From Diamond Lake, OR to Reno, NV: Saturday, May 29th

Traveling on Saturday, Monday, Thursday and again, Saturday, made for a speedy week but we were beginning to feel rather ‘driven out’; glad that we’ll be stopping in one place for a while, big travel day for Caitlin and I tomorrow but after that, hopefully everyone will get a little rest. From Reno to Reno, via just a few places, took us over 1,000 miles north and back south again.

As we drove out of Diamond Lake RV Resort, we stopped to take another photo of the Lake with beautiful Mount Bailey in the background. (Mt. Bailey has remained rounded on the top as it erupted right before the ice age and glaciation hit. It continues to be eroded year after year.) It was 8:30am and the lake was covered with boats, at least 100 of them! These fishermen certainly get an early start and this was obviously the place to be. Our campsite neighbor had caught four trout just going out for a couple of hours the evening before.

We took a tiny ¼ mile detour to the Mount Thielson viewpoint. It was a glorious, clear, blue-sky morning, sad to be leaving on such a gorgeous day. Mt. Theilson rises jaggedly up on the horizon with a very sharp point at its peak, still covered in snow. The peak also inadvertently serves as a lightning rod; it gets hit quite often and has even melted some of its rock in the past.

Dave was trying to be careful about watching his gas meter, while these roads are so beautiful to drive along and admire the untouched scenery; there are not so very many places to buy gas. He recalled one place we had stopped at, on the way up to Portland, so we stopped there again. The owner was chatting to us, another customer came in and moved the conversation to ‘Top Gear’, an English show, becoming very popular over here, also with a big following in the UK. As we were leaving, Dave heard the owner telling him, yep, they stopped here on their way out too, good people – isn’t that lovely, we’re good people!

A little further on, we drove back through Merrill, they had the Stars and Stripes flying from every telegraph pole and fence post along their main street. It was very effective. This is Memorial weekend and Americans have a great respect for the current armed forces and their veterans. It gave us pause for a few minutes to once again reflect on the wars fought and the lives lost. Some of the other small communities we passed through also had their main streets filled with flying flags; a great reminder.

Due to our ‘in the middle of nowhere’ route, we pulled off for lunch, overlooking the river. There was a tiny sign (on an old piece of railroad track), stating that this was part of the Californian Trail and was marked as a place where one explorer in the 1800s had lost his shoe and had to make one from plants! So funny, we couldn’t even see the sign from the road, the paths less traveled indeed….

There were farmlands dotted along our drive, many cows and calves. At one point we saw three ranchers on horseback herding their cattle, so neat. This was such a beautiful drive, the GPS didn’t like it though, kept trying to send us to the freeway, glad we disobeyed, despite sending ‘the voice’ into quite a tizzy!

We arrived back at Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, in time for dinner. The campground was packed so our spot was along the back fence next to the road, not nearly as nice a location as our previous week here. Danielle came over in the evening with our passports so we are ready to go!