Jumped on the motorcycle and headed for Lake Tahoe. Just 10 miles down I-80 we got off for gas and found the Donner Pass Museum. It is amazing how many little facts stick in your head from High School History but never made sense or understood the big picture. Toured the museum and their historic film explaining what happened the winter of 1846-47.
In the spring of 1846, a group of nearly 90 emigrants left Springfield, Illinois, and headed west. Led by brothers Jacob and George Donner, the group attempted to take a new and supposedly shorter route to California. It was to cut of 400 miles from the traditional trail, it was actually 100 miles more. Their guide left earlier and refused to come back for them. (Unscruppulous characters in those days too) They encountered rough terrain and numerous delays, and they eventually became trapped by heavy snowfall high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 5 feet of snow with 60 foot drifts came down. Reduced to cannibalism to survive through the winter, only half of the original group reached California the following year. Our campground is along the original trail. Randy and I don't plan on hanging out here for the winter, so I think our wastelines are safe.
Heading down the trek to the second deepest lake in the U.S. (1645ft) it is 22 miles long and 12mi wide. A whopping 72 miles around the lake. Going south down the east side was a beautiful winding road through hilly areas and overlooks of the lake. In southern Lake Tahoe we stopped at Zephyr Cove, Nevada. Our campground membership has coupon links to discounts in the U.S. I found a 2 for 1 coupon on the Woodwind II Catamaran 3 hour sailing on Lake Tahoe. The boat holds 50 passengers, there were 8 of us, plus 3 crew members. No tourist packed trips for us! Randy found that the pulleys and other parts were from Harken. When he worked in Milwaukee he designed and made the program to make many of these parts for Harken. He was estatic to see his work in action. It was really neat.
Continuing around the lake we went through the most southern city on the lake of South Tahoe. Reminded me of Door County with all the neat buildings and shopping areas. The carved ski hill runs all along in the back mountain. I could totally see why people come here in the winter to ski and vacation. The northern trip up the west side was a much less populated area. It was Randy's drive from hell. 10mph curves with hills on the hills. Overlook on the edge of the road with 100 foot drops and traffic. A definite nail biter on a motorcycle or any vehicle. Stopped in the city of Tahoe to get Randy's supply of milk, so he could have a drink when we got home. Make that a double Nestle chocolate drink!! An awesome, beautiful day. Even saw a lobster formation in the clouds, mmm.
Took the day to Kayak and fish on the lake in our campground. Quiet, gorgeous lake but no fish were caught that day. It was a day to relax and catch some sun.
2 days later, after Randy recooperated, we decided to make a long days trip to Reno (57miles). Took the truck and Buddy so we weren't feeling rushed to return for potty breaks. For the first time in his 10 years, Buddy went to Doggy Day Care. It was too hot to leave him in the car and for $18 he could spend the day and have some doggy interaction. He misses his nephews, Jack the Rat (Chihuahua) and Duke (German Shepard). It was like the kids first day of school. I was so nervous and we hung out at the daycare for awhile to see how he did. I was checking Randy's phone during the day to make sure they hadn't called. Crazy woman. He had a great day, made lots of friends and enjoyed himself.
Meanwhile, our day was fun too. We had some "chores" to do in town. We have applied for SOWERS (Servants on Wheels Ever Ready) it is a group of people who RV that volunteer to help repair, paint, clean, you name it, for Christian organizations in 48 states. Churches, schoold, camps all need above and beyond maintenance or extra hands for their organization. It would be a great opportunity to help and meet other Christians on the road. Anyway, we had to get fingerprinted because we maybe working with kids in the schools or camps. My fingerprints were not usable for the FBI so we stopped at Reno P.D. to get them done again. Super nice lady that fingerprinted me. Then onto US Bank to do some official banking and lastly the Post Office to mail off those fingerprints. Time to play!
Downtown Reno is definitely an older city. Circus Circus is downtown and there is a really neat indoor walkway to see the other casinos, shops, and entertainment. Our goal was to see the acts at Circus Circus. We got there at 11am when the acts were to start. Wrong information from calling their desk. Acts don't start until 5pm. So walked the walkway and outside but alot of people panhandling and sleeping on the streets. We jumped in the car and headed south on Virginia St to the newer section of town and a ton of strip malls and 2 huge newer casinos. We stopped at JoAnn Fabrics, Harbor Freight, Home Depot, and Grocery Outlet. Love that store. Kinda like the Dollar Store of groceries. I bought box mix, canned, and bagged stuff so it would survive the 90 degree heat and a long ride in the car. As our Anniversary is coming up (#10) we went into the Atlantis casino and ate at their wonderful Toucan Charlie's Buffet. Special today is Prime Rib and Crab Legs. It was a wonderful buffet and I ate my share of Crab Legs, mmmmm. Didn't even have room for dessert. Made it back to Circus Circus for the entertainment, which ended up being 5 minute shows with 40 minutes break inbetween, disappointing. We hung out for 2 shows: The Chinese Acrobat and JR Johns trained dogs. We saw him on the show America's Got Talent a few years ago. We did end up playing the slot machines inbetween shows. Just so you know we are BIG spenders. Randy played with $2.00 for a very long time, I don't think he ended up with any of it, in the end. I went big and spent $10.00 and came home with $7.00 - I think of it as The Big Kids Arcade, except I know I spend a whole lot more than that on the kids in the game room. Chuck E Cheese is still the funnest.
To end our day we went back to get Buddy from his first play date and drove the 57 miles home. He was one pooped pup - that's in the good way, as he slept on the way home and all night.
Time for another day trip on the Motorcycle. Off to Nevada City, 21 miles away to check out the town where my favorite Christmas movie was filmed. The Christmas Card with Ed Asner (Hallmark Movie). On the way, Hwy 20, it was like a pine tree canopy and a wonderful ride. Took a stop at a View Point stop, walked their 1/4 mile trail out to a steel lookout deck. Map showed the points where they had cleared trees (looked like an oops with the clippers on a really bad haircut) and 2 areas with yellow dirt piled up (those were the Alpha and Omega gold mining camps of history. We could also see Nevada City in the distance. We walked around town and stopped into the Nevada City Cafe where parts of the film were shot. Even had the Christmas Card Club that is famous in the movie. http://www.nevadacitychamber.com/nevada-city-photos-and-videos/the-christmas-card/
Saw other areas of town that are in the movie and shot our own pictures. I watch this movie at least a few times every year and still love it. Nov 1st Hallmark starts their Christmas movies, check it out! Oh yah, Nevada City is also a historic Gold Mining town from the 1849ers. 
The next day we headed out for Sacramento in the truck and Buddy in tow. Stopped at Camping World to get a few parts, and a new chair for me. Comfy!!! Then onto downtown Sacramento with the day spent in Old Sacramento and the California Railroad Museum. The museum is awesome. The had numerous real train engines, cars, cabooses, cargo, and sleeper cars. It is just a huge museum with the real thing inside. Engine #12 refurbished from the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad completion and the train that came from the West to meet at Promontory point in Utah. Even the Golden Spike to commemorate the last spike to tie the two coasts together. So the Donner Party that took months to get to the West, should have just waited 22 years and the trip by rail would have only taken 7 days. What a huge accomplishment. Learned all about the Chinese Americans that build the railway and all the trials they went through. It was so neat to tie history together from our travels. The Tie Hacks of Wyoming that cut the railroad ties, the Chinese whose ancestors live in Chinatown, San Francisco, the railroad museum, and camping in the area of all this history with the trains whistle blowing in the area numerous times a day. The museum has tons of memorabilia and a photo gallery with pictures from the 1800's and the history of that event. Upstairs was a miniture display. We didn't realize how many scale railroads there were. Randy had HO scale trains growing up. 
Off to walk the streets of Old Sacramento and the riverwalk. Wooden sidewalks and historic buildings of the 1800's era. I am so loving history and being able to see it before me. Many restaurants, clothing, and some weird psychic or other areas we didn't go in. We are in California and not the MidWest so it is different. On the ride home we did some grocery shopping at Sam's Club. Since we've been staying in areas without grocery stores, we've got to stock up. Oh yah, and 3 gallons of milk for my hubby (that'll last 3-4 days, if we're luck)
