Making Our Way Across I-80

Leaving Lake Tahoe, we chose the west shore highway, CA-89, which winds its way along the shore, up to Truckee, and Donner Pass.

Here are a few pictures of that drive

We had a specific reason for choosing the west shore drive, even though it is much slower. We needed to make a quick stop at Donner Pass. Our friend, Tom Harvey, who died on Halloween last year, had requested his ashes be spread at Donner Pass. So Bill and I found a nice pine tree overlooking Donner Pond and fulfilled Tom’s request.

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After leaving Donner, we headed to Reno for a couple of errands. First we needed a new vent cover for our bedroom vent on the trailer, and then, before leaving the west, I needed to go to a Mexican market for tamale corn husks, ancho peppers and green chiles. When we meet up with Keith and Joanette on the 17th. We were going to make tamales and refritos. I am not sure that corn husks are available in the local markets in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

By the way, Keith and Joanette are full time RVers and have a travel blog. Check them out at:

https://joinersjourney.travel.blog

We spent 4 nights at Merrill Campground on Eagle Lake, near Susanville. There is a nice 5 mile bike trail along the shore, which we rode a couple of times.

But, the real reason for this stop was so we could ride the Biz Johnson Trail, from Westwood to Susanville, a nice 29.4, call it 30, mile trail through the Lassen National Forrest. As I was making final preparations for the ride, I saw this on the Lassen Land and Trails Trust website:

Well, this meant my planned 30 mile ride could not happen. So we quickly put together an out and back ride from Susanville to Devil’s Corral, using both the Susan River Trail in town and the first 7 miles of the Biz Johnson Trail. We enjoyed the ride and even took the opportunity do a little skinny dipping in the Susan River.

For full details of the ride, checkout my Strava post:

https://strava.app.link/PbMNIwRyW8

After leaving Susanville, we drove back down to I-80 in Reno and headed east, with quick one night stops in exciting places, like Battle Mountain, NV, Rawlins, WY and North Platte, NE. Did you know North Platte is on the South Platte River?

We did stop for 2 nights at Strawberry Bay, on Strawberry Resevoir, which is formed by damming the Strawberry River, near Park City, Utah. Had enough strawberries? We had a beautiful site overlooking the lake and just took it easy.

We have now made it to Camp Crescent, Lake View, Iowa, on Black Hawk Lake, and that is where we will begin the next post.