Made it to Reno

May 25 – We arrived outside of Grass Valley at a beautiful campsite; it’s on Rollin’s Lake. We have a “lake view” site; it’s a nice view with all the tall pines. Since we got here about 2 we decided to clean the MH, inside and out. The gals cleaned the inside and I washed the outside. I also washed Maggie’s car. They looked so nice. Today we went exploring the gold country. We started by going to a mining museum at the Empire mine in Grass Valley. Their shafts went 11,000 ft down (in length) and were a mile below the surface.

After that we went to the see a couple of covered bridges in the area (there are only 9 left in the state of California). One was preserved and the other not. I remember the rustic one from when I was a kid. I used to fish and swim there in the summers my grandfather worked in the mines. Anyway we went to the actual town where we lived and it is so small. How small you say? It is so small the only business in town is a bar. Oh, and they have a post office too. How’s that for small. We decided to check out the locals so we went in. It was 3:00 in the afternoon and there were 3 people besides the bar owner. The gal that owned the place was familiar with my family that used to live there. She knows several of my cousins that go back and visit from time to time.

While we were there it started to rain. Remember I told you I washed the car and MH yesterday; ARGH! The bartender told us a major storm was coming and we would probably wake up to several inches of snow in the morning. I told her we were planning on driving to Reno and she said “Oh, do you have chains for your motorhome?” She told me the I-80 pass would likely be closed the next several days since they were expecting at least 6 inches on the summit. So, we’ll see what happens tomorrow I guess.

WE’RE TIRED OF WINTER! Where is the warm weather? We’re beginning to think we won’t see summer until we get back from Alaska, sometime late July.

Next Day: It’s still raining where we are and the road over the mountain pass was closed until noon. Val was not feeling well again so we decided to go to Beale AFB and see a doctor. I’ve learned a lot about the USAF healthcare system today. Beale doesn’t have an emergency room so they couldn’t see her. We had to go through a lengthy process of calling everybody and their brother from San Antonio to Calif; we ended up at an emergency room in a hospital in Marysville, Calif. Her infection she had a few weeks ago is apparently back. They gave her some more medication and hopefully she’ll be better again.
Once we finished with the doctor we left for Reno. The roads were wet but not snow covered. Lots of snow on the ground though. Got to Reno about 8:30 and are visiting our friends.