Stopover in Reno…

I’ve neglected posting for a while, but it’s been a busy time. Had more than my share of trouble with the TV, Satellite, and DTV receiver. Than I needed to get the RV’s muffler tailpipe replaced and the tail tip installed to direct the diesel exhaust down and away from the front of my car as I tow it. All that and more conspired to delay this posting.

We’ll pick up at Stateline with a few pictures of the area around there. The day after Tom and I were hanging around, I wanted to take the gondola up to the ski area. So that’s where we’ll start…at this point, I still was parking at the RV park, and drove the car up to Stateline, a matter of only a couple-three miles.

Had trouble finding a parking place but eventually, ended up here for breakfast. I was pleased to see the gondolas running. But I didn’t see any people in them. Hmm.

So after b-fast, went over to the ticket office, and discover the gondolas are closed for maintenance. Doh! echoed off the mountainside. Crap. Went back to the RV, Tom and I decided there wasn’t any reason to stay another night, so he got his money back, and we both went our separate ways. Me heading to Reno, he and his family, somewhere else.

Off in the distance is Carson City. 

So I’m on the freeway heading towards Reno, and say to myself, hell, you wanted to stay in Virginia City for a couple nights, so why not? Turned off the freeway, and then started climbing into the hills heading for VC. And what a set of hills. I’d taken the ‘truck and RV’ route this time (last time I just drove the car up here and took the older road that’s suitable for cars) thinking it would be easier on the RV, and there’s big signs saying it’s the truck and RV route. But it didn’t take long before my temp gauge is climbing past midpoint. I’m using the tranni and downshifting but even in 2nd gear with the revs up fairly high, the temp keeps rising. Eventually it was past the 3/4 mark and I pulled over. Using the Cruise Control, I set it for 2,000 RPM and just stayed parked (yes, in most class A diesels, you can set the CC to a RPM while in Neutral in order to work on the engine and the CC will hold it at the set point). There had been nowhere at all to turn my big rig around so far along this roadway climbing to VC, and I was getting a bit nervous about the climbs steepness further on. Would it get worse? Didn’t know.

Eventually though, the engine cooled off enough that I continued, slowly, and soon came into VC. And there were two panel vans parked going opposite directions parked in the roadway in downtown. Delivery guys. Rude delivery guys. And there was a string of cars behind me. Didn’t want to delay too many people so after a wait, tried to squeeze my way past the vans. Ended up finding out later that I’d clipped one of them. Passenger side, as I squeezed by. And then, as I’m navigating downtown, I’m trying to select a right turn that will put me on the next street down the steep hill. Because there’s a free RV park there to overnight at. Thing was, I could not find a street I felt comfortable turning onto. My rig…too big, too long. And me…too inexperienced driving it in tight spaces. So I parked in the Virginia City Rest Stop at the end of town for a while to collect my thoughts and check out the history.

I really did want to spend a night or two here in VC. Very interesting town. Lots of history. Mark Twain lived and worked as a newspaper reporter here for 3-4 years. Wanted to soak up the history a bit.But I just wasn’t up to endangering my RV this day, so, decided to just keep going onto Reno. I’ll be back to VC after I have more confidence driving the RV and toad in tight spaces.
Would need to get to that road down there to find the RV parking back towards town. That close road, the first one.
Saw a tram loaded with people take the turn I’d need to take to get on that lower road right at the end of the rest stop property, and it was a tight one. So decided I wasn’t up to attempting it today. Headed north towards Reno instead on NV-341. Another steep and twisty roadway. Not quite as steep as the one coming into town, but it had it’s moments. Check out the valley, had to get back down to the valley floor from where I am.


A few hours later, pulled off the freeway into the Grand Sierra Resort RV Park. I’d stayed here before a couple years ago when I was working at the nearby Amazon facility. I lost the pictures I took around the place this time so you’ll just have to imagine a huge parking lot with RV spaces. A few trees. A desert like area. With a giant multi-storied hotel & casino within walking distance. Paid for 3 nights. Enjoyed a great buffet dinner but did not enjoy the gambling. Last time I was here, won $820 on a slot machine while I idled away some time waiting for the buffet to open. This time, I wander around for at least 30 minutes and didn’t hear anyone get a large payoff. Seems like they’ve really tightened the machines. After dinner, I tried my luck, and the one armed bandits sucked up $40 in short order. Moved over to the BJ tables…the new minimum is $10 per hand. Damn! Last time they had $1 per hand tables. Not this time. Jeese. Lost another $40 quite quickly. OK, I’m done. I’ll come back when they are paying out a bit better, some other year.

After 3 days there in Reno, headed north to Merrill, Oregon. Just to see what it was like in that area around Tulelake, and to visit Captain Jack’s Stronghold, as well as the Ice Caves National Monument.

So, until next time, thanks for visiting!

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2 Responses to Stopover in Reno…

  1. Dawn Fagan says:

    Hi Jim,
    Great pictures…and wow…sounds like quite an adventure. I have been through Reno many times with the 18 wheeler, but never had a chance to go around and see the area. VC looks very interesting…maybe just in an automobile, sans the RV!

    Yeah, it was a bit scary. I had my other diesel overheat numerous times before I figured out what to do to prevent it, didn’t want it to happen to this rig.

    Here in Vt., it’s already feeling like autumn. I wonder if it will warm up again at all or if that was it for ‘summer’ and we’re headed for an early and rough winter. The leaves are starting to turn already! Lulu (RV) is back home. The shop found an air leak (they had installed new air bags) and fixing that made a big difference. Didn’t hear the living room slide squeaking on the way home and the space in the wheel wells are even and normal. And they did a little with that rear panel, but it is still warped and out of line…still a mystery, I think the factory maybe put the hinge on the panel, then realized there was only to be the one toward the rear, but just left the hinge attached to the panel un-hinged to anything else. Then, when this shop had the panel off to get to air cleaner or?…. and went to put it back on, the guy saw that hinge and figured it had to attach to something so…attached it to the lip of the slide out! Weird circumstance…weird thing to have happened.

    Yeah, that’s a weird story. Don’t know what’s up with yours, mine seems perfect.

    Thanks for the refresher on the batteries. I’m going to talk to an electrician about power up in the field. (50 amp as I may be living up there in summers) but for now I turned off the AUX Batt switch and will rely on the tric-L-charge and solar charge and taking it for a ride. I bring it to an RV camper shop Sept. 19th to have the jack system looked at. After that, it won’t be long before I head off the mountain anyway. Last customers leave Oct. 18th. I hope to be ready to leave right after that. I’ll clean and get the apartment tenant settled in (yes, renting again…can’t afford not to!) and hopefully get off the hill before any early snow.
    Okay…stay safe, have fun, and we’ll talk again soon.

    Hope that the AUX Batt switch does the job for you. Probably a bit of overconfidence on my part, but thinking I know enough about it to predict a 3 week lack of power and not starting or driving the rig would cause the batteries to get dangerously low, be stressed, and not give you a good long lifetime. That’s your call though.

    Good idea installing a 50 amp system up there. You’ll save money over waiting and doing it a year or two also. It could make a fine MIL apartment too.

    We didn’t see much of the darkness here…maybe in 7 years…how was your experience?

    I went to a small town north of where I was staying and hung out with around 30 people in a tiny town park. Grass, trees, outhouse. All the comforts. Got some good photos.

    Cheers, Dawn

    Back at ya…

  2. samg says:

    Got to agree. Slots pay off less. And the minimums increased. It’s tough to find cheaper ways to gamble. .05 video poker is tough to find. If possible.
    Well, good luck and be safe.

    Hah. No kidding. I knew a tech who use to work in Vegas, and he’d often change the odds on the video machines. When they’re not paying off, people soon learn about it and stop going in, and revenues fall. So then they change the odds, or lower the table buy in and business slowly picks up again. I happened to visit when they were really being tight. I’ve learned to avoid the tables and machines during those times. But you do have to play a bit to figure out what’s the setup at that time.

    And good luck to you, Sam!

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