Wednesday, July 31, 2013, Verdi, NV

We were up earlier than usual, when we are traveling I like to get started by 9 or 10.  I fixed coffee and we started slowly to get things ready to travel.  My second effort hit the first snag.  I tried to retract the small awning over the door.  It was almost in and it sprang back out.  Apparently the roller is somehow disconnected and the awning won't roll up around it.  I tried to see if I could retract it in manually, no luck.  I called Coach Net and they made unsuccessful calls trying to find a mobile service to come out and either fix it or at least get it into a position that would allow us to travel.   I did find a mobile service here in Redding that advertised in the park brochure.  He agreed to come out but wouldn't accept payment from Coach Net.  I have to pay him and submit a claim.  The closest thing to an ETA that he would give me was that he would be out this morning.

The technician arrived within 45 minutes and took the awning off the frame rolled it onto the roller and wired the frame closed so it would travel.

We were on the road by 12:30.  We had a choice of routes; I-5 south to I-80 and east to Reno a distance of 280 miles or CA-44 to Susanville and then US-395 south to Reno a distance of about 219 miles.  I choose the shorter route, not wanting to backtrack all the way to Sacramento.    Off we went on CA-44, the four lane ended after a few short miles.  There was a haze in the air but we knew from the signs we were headed toward Lassen Volcanic Nation Park.  There were several road construction areas that reduced traffic to one lane.  Fortunately the waits were short.  Just before Susanville the highway became CA-36.  We had steadily climbed from under a 1000 feet to over 5000.  This kind of driving requires a different level of attention as opposed to driving on most Interstates.  Going uphill you have to pay attention to the R's and temperature.  Down hill it's brakes, engine brake and speed.

The highways we traveled today were new to us, we had never been this way before.  Susanville has some old buildings along the main street that give it an interesting character.

We intersected US-395 and continued to Bordertown and roughly south on to Reno and then west to Verdi.  Our destination for hte day was the Gold Ranch RV Resort.  We arrived at about 4:40.  We took our time getting set up.  Internet via Verizon was terribly slow or non existent.

Kathleen came over at 7 and we visited and caught up with family events until after 9 PM.

At about 10 the internet started working again and we caught up on Facebook and e-mail.

We called it a night at about 11 PM.