Pioneer Yarn Company

We are in Minden, Nevada getting ready to drive north to Idaho this morning.  I am looking forward to the journey.  It will take us three days of driving to reach our destination.

I managed to motivate myself out the front door of the coach just before 7am this morning to get in a 15-minute walk in just over 60 degrees.  Walking felt invigorating and the view of the nearby mountains in the early morning sun was delightful.  I also have the satisfaction of seeing some activity on my Fitbit.  Hurray!

Yesterday I visited a yarn shop called Pioneer Yarn Company that I discovered here last year when we stayed in Minden.  It is a fabulous store and it feels wonderful to walk in its front door and see the topnotch selection.  I admire the manager.  Kim Christensen is so helpful.  Again this year she assisted me in making a perfect selection from all of her tempting offerings.

It is awesome having a baby girl to knit for.  Well, I knit for her mom too.  There is something comforting in knitting.  It is the movement of hands and the creation of something useful.  The personal connection to a garment that has every fiber passing through one's fingers makes it satisfying to create and give.  I will start on this adorable sweater with less fear of failure than usual because I have already knitted one for her.

The joy of knitting for a baby is the rapid result.  My personality likes starting new things, finishing them quickly and moving on to the next endeavor.  It is a trait that spreads across every job, home and craft I have ever tackled.  But that's ok.  I've learned to accept it.

I am a starter.  I like to get things going in my compulsive, Type-A way and then pass off the well functioning business, a renovated home or a useful creation to someone else who will carry it forward.  I look back once in awhile to confirm that what I did was right and good.  Mostly, I am rewarded with a feeling of happiness that someone else has benefited from my efforts.  For that I am grateful.

Minden NV to Loomis CA

We leave Minden (just south of Carson City) this morning at 8 am.  The day starts off sunny, clear and already warm.  Heading north toward Carson City, the mountains on our left are greeting the morning sun and Minden is just getting started on its Saturday morning.  Once we leave the town portion of Minden, the broad valley on either side of us is speckled with cattle and their calves.  Aside from the winters, this attractive town is another place on earth I could happily spend my days.

Carson City is a short drive and we zigzag through town on US-395, passing under overpasses decorated with metal sculptures telling the story of Western life in silhouettes along the railings of the overpass.  There are larger sculptures of an eagle and then a cow with her calf as we pass by the Wal-Mart where I shopped the day before.  Carson City also seems like a desirable town with its clean streets and a multitude of shopping choices from big box stores to local businesses.

We are now en route to Reno.  The last time we were in Reno we traveled below the current version of US-395 in the valley.  Now the road is situated high up on the ridge with multiple lanes in either direction along what I would nickname a “sky-bridge” crossing the undulating hills of the ridge.  Crossing over the last ridge, Reno is splayed below us across its valley with a soft brown haze hovering over its high-rise buildings.  The smoke from forest fires to the west may have drifted here during the night.  Seeing the city for the first time since 2011 when we attended the Reno Air Races that culminated in an airplane accident killing eleven people while we sat in the stands watching in horror brought back memories of that terrible moment and how mere fate of where we sat had spared us.

In Reno we switch to Interstate 80 to travel westerly to Interstate 5 (our ultimate goal for traveling north to Seattle.)  Twisting, climbing and dropping along its route through continuous waves of hills that follow the Truckee River emanating from Lake Tahoe, we see no evidence of the forest fire exploding southwest of us causing evacuations we will learn of on the evening news.  We see exits leading back to Lake Tahoe’s northern shore, the soil gains a reddish tone along the way and then we traverse the infamous Donner Pass.  It is impossible not to reflect on the ill-fated party who traveled this route so many years ahead of us.  What would they think of us traveling the pass in mere minutes in an air conditioned, 40 foot long RV pulling a car?

Down the western slope of the mountains we encounter an area previously devastated by a forest fire four years ago and even further along we see more recent evidence of the same.  Lightening causes most of these fires.  In today’s dry conditions, every storm brings with it the fear of fire.  We reach our stop in Loomis, CA for the night in a nondescript RV park literally just off the Interstate.  This is the first of three long day drives to get to Portland where we will stop for four nights to do paperwork to complete our job. 

Coleman CA to Minden NV

Today we traveled from Coleman, CA to Minden, NV to finish the last four park inspections at Lake Tahoe.  Minden is situated on US-395 and by staying in a park here, it is a nice alternative to taking the coach over the mountain range between this park and Lake Tahoe on a serpentine highway that climbs up and down large grades.

On the drive up we passed an area hard hit by forest fire and we worry about the huge fire burning in our beloved Washington.  With that as our destination over the upcoming week, we are hoping the firefighters will have luck with putting it out.  I hate to think of 400 square miles in Washington looking like this.

We also saw an interesting sight en route.  A cypress tree I believe died and whoever owns has let it stand near a barn.  From a distance, neither of us could tell what it was.  As we got closer, we understood what it was.  It is funny how your mind tries to make sense of the unknown.  We both had come up with alternatives that proved to be untrue when the mystery was solved.  I wonder if they put Christmas lights on it?

Minden has a historic downtown and twelve miles to the north is a large mall with all of the usual stores.  When we arrived after getting the coach settled in for the next four nights we drove around in historic Minden.  They have a farmer’s market on Tuesday nights next to a town square with a band stand gazebo and we saw the vendors setting up tables and preparing their displays of the usual fresh vegetables, some jewelry and yummy looking fresh bread.  We resisted because our encounter with them was before the official opening of 4 pm.

There are some quaint houses in historic Minden, one of which is called the A. F. Neidt House.  It has a plaque that dates the home’s construction back to 1909.  Originally A. F. Neidt, a cement contractor (who also poured most of the town’s concrete sidewalks during this time) built the house.  Later a woman named Annie Hickey Raycraft who rented out rooms to “unmarried lady” schoolteachers owned the home.

Many of the town’s buildings are built of brick.  There seems to be an effort to restore the interior of many of these buildings with lots of evidence of construction going on.  The surrounding neighborhood is inviting.  I could easily live in one of the homes along tree-lined streets with grassy front yards like ones I remember as a child.

We’ll stay here until Saturday morning.  Luckily there is WiFi although it is slow at times.  It feels good to be almost caught up again on telling our story.  Thanks for waiting for us to find a connection again!