Tuesday, June 17, 2008
We're off
Today was day 1 of our annual big camping trip. This year we’re doing a tour of the west: Colorado, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Oregon are the primary destinations.
I was a little concerned about today because of our Suburban’s recently rebuilt engine. I won’t go into the sad story of its demise here, but it was completely rebuilt (new pistons, rods, crankshaft, etc) last month. I carefully broke it in over the past couple of weeks, and today we hitched up and headed off into the Nevada desert. I’m happy to report that after 420 miles, climbing over Donner Summit and barreling (actually, we don't really barrel, it's more like pulling a parachute) through 95 degree heat, everything appears to be great. It ran as well as it ever has with absolutely no problems. Let’s hope that continues for the rest of the trip and another 100,000 miles after that. :)
Today was just about miles, or at least that was the plan. We were up at 5:30 and left at 8:00. We made excellent time to Truckee (for our family, which some days seems to spend as much time stopped as going), but then we slowed down. We drove around for awhile trying to find a place to park our not so short rig. Then we walked along downtown Truckee to find a restaurant. After we passed by the fourth closed restaurant I began to realize that they were all pretty dark inside. Sure enough, the power was out throughout downtown. We ended up going to the Truckee diner across the railroad tracks. While it’s not exactly our sort of place, we were hungry and we figured they had food. Unfortunately, they had more customers than food (or more accurately, cooks), so it turned into a 1.5 hour stop. :(
After a few more stops (gas, potty, coffee) we left Reno and hit the desert. We’re stopped at an RV park in Winnemucca, Nevada. We’re not really fans of RV parks, but when we’re just stopping for the night they’re pretty convenient. It's not really camping - just a place to stop to eat and sleep. The girls went swimming while Patty made dinner. There is good wi-fi access so I could do a little work and upload this blog entry.
Tomorrow we’re off to Salt Lake City where we’ll stay for a day to explore before heading for Steamboat Springs, CO for the Neher family reunion.
I was a little concerned about today because of our Suburban’s recently rebuilt engine. I won’t go into the sad story of its demise here, but it was completely rebuilt (new pistons, rods, crankshaft, etc) last month. I carefully broke it in over the past couple of weeks, and today we hitched up and headed off into the Nevada desert. I’m happy to report that after 420 miles, climbing over Donner Summit and barreling (actually, we don't really barrel, it's more like pulling a parachute) through 95 degree heat, everything appears to be great. It ran as well as it ever has with absolutely no problems. Let’s hope that continues for the rest of the trip and another 100,000 miles after that. :)
Today was just about miles, or at least that was the plan. We were up at 5:30 and left at 8:00. We made excellent time to Truckee (for our family, which some days seems to spend as much time stopped as going), but then we slowed down. We drove around for awhile trying to find a place to park our not so short rig. Then we walked along downtown Truckee to find a restaurant. After we passed by the fourth closed restaurant I began to realize that they were all pretty dark inside. Sure enough, the power was out throughout downtown. We ended up going to the Truckee diner across the railroad tracks. While it’s not exactly our sort of place, we were hungry and we figured they had food. Unfortunately, they had more customers than food (or more accurately, cooks), so it turned into a 1.5 hour stop. :(
After a few more stops (gas, potty, coffee) we left Reno and hit the desert. We’re stopped at an RV park in Winnemucca, Nevada. We’re not really fans of RV parks, but when we’re just stopping for the night they’re pretty convenient. It's not really camping - just a place to stop to eat and sleep. The girls went swimming while Patty made dinner. There is good wi-fi access so I could do a little work and upload this blog entry.
Tomorrow we’re off to Salt Lake City where we’ll stay for a day to explore before heading for Steamboat Springs, CO for the Neher family reunion.
# posted by Craig @ 10:36 PM 
