Reno.

Anyway it was too late to drive to Reno that day so we dry camped at the Sacramento Elks and enjoyed more of their tremendous hospitality.

We enjoyed the 130 mile drive from Sacramento to Reno along I80 (yes we drove on the Interstate!). This road climbs steadily and in places very steeply into the mountains up to the Truckee Pass and Donner Lake.

A little history for our UK readers, The Donner Party are legendary in the US. A group of settlers headed for California in wagons came to the eastern side of the mountains late in the year. They were foolish enough to take a different route from normal and to set off so late in the year. As a result they were trapped in the snow with no hope of rescue and some of the party resorted to cannibalism.

My joke when up there is: “The Interstate is right there why didn't they walk over to it and hitch hike out?”

2nd Tow in a week!!

We arrived at a campground we'd randomly picked but they only had a spot for 1 night. We got back in the rig but it wouldn't start, It cranked over just fine but wouldn't catch. After about 5 minutes it stumbled into life and we set off. About ¼ mile down the road it spluttered to a stop and we ended up getting towed to ANOTHER Cummins dealer and camping there for 2 night until they could get us into the workshop.

Snow capped mountains behind the Cummins shop.

Here's the whole story of THAT.

The rig has a bad fuel level sender which makes the fuel gauge swing between full and ¼ of a tank randomly. We've been using the odometer to judge when we need to refill the tank based on the tank having a 70 gallon capacity and 8 mpg. We filled the tank and drove 250 miles but the fuel gauge was showing empty which it obviously couldn't have been as we put 36 gallons in to bring it to full.

At the dealer they noted the fuel gauge was bad and so “Dipped” the tank with a stick. The tank was dry!! They put 25 gallons of fuel in and it started and ran fine. They noticed that the filler cap was missing. Their deduction (which we have to agree with) was that somebody. somewhere siphoned the fuel tank and stole the fuel. Quite where and how we aren't sure but the bad gauge made it worse.

We had them check to see if they could work out what service had been done on the engine in the past as we have no service records. Turns out that they put a date on the filters when they get changed. The oil filter was 2018 so that was fine, but the fuel filters were 2011. We got them to change the fuel filters and got a spare set to keep in the rig as friends with diesel rigs recommend that.

As the tow truck was backing us into the space at the dealer he backed into the fence with the bike rack!!. Luckily there was no damage. 

The dealer Technician then backed the rig into a jack in the service bay!! But very lightly, which scratched the paint. They were very apologetic and willing to do anything to please us. We tried an RV body shop but they were full up until August.

We had a car detailer come out and he buffed the area which got the scratches out. While he was there we got him to buff some other scratches that I put in the side in May when I dragged a branch when parking. The dealer gave us a credit against the cost of the service for the cost of the detailing.

The Truckee River runs right thru Reno. They even have a white water slalom course 

Then we planned to move to a campground but when we called around there was nowhere with a vacancy! The Rodeo was in town and everywhere is full. The dealer told us we were welcome to stay the weekend there and they had a dump station too so we emptied the black and gray tanks and filled our water tank.

Rapids in the heart of the city

The National Car Museum has a gold plated De Lorean

We left early on Saturday in the Miata and spent the morning in Virginia City then the afternoon driving around Carson City and Lake Tahoe.

Virginia City heart of the Comstock Lode

The old Railroad Depot

We were around this same area 10 years ago when my 2 sisters came from UK on vacation and it's just as pretty on the lake as it was but I swear it's twice as busy. There was absolutely nowhere to pull over and take pictures, Everywhere was either full or the parking areas where closed for construction.

Picturesque Lake Tahoe

The Miata above the snow line

Onwards and upwards as they say and we drove North first to Weed CA and the area around Mount Shasta then on to Klamath Falls and Crater Lake which has been on our “Bucket List” for a long long time.