We need to cross over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range today and Interstate 80 is the easiest route to accomplish that when you're towing a trailer. It does add nearly 30-miles to our route, but it's so much better than taking the less traveled US-50 over the mountains to the south.
Our campsite in Sacramento was at an elevation of just 69' and today's route will take us up and through the Donner Pass at an elevation of 7227'. Why is that important? It means our gas mileage is going to suck.
By the time we reached the summit we were averaging just 6.7 MPG, when we usually get around 10.5 MPG when towing on relatively flat terrain. It improved some by the time we arrived at our destination, up to 9.2 MPG, but we're still at nearly 4000'.
Tommorow we should be back to normal gas mileage because our next campsite is at a much lower elevation.
SCENES FROM ROAD
|
||||||||
At about 4000' of elevation we started noticing the snow capped mountains ahead.
|
||||||||
Then at 5000' we were driving next to them.
|
||||||||
All the while the snow melt was running downhill where we came from.
|
||||||||
Just 89-miles from the start we arrived at the Donner Summit where it was 43°F outside.
|
||||||||
At the Donner Summit Rest Area the parking lot may have been plowed clear,but behind the bathroom building there was nothing but untouched deep snow.
|
||||||||
What goes up must come down, so we began our descent from Donners Summit.
|
||||||||
At about 6000' there was a Scenic Pullout we stopped to view.
|
||||||||
It had a great view of Donner Lake from up above.
|
||||||||
We still have a long way down to go.
|
||||||||
We soon found ourselves passing into the state of Nevada.
|
||||||||
Nevada seemed to be a lot more brown than green.
|
||||||||
As we entered downtown Reno we located a Costco Gasoline Station to refill our half empty tank.We also took time to grab an inexpensive lunch inside of Costco.
|
||||||||
Once we turned south on US95 there wasn't a whole lot to see.
|
||||||||
That was until we entered the BLM's Walter Lake Recreation Area.
|
||||||||
That's where we are camping tonight before we head out again in the morning.
|
||||||||
We didn't worry about getting level for just the one night.
|
||||||||
But we did want to make sure we had a nice view out the rear dinette windows.
|
||||||||
Here you can see the beginnings of Tricia's Hawaii souvenir collection.
One of our goals when we started traveling back in 2018 was to "visit" each one of the 50 United States. Our defintion of "visit" has always been to stay 3-consecutive nights in the state.
With our return from Hawaii we have now accomplished that as shown by our magnetic Visited States Map we display on our refrigerator.
So it's time to up our game and challenge ourselves to "explore" each of our 50 United States. By "explore", we mean to spend 30-nonconsecutive nights in each state. Lucky for us, with our travel style, we have already accomplished that in 34 states and we'll soon be adding two more.
So our new "explored" states map looks something like this. Any guesses as to which two states we'll be adding before the year is done?
Another goal we had when we started traveling was to "visit" each of the 51 National Parks located in the Lower 48 States. Here when we say "visit" we mean that if there is a campground inside of the park that allows RVs that we spend at least one night, most of the time we spend a week or more. Also, we have to get our Passport Book stamped and engage in at least some kind of activity while visiting the park.
As of today we've "visited" 33 of the 51 National Parks and we'll be adding another one tomorrow! Any guesses which one that'll be?
P.S. - Tricia prepared and filed our income taxes today and we only had to pay less than $100.
How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List?
If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.
Would you like to be notified of new blog posts?
