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kevin_standleeThis morning we got up moderately early, took the minivan to a coin-op car-wash to get the sea-salt-sand-spray off it, went back to the hotel, packed out of the hotel room, then walked across the parking lot to Bi-Mart (Lisa still has her membership card to this Oregon store from when she lived here) and did the last of our Tax Free Tour of Oregon shopping, including stocking up on a bunch of routine household stuff at what amounts to 7% off. After checking out of the hotel, we passed up the included breakfast in order to go have breakfast at the Black Bear Diner (collecting #13 in their passport program) before shoving off for home.
This was a pretty long slog, albeit only about 225 miles, because at this point in our two weeks on the road, we were pretty worn out. We kept changing off drivers, doing short stints, but both of us were having difficulty staying focused. The route itself isn't necessarily conducive to staying awake, and it was warm. South of Newell CA, after a stint where Lisa was in pain from fatigue as she struggled to find a safe place to pull out and trade with me, I seriously considered bailing out of today's trip at Alturas, even though it would make Friday (when I should be back at work) difficult. However, by the time we reached Alturas, we decided to go ahead and risk pushing on the rest of the way home. That's nearly a point of no return, for there aren't many other places to stay until you get to Susanville.
South of Alturas we stopped for another driver change at Madeline, which was once a station on the Southern Pacific "Modoc Line," formerly the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad. Although the rails are now gone, the old steam-era water tank survives.
As we approached Reno, we decided that we really needed to get some dinner, so we went to the Atlantis, and instead of the buffet, ate at the Italian restaurant adjacent to it. When we stopped the minivan at the Atlantis, it was the first time in over seven hours that we'd stopped it. Due to the worries over restarts, all of our other rest stops were done in series, leaving the motor running.
There was no problem restarting the vehicle after laying over for an hour having dinner, and we got home without incident sometime between 8 and 9 PM. Before losing the remaining twilight, we quickly reactivated the house (turning water and propane back on, restarting water heater, etc.) and unpacked as much of the van as we could. The rest can wait until tomorrow. I did a quick errand to the grocery store to get some milk and other perishables for now; we'll do more tomorrow and over the weekend.
Much of our kit is now stacked in the living room and kitchen, awaiting time to unpack it all over the next few days.
I took some other photos, and there is a side trip about which I'll write separately when I have a chance, but I don't have the energy to process and tag the photos tonight, so that's going to have to wait. I have a long-overdue appointment with my own bed tonight.
This was a pretty long slog, albeit only about 225 miles, because at this point in our two weeks on the road, we were pretty worn out. We kept changing off drivers, doing short stints, but both of us were having difficulty staying focused. The route itself isn't necessarily conducive to staying awake, and it was warm. South of Newell CA, after a stint where Lisa was in pain from fatigue as she struggled to find a safe place to pull out and trade with me, I seriously considered bailing out of today's trip at Alturas, even though it would make Friday (when I should be back at work) difficult. However, by the time we reached Alturas, we decided to go ahead and risk pushing on the rest of the way home. That's nearly a point of no return, for there aren't many other places to stay until you get to Susanville.
South of Alturas we stopped for another driver change at Madeline, which was once a station on the Southern Pacific "Modoc Line," formerly the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad. Although the rails are now gone, the old steam-era water tank survives.
As we approached Reno, we decided that we really needed to get some dinner, so we went to the Atlantis, and instead of the buffet, ate at the Italian restaurant adjacent to it. When we stopped the minivan at the Atlantis, it was the first time in over seven hours that we'd stopped it. Due to the worries over restarts, all of our other rest stops were done in series, leaving the motor running.
There was no problem restarting the vehicle after laying over for an hour having dinner, and we got home without incident sometime between 8 and 9 PM. Before losing the remaining twilight, we quickly reactivated the house (turning water and propane back on, restarting water heater, etc.) and unpacked as much of the van as we could. The rest can wait until tomorrow. I did a quick errand to the grocery store to get some milk and other perishables for now; we'll do more tomorrow and over the weekend.
Much of our kit is now stacked in the living room and kitchen, awaiting time to unpack it all over the next few days.
I took some other photos, and there is a side trip about which I'll write separately when I have a chance, but I don't have the energy to process and tag the photos tonight, so that's going to have to wait. I have a long-overdue appointment with my own bed tonight.
