Summer Travel Map

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Caravan Phase 1 complete

September 15, 2009
United Trails Campground, Hirschdale, CA

Note: As always, click on any picture to enlarge.

We began our adventure with the Monacos in Motion caravan on September 10th. We've been pretty busy, so I'm behind on the Blog (again) but will try to keep up as the remaining two phases progress. The caravan is called "Wines, Mines & More", as we'll tour California mining country, visit and learn about wine country, and have a few other side trips added in for variety.

This caravan is a little different from a lot of tours, since we're not moving our coaches frequently, or far, during the two weeks. We started near Truckee, CA, near Lake Tahoe and the Nevada border at 5,840 feet elevation. We've been positively surprised that we weren't more affected by the elevation on this trip, since we both have felt it in the past. After six nights here, we'll move (tomorrow) to the CalExpo RV Park right in Sacramento for five nights, then the Napa County Fairgrounds for six nights. Each segment of the trip has several days of touring followed by a free day for catching up.

On Day 1, we had a "meet and greet" and orientation meeting with the other eight couples on the trip followed by a wine tasting at a local retailer. After we returned to the park, we had a catered BBQ dinner. I bought some wine at the retailer (we'd visited their other shop in Sausalito a few years ago with our friends Linda and Wendell), so we had a nice Zinfandel with dinner. Since nothing is ever simple these days, the store clerk managed to lock the keys to the rental car (they only give you one key) in the trunk when he put the wine in. Fortunately a call to our roadside assistance folks got us unlocked and on our way within 35 minutes. [Reminder to self: keep them on speed-dial on the cell phone.]

Day 2 dawned bright and cool, and we carpooled into Truckee (truh-key') for a tour. We had a guide from the local historical society who showed us around the local museum (which was the jail until the 1960s) followed by a walking tour of the historic district (love the 1959 Nash Metropolitan, imported from England), ending up at the restored Truckee Hotel (love the commodes with the sink built in). After a quick lunch, we headed out to the Donner State Park and memorial, just outside town. There, we learned about the mistakes and misfortune of the Donner Party who were trapped in the snows during the winter of 1846-47. They were led astray by their guide, and by their inexperience and stubbornness. [Note to self: think twice before taking a "short-cut".] Dinner was decidedly more upbeat, with a very nice meal (with wine pairings) at Moody's Bistro in Old Truckee.






Clouds threatened on Day 3, and we actually got a few raindrops during the day, but nothing to disrupt our plans. This area gets 5 inches of rain and 9 feet of snow annually. We're fortunate to be here before winter sets in. We started the day with a pancake breakfast prepared by several of the couples on the trip with us. The next event for the day was a boat tour of Lake Tahoe, from Tahoe City on the northwest shore to Emerald Bay on the southwest. We had great seats inside the cabin (out of the breeze and sprinkles) and had a nice cruise with lunch. When we got back to the park, we had a great view of a double rainbow during "happy hour", followed by a soup and salad dinner prepared by other participants, and we polished off the leftovers from the BBQ as well.





Day 4 was a long one. We left early (8:30 is early for us) and did a circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe. We made three stops on the western shore: Pine Lodge (aka the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion), the Tallac Historic site (Baldwin, Pope, and Heller estates), and the Taylor Creek NFS Visitor's Center (ranger talk on the geology and ecosystems in place). Similar to some of the places we've visited on the east coast (like Newport, RI), this is an area where the wealthy acquired large tracts of land and built expansive (and expensive) "summer houses" where they could escape the heat. In this case, it was mostly people with mining, timber, and railroad interests from Sacramento/San Francisco. Fortunately, many of these estates were deeded to or purchased by the California State Park system in the 1960s, and have been preserved and restored. After the Taylor Creek stop, which featured an interesting glass-walled peek at the underwater environment of the creek, we finished the circle around the lake, through the Nevada side and back to California, with a stop for dinner in Kings Beach, on the northern shore.





On Day 5, we headed off to the "old west" mining town of Virginia City, in Nevada just south of Reno. It was a very nice drive through varied terrain, from the forested areas where we're staying to the high (6,200 feet elevation) desert in Nevada. We started the tour with a presentation on Samuel Clemens' time in the area, where he worked on the local newspaper and (according to one of three versions of the story) first took the name "Mark Twain". They had what appeared to be an older edition of Tom Sawyer on display, illustrated by Norman Rockwell. After a nice lunch at a local burger joint, we had time to take both the trolley and train narrated tours. We poked around a bit more before heading back to the coach for a rest before dinner (sushi - yum!) in Truckee.




Merlin and Maya Lynn enjoyed their time here as well, since they had a chance to spend four days relaxing and playing in "doggie day care" at Canine Country Pet Pals, where they had a chauffeured ride each morning and evening and spent each day playing with new friends. We were lucky to find such a good spot for them while we were out touring.

Today is a "free day", which came with a week's worth of suggested recreational activities. Like most of our traveling companions, we used the day to relax, catch up on laundry and "fix-it" items (would you believe the door handle fell off the washer - with clothes still inside?), and get ready for tomorrow's travel (105 miles - mostly downhill).

4 comments:

Stanley said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Dave Thompson said...

any tip for the wine clerk ?

George said...

"Tip? I've got your tip right here: don't lock customer's keys in their trunk"!

Bob and Marlene Rea said...

Great tour your having..and you seem to keep your blog up better when you have had a couple of glasses of wine during the day...smile..