Reno is quite possibly the armpit of Nevada. I state this with authority, as I lived there nearly 30 year ago and it wasn’t much then. The downtown core has suffered tough times and at least half a dozen boarded up and vacant casinos line Virginia Ave, the main drag. The neighborhood that I lived in has changed, it now nearly abuts the airport, and I would like to think that the clientele has gone downhill a bit. My old neighborhood could easily be a backdrop for Reno 911.
The ride from Reno down 395 to Bridgeport is not too exciting. But it was hot, really, really hot. Not hot enough to bust out the cool vest, but pretty darn close. Lots of sagebrush, buts of four lane freeway that suddenly end and turn back to two lanes and go through downtown Carson City. One you get past Mono Lake and the turnoff to Tioga Pass the fun begins. The east entrance to Yosemite sits at 9,500 ft, so there’s well over a mile gain in altitude. The traffic wasn’t bad on the east side, but once you get into the west side of the park it gets very, very crowded. Two lanes of one way traffic in the valley. Tour busses, Tourists hanging out the sub roof taking video. The place was on fire – literally. Really – there was a lightning strike last month that caused a small fire, and with this heat wave it really took off. The fire was burning right next to the major north south route, and you got to drive through the smoke. It took me two hours to find a vacant campground, but that did give me a chance to see one end of the park to another – twice. Their system for tracking which campsites are still open left a bit to be desired. Like Yogi Berra said (not Yogi Bear) “nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded”.
311 miles today/2,411 cumulative
Best thing today – Starting the day off with a nice warm shower and a Gin and Tonic when I finally found a campsite at 9:00pm
Challenge for the day – visiting 5 campgrounds that had no room for a tent. Even the walk-in tents only campground was full. I finally found a spot at Hogdon Meadows – just 5 minutes away from the turn-off for the last California Bonus Dam that I need for Damtour2009
2 comments:
You would know if one of those fell on your tent during a windstorm!
Happy fourth of July..thanks for sending me your blogspot...I think we had a special and unusual opportunity to be together..I am in Rome and still think about you, just about every day, and think about what happened, and how it could have been different....and think about how language and chemistry impact relationships in their formations...I wish you a GRAND journey, filled with everything you could ever wish for...All the best to you, Patricia
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