In my post yesterday I forgot to mention we decided we would walk each campground we stayed in and during our walk we would count how many jeeps (any kind of jeep) we saw. I know, a little crazy but fun. Yesterday we counted 8 and tonight we counted 12 including ours. We saw a lime green one and a bright royal blue. Not sure they are original jeep colors but they looked awesome.
This trip started out as just a jaunt to Mt. Rushmore but as we got into the planning aspect, we found so much we wanted to see, especially on the way back. Soooo, this trip will almost be a month long. We have never done anything like this and look forward to the experience.
This morning before we left Barry spoke to a neighbor. He and his wife travel 6 months out of the year, stay at their RV resort in Naples, Florida (they own the pad they park at) 3 months of the year, then return home for 3 months. And I thought we were nuts being gone for a month. On our way out we spoke to another South Tahoe evacuee. They have been traveling off and on and have been across the states since the pandemic but recently at home. They are now considering going to Main where they have family, to get away from the California fires. As of today their home in South Lake Tahoe is OK.
As we left Verdi this morning, I took a photo of the Truckee River and a rail bridge next to the RV park. The photo below has a truck on the rail tracks. It looks so bizarre. As we got on the freeway, we could see the smoke starting to come in again from the fires. It's just awful to see. You can actually watch it move from high in the sky to ground level as the morning progresses.
Our next destination, Winnemucca. Going through Reno and Sparks we saw a lot of new homes and businesses being built. The overpasses had huge signs with the name of the streets. I have no idea why I found this fascinating.
There is not much to see during the drive from Verdi to Winnemucca on I-80 but once in a while there is some cool looking mountains. I took a few photos, but you can see the smoke, so it makes the photos look hazy. So far, the roads in Nevada have been great, not like California’s horrible roads. At one point we were talking about the great road conditions when we hit an area where the freeway was being repaved. The orange cones used to block off the right lane were GINORMOUS! It was scary driving along side them. As I watched in the rear-view mirror, I swear we missed some by a few inches. The semi-trucks barely missed them too. I posted the video below I took and neither of us said a word until the end of the cones. That was the most exciting part of the drive!
We made it safely to Winnemucca. What a great RV park, New Frontier RV Park. It also has what looks like single wide mobile homes. They are rented out to seasonal workers, people in the mining business and others. The check-in attendant said they are all rented through next year. What a great idea and the price is very reasonable.
We walked to a restaurant close to the park and had a great meal. They had a table set with tequila shots for the last 13 soldiers killed in Afghanistan during the withdraw. What a great tribute. I think what I was most impressed with was the flower spray was real and not fake. It was from a local florists. Very humbling.
I ordered a margarita, and it was HUGE. Best part...it was only $8! At home it would have been $12 or $15. When we got back, we walked the park, and I was able to get my 8,000 steps in. Great day and it was nice to see Barry relax. He is still getting use to driving the RV and is stressed when we are on the road.
Tomorrow onto Salt Lake City. It will be a long day of driving, 5+ hours. This is one of our longest days on the road. Goodnight and thanks for reading!
