RENO!!

We made it to Reno…and barely ahead of a nasty storm that is blowing in.  I don’t know how strong these gusts are but I can tell you for sure they are stronger than what we had in Eugene last month and those winds were clocked at 58 MPH.  If we had not arrived ahead of this storm front, we would be parked somewhere waiting it out.  I can relate to all of you who have posted recently about the winds in AZ and CA.  I think those winds are now in Reno.  According to the weather service, the winds should die down around 10 pm as the storm front settles in…and then tomorrow – SNOW!!  It was eighty degrees here last week.  We may just have to hunker down here for a few days and see what happens.  I just hope we stay upright cuz it sure feels like we could just tip right over!

Our trip over here was good.  Had rain until we left Seven Feathers then beautiful blue skies.  It isn't often that we get to see Mt. Shasta without it being at least partially obscured by clouds.  But yesterday we got a beautiful view.  I was driving here so Russ gets credit for these views shot through the front window.







Although the skies were sunny, there was plenty of evidence of the long winter it has been along Hwy.89.  Looks like someone got a little too close to the slippery road sign.



One of my favorite stops on the way to Reno is Burney Falls State Park.  There was no snow on the ground there so we paid our day use fee and went in for a short visit.




I have never seen so much water going over the falls.  We are usually here later in the year when the snow melt is long over.  What a beautiful display those falls put on for us.  At places, it looks like the water is running straight out from solid rock. 





I would have liked to spend the night at Burney Falls but we needed to get on the road to Reno.  I’m glad now that we continued on or we would be on the road in the middle of the nasty storm that’s blowing in.  I swear, it will be a miracle if we don’t loose something off the roof tonight!

Here’s a photo of where we camped last night in the parking lot next to Wal-Mart.  We slept well and no one bothered us at all so I guess it was a successful first book docking experience.

 

On the other side of this parking lot was a Jack in the Box.  Can you believe I have never eaten at a Jack in the Box?  Well, we took care of that little over sight this morning.  All I had to offer was cold cereal and so we walked over and got some hot food and brought it back to Therapy.   Had our own coffee and got to share a bit with the doggies.



We had a good drive to Reno this morning and got parked at my brother’s just as the wind was starting to get serious.  David and Linda live on 70+ acres out a ways from the city.  This is the road to get to their place and the arrow shows the approximate location of their house.




This is David and Linda’s house.  They have planted tons of trees and other plants around.  Linda does a beautiful job with flowers and in the late spring and summer, you would not believe they were in the middle of a desert.  It is absolutely filled with flowering trees and bulbs and plants of all varieties.


They love it out here…it is so peaceful and they can have their dogs.  Close to the house they have fenced and cross fenced several areas for the dogs.  They have raised and shown German Shepherd dogs for many years.  Barrons has published a series of dog bibles for different breeds and I am very proud to say that their latest book in this series is about German Shepherd dogs and it is authored by my brother, David Fritsche.  I am very proud of him.

So here is where we are parked for now.  It is fully fenced, and probably a half acre or more.  Rusty loves it but Poppy just wants to stay in the motor home.  The wind is spooking both dogs (and us!) so I think we will stay pretty close to them for the rest of the evening.



I wanted to take a photo of the family at dinner but I totally forgot.  Linda made a yummy meatloaf and mashed potatoes and creamed peas and hot French bread…and well, faced with all that, the thought of pictures just fled my mind!  Maybe tomorrow.