have all the stats yet, but I can tell you we drove 6500 miles R/T.  One of these days, I'll sit down and figure out costs, when I get less busy!  Both Tergel and Smartie had a couple of issues and we'll get them squared away eventually.  Otherwise, we had a terrific trip, so glad we could go.  But, truly, there's no place like home.  We're glad to be here.