Truckee, California & Virginia City, Nevada

August 5-6.  We're still camping at the Bordertown Casino, north of Reno, and are taking day trips from there. We went over the border to Truckee, California to see the town, the Donner Memorial park & museum and Donner Lake. Truckee is a tourist town with lots of souvenir, clothing, home furnishing stores, restaurants and a California Welcome Center.  But, outside of town is Donner Pass and the memorial to the infamous Donner party, a wagon train that arrived in the high Sierra mountains too late in the year (1846-1847) and was stuck there all winter.  As the story goes, they were snowbound and when the food ran out, some of the 87 pioneers started to die, and some of those still alive ate the dead, as they were the only food source available.  Only 48 survived the winter. This was a true story of survival at all costs and cannibalism.
Back down in the valley, Donner Lake is beautiful and pristine.  All around the lake are upscale homes and cabin rentals. We drove up to Donner Pass, an increase in altitude of 3,000' and got some good photos. We stopped at another beautiful body of water in the mountains, Boca Reservoir, for a picnic on our way back to Bordertown.
Saturday we visited Virginia City, Nevada, where the Comstock Lode (Silver) was discovered and mined starting in 1859. Virginia City is another tourist town, nothing but tourist stores, restaurants with casinos in the high desert.  We visited the town cemetery to see the old graves, St. Mary's Church in the Mountains, and we saw the block long Hippie parade. We had lunch and headed home.

Donner Lake

Donner Party Memorial

Debbie up at Donner Pass

                                                                           
   

St. Marys of the Mountain

St. Mary's alter

Inside St. Marys

Boca Reservoir

Virginia City, Nevada

                                                                             

                                                                        

Debbie having lunch on her throne at Boca Reservoir

                                                                                 

                                                                                         
                                                                               
                                                                                       
                                

Bordertown & Pyramid Lake, Nevada

August 3-9.  We are at the Bordertown Casino and RV Park, fifteen miles north of Reno for a week before heading about 100 feet into California.  On our first day here we set up camp, went to the casino to have dinner and gamble.  The spaghetti dinner for $2.99 was my choice and Debbie had enchiladas. Debbie gambled $5.00 and lost it all, while I watched. We'll update you later this week, after we see Reno, Lake Tahoe, Virginia City, and the capital of Nevada, Carson City.
About 50 miles before we got to Reno, we stopped for lunch at a rest area on I-80.  There was a plaque there with info about the area.  The pioneers heading west in their wagons said of this 80 mile stretch (40 miles before and after this rest area) it was like "traveling through hell."  It is said that 1,061 mules, 5,000 horses, and 3,750 cattle died in this area on the way west.  There is also 953 gravesites of those pioneers who died in this area.
On our second day here we drove north to the Paiute Indian Reservation to see one of the most beautiful lakes in the U.S., Pyramid Lake.  It is an oasis in the middle of the high desert.  There is nothing but scrub for a hundred miles and all of a sudden, you see Pyramid Lake, so called for the rock, shaped like a pyramid, out in the water.  The lake is the most beautiful shade of blue.  (click on the 2nd picture to see the pyramid) We had a picnic and also visited the Paiute Indians historical center, which was filled with Indian memorabilia.  We saw pictures of giant Cuthroat trout, some of the largest in the world are caught here. On the way back we passed by the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse corrals.  We saw several hundred horses that are up for adoption.

Debbie enjoying lunch overlooking Pyramid Lake

                                                                             
                                                                        

Winnemucca, Nevada

August 1-2. We left Salt Lake City and headed west past the Bonneville Salt Flats on our way to our rest stop at Winnemucca RV campground. We have spent time in the pool both days and today went for a drive up to Water Canyon. Today we went out for lunch, to a dollar store (Tuesday is 88 cent day) and grocery shopping. There are casinos, hotels with casinos, and restaurants with casinos, but we resisted our urges and did not gamble. Winnemucca was a nice rest stop. Nevada is state #11. Our next stop is in Reno at Bordertown Casino and RV Park for a week.

Bonneville Salt Flats

Our campsite in Winnemucca

Aspen trees in Water Canyon

RV map-Nevada, state # 11

                                                                              



                                                                                    

                                                                                     
                                                                                       

Salt Lake City, Utah

July 27-31. On our first full day we visited the Utah Capitol and the Governor’s Mansion. The second day we went to the Kennecott Copper’s Utah Bingham Mine. This is an open pit mine on a large scale. Every year the average take is 275,000 tons of copper, 400,000 ounces of gold, 4 million ounces of silver, and 25 million pounds of molybdenum. Using 7 shovels, each scoop of stone weights 98 tons. Using 80 monster trucks, each can carry 328 tons per trip. This mine produces 25% of the U.S. copper needs. From the top of the mine, looking down, 30 foot tall trucks look like ants. This is an amazing operation.

When visiting Salt Lake, you have to go to Mormon Square, no matter what religion you are. 35 acres include the Tabernacle, Temple, Conference center, Brigham Young’s home, two visitors centers, Assembly Hall, a hotel, 4 restaurants, an office building, Genealogy library, and so much more. Some interesting information: The Mormon Tabernacle (the original church) seats 4,000. As the church grew, the Tabernacle was too small, so they built the Mormon Temple, which holds 9,700. Of course, that became too small, so church services are now held in the conference center, which holds 21,000 people. Yes, 21,000! Yesterday was an amazing day at the Temple. Sixty-four (64) weddings were held there in one Saturday. There are 7 separate chapels of various sizes inside the temple to hold these weddings. It is a sacred place for Mormons, and if possible, they want to get married there.

We also visited Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, and of course, being race fans, we went to the races at Rocky Mountain Raceway. (when you look at the race pictures, notice the snow capped mountains in the background) We are at 4700' feet and the temperatures have been in the high 80’s during the day and upper 60’s overnight.

Utah Capitol

Governor's Mansion

                                  

                 

Strip Mine

Exterior of the Mine from a distance

           






                                                                         

Debbie next to a truck tire

3 story truck at work

Mormon Temple

Statue of Christ

Conference Center

Tabernacle

                                                                                                                                                                             

Antelope Island

hazy Great Salt Lake

                                                                                     

Sprint racing

Mini car racing

                                                                               

                                                                                 

                                                                                    

                                                                                   
                                                 Sprint Car video (please click on arrow)
                                              

                                                                        
                                                                                  

Flaming Gorge National Park, Wyoming

July 24-26. We arrived in Rock Springs after an overnight stay in Rawlins. We saw our first snow capped mountains at 8,700 feet and drove past Buford, Wyoming, the countries smallest city. (population 1) We came here to visit Flaming Gorge National Park. Although there are a dozen campgrounds in the park, we opted for a KOA in Rock Springs. Unlike the national parks, the KOA has cable TV hookup, a pool and laundry facilities. We drove over 150 miles throughout the park, stopping at the Flaming Gorge dam, campgrounds, scenic overlooks and vistas.

               

                                    What a view !

Flaming Gorge Dam




               

Gering & Scottsbluff, Nebraska

July 21-23.  We are in northwest Nebraska, and our campsite is directly in front of famous Chimney Rock.  Chimney Rock was used as a reference point for wagon trains heading west on the Oregon Trail. On a clear day, wagon masters could see this unique shaped point at least 25 miles away.  Since most wagons trains moved about 8-10 miles a day, it could be seen for 3 days coming and going.  After Chimney Rock, they started looking for Scott's Bluff, another unique feature.  We are only a mile from Chimney Rock and about 25 miles from Scott's Bluff, and we visited both.  We took a National Park Service shuttle to the top of Scott's Bluff.  When asked if we would walk down or just take a few photos and get back on the bus, we opted for a third option.  We said that we would walk a trail and come back in 30 minutes, when the next shuttle would take us down.  But, no other visitors opted to take the shuttle to the top in the next hour, so they didn't bother to come back up to get us.  90 minutes later, we asked a family, visiting in their car, to inform the Rangers that we were stranded on the top.  They came and got us. It seems that our driver changed shifts after our run and she never told the next driver that we were waiting up on top!
We also went to the North Platte Museum, the Riverside Zoo, and to the races at Hwy 92 Raceway.  It was so hot here (95-105) that we didn't dare cook in the RV,as it raised the temperature in an already hot, flat campground.  We ate out lunch and dinner each day.

Chimney Rock

Our Campsite

Scott's Bluff

Debbie atop Scott's Bluff

                                                                                 

Sunrise at the campground

Sunset at the racetrack

                                                                                  

Sportsman races

Go cart action

                                                                                      

                                                                                    

Pioneer Debbie

This sign is a common sight