> The best laid plans of Mice and Men...
I was seriously looking forward to day 3, my plan was to go to the Tahoe National Forest and spend the night in the proximity of South Lake Tahoe. My stated target was a little bitty berg, Sierraville.
I still had a fair chunk of US 50 to ride. I gassed in Austin and rode to Fallon on a delightfully cool morning. Fallon started as a Pony Express Station where off duty riders discovered silver.
I pulled into the Nugget Casino parking lot and decided that breakfast was in order. Unlike Reno or Las Vegas or even Wendover the Nugget in Fallon is an old sort of broken down place. Breakfast was good and the city center was interesting, including the former Churchill County Courthouse across the street and the City Hall next door.
Fallon is an old and somewhat threadbare place. For years it survived on cattle and farming but during WWII the Navy installed a depot and base to house chemical and conventional weapons. They now have the only incinerator in the Navy capable of burning the toxic waste. There is a fairly large EOD contingent that is sentenced to 2 years at a brutal place to live and work.
I just loved the 'old town' area, including a saddlemaker's shop. You don't see that every day.
I decided not to finish US 50 at Carson City and headed directly to Sierraville, CA. My reasoning was that it was 4th of July weekend and I wanted to find a good campsite. Silly me.
Sierraville is a tiny berg in an area that has LOTS of vacation/summer cabins.
Perhaps the most clever business name I saw on my entire trip was there in Sierraville. There is also a fair chance that is where I encountered Covid, though it was more likely Reno.
The entire forest was amazingly crowded. No campgrounds available and even dispersal camping was jammed. I got pretty depressed and headed back to Reno and a motel. I seriously can not believe the population density in the greater Lake Tahoe area. It's freakin' crowded.
So I stayed at the Airport Motel 6. Motel 6 is sort of my default chain because they are almost always clean and secure with a reasonable price. This one was an exception to all the above. That's the fire damaged door to my room. The clerk issued me a parking pass to hang on my bike so it wouldn't get impounded that night or the next. The management was cracking down on drug dealers and prostitution by towing unauthorized cars. Sigh.
If it weren't for the prospect of spending an entire day with my friend I'd have never registered and moved on. It was quite literally the only place in town with a vacancy for less than $400 per night. Sigh
Believe it or not, it didn't take me long to clear out on Monday. I was gone by sun up. Even with Covid this was definitely the low point of the entire trip.
All Words and Photographs in this post are mine. For better or worse.
Wow, that sucks. I have never been that far north west, but I know that some of those areas are pretty packed. All those city-ots coming from across the boarder and hogging all the space. It's crazy how many people have turned to camping due to covid. We keep waiting for them to get sick of it and go back to their cruises and resorts, but the campgrounds are still packed!
I was really unprepared for the crush of people in the Sierra around Tahoe. It was like an ant hill and I was 50 miles from the lake. Crazy. Just crazy.
I pulled off the highway a few times. Once between Truckee and Sierraville into what turned out to be a 'cabin community' with at least 2000 houses. Remember the Eagles song Paradise? That's what I saw. It was just insane. "You call it Paradise, kiss it good-bye,"
I promise you, the next legs will be the exact opposite. There are places...
I am glad this was the only bad spot on what sounds like it was an otherwise awesome trip. I guess one might argue if this was the worst part then you got off easy! :)
Not knowing your country, hard to say what conditions are like, cramped camping grounds does not sound good.
Covid doing the rounds rather get out of dodge be outdoors far away from people.
Hopefully next round is better than this turned out, stay well, keep well!
As it turns out I had covid by the time I left Reno. I just didn't know it for another 36 hours or so.
I really naturally avoid people in most situations. I don't know if I contacted Covid in the mob at the grocery store in Sierraville or in Reno. I was never exposed for over 15 minutes in any case.
Terrible customer service.
The clouds in some of the pictures look lime they are long exposures - they are strange ones!
I was literally dumbfounded. I'd ridden quite a ways (250 miles) and suffered more than a little angst and this guy told me that with a straight face. Seriously. I did a quick calculation of my bank balance and KNEW I didn't want to pay the price for Holiday Weekend Casino rooms, so I stayed. Urrrrgh.
Those clouds are not untypical. Cold front moving in off the ocean and the first gathering of moisture clouds.
While not ideal while travelling, at least these experiences make for good stories!
What I have noticed at least, it is the "worst" parts of a trip that become the most memorable and carry the most social value, as well as amusement later. Sounds like a post topic ;)