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.