Thursday–Sunday, 23–26 Aug 2018
Marc writes:
Pictures from Rob and Carl
Thursday
In recent years I’ve expanded the Gardnerville ride by leaving a day early and camping. When making plans for the event this year I found that the road to my usual camgsite was still closed. Looking around I found another site a few miles away and went to make reservations. There was a two-night minimum. I made the reservations for Thursday and Friday nights. Since I paid for Thursday night I may as well use it. I don’t mind camping alone. Tom would join me Friday night. Carl and his daugter would take over an adjacent campsite on Friday as well.
Turns out the road to my usual campsite was opened mid-July.
I left my house about 10:30 under smokey, hazy, overcast skies. The overcast went away someplace around the Altamont pass. The smokey haze got worse the closer I got to Stockton. Stockton is where I made my first stop to fuel the bike and rest my behind. I was happy to leave. Air quality improved as I headed east.
Temperatures were quite mild this trip, mostly in the 70s and 80s. The highest temperature was a bit more than 90 for a few miles around Angles camp. Once leaving Angles Camp the temperature went down as elevation went up.
I stopped in Arnold for lunch about 1:30.
I got to the Silver Creek campground a little before 3:30 and set up camp. This was my first time in this campground which spans both sides of SR 4. I took a walk to check out the various sites. Some have quite a view. Others are closer to the creek. I was happy with the site I picked.
About 7 PM I made dinner. It started getting dark a little after 8 PM and just cool enough start a fire in addition to putting on a jacket. I read until tired then retired to tent and sleeping bag.
Friday
Friday morning I rode to Markleeville after breakfast to refresh my beer and ice supply. That done I decided to do some SR 4 sight seeing. I stopped places I usually zip on by.
The road to Highland Lakes is about 5 miles according to the sign on SR4. The first mile of the road is paved. The unpaved section started to get rutty and a bit seep about 2 1/2 miles in. Being alone I decided to turn around and go back. When I stopped the bike the side stand sunk 2 or 3 inches into the soft dirt. The bike didn’t go over, but it took some effort to get it upright and kick some rickes under the side stand.
I stopped at the resort at Alpine lake for lunch. After lunch I turned around and headed back to the campground, stopping to take some pictures of both Alpine and Mosquito lake. Carl and his daughter had arrived and set up their tents. Tom arived about 3:30. A pleasant evening was had around the camp fire.
Saturday
Tom and I were in no hurry to break camp. We didn’t want to get to Gardnerville too early. Still, we were packed up and ready to ride before 9:30. We headed over Monitor Pass (SR 89) to US 395 then south to the Meadowcliff Cafe for breakfast. We decided to kill another two or three hours by riding over Sonora Pass (SR 108).
We passed a rider on a smaller Kawasaki on US 395. He passed us while were getting gas in Walker. We caught up again just as we turned on to SR 108. He was setting a nice pace so we followed him over the pass. Due to ongoing fire fighting efforts (Donnell fire) there was a sign saying no stoping other access for 9 miles. About 9 1/2 miles later we pulled over to stop someplace between Kennedy Meadows and the Dardanelles. The Kawasaki rider sounded Australian. That is as much as I leared before a Sheriff pulled over and told us we couldn’t stop. The “9 mile” sign was apparently a guestimate. The Australian (?) headed west. We turned around and headed back to US 395 and the ride to the Sierra Motel in Gardnerville.
Dinner guests and the boot award
Sunday, Aug 26 2018
Chris, Jerry, Tom, and I walked across the street to Woodette’s for breakfast. After breakfast Tom and I headed over SR 88 toward Stockton. Tom had some business there. I continued on toward home. Chris said he was headed to his house in Old Station by way of Reno.
More smoke. This was the view on 580 around 12:30. The smoke was from a grass file near Castro Valley.