Reno, Nv, Biggest Little City in the World

10/12/2008
Lorraine's Sunday’s posting

Here we are, in Reno, NV. We really had a nice week. Monday we were at Seven Feathers in Canyonville, Oregon. Tuesday we left there and drove seventy miles on down to Medford, Oregon. While there I was able to start my Christmas shopping for our children. Medford has a large mall, tons of strip malls and sporting goods stores, so I was able to find stuff for all of our family. I love shopping in Oregon because there is no sales tax, which is great, especially when we would pay 8.9% back home in Bellingham. And the sales were really good, anywhere from 30 to 75% off retail price.

On Wednesday, I went to the Holiday RV office (Holiday RV is where we stayed, fairly nice and just a few miles south of Medford) and asked the gal there where to go to get my hair colored. I asked her because she has colored hair and it looks really good. She gave me two names and I called both right from the office and was able to get appointments for both. But she helped me choose the one for that afternoon, she said it was a good place, clean and the gal that was to do my hair was teaching a class at the local beauty school. So that morning we did our running around doing our chores, when I get a call from the gal doing my hair that day. Her name is Stacy and she asked me to come by where she is teaching so she can see my hair and get the products she needs to use on it. We finish our grocery shopping and hurry by for a look see. We meet her and I leave my formulas for my hair with her. She said she would get the colors my hair dresser uses and would see me later. So then I show up for my four o’clock appointment. She has my products and gets started right away. Stacy was fast, she knew what she was doing and was very efficient. She trimmed my ends, and when I was done, my hair was just like my local gal does it. One of the best beauty shop experiences I’ve had while out here on the road.

We stayed in Medford until Thursday. I was able to finish my shopping. I must say, I found a new jacket for me, which was great. We left for Reno, NV on Friday.

We drove south on I-5 and cut over to the road to Susanville. It’s a pretty drive, but low and behold, we run into snow. There is snow on the sides of the road and the temperature is dropping as we climb into the mountains. It’s a five hour drive from Medford to Reno, and when we reach Reno, it’s snowing here too. The temperature is cold and has been since we came. The gal here at Shamrock RV park said not to leave the hoses out at night because it’s suppose to be below freezing, and if the hoses freeze and break, then we have to pay for repairs. I was glad I found my new jacket, because it’s been freezing cold and very windy here.

Today, I hope to go looking at the mall, while Chuck has the football games on all day. I think we leave tomorrow and head west into the lowlands. Not sure where, but some place warmer.
Till next time, see you down the road.

Lorraine


10/12/08
Chuck's report

Last week was pretty quiet for us. We left Canyonville on Tuesday, headed South once again. We traveled about 70 miles to Medford, Oregon. Lorraine wanted to spend some time here to do some shopping. We also were able to explore the area a bit more than we have in the past, its a nice area but gets too hot in the summer. We found a roadside fruit stand where we bought some different pumpkins. They are called “winged pumpkins”, never seen these before. The main reason I mention them is, I wanted to try to attach a picture of them in the blog, our first attempt at a picture. We will see how that works when I get this posted.




Friday was moving day again. This was to be our longest trip in a couple months, about 300 miles from Medford to Reno, Nevada. We decided to take state roads 89, 44 & 395 vs staying on I-5 and I-80. We have driven this route before but in a car, not a motorhome. We knew this route would take us though more mountains but were hoping to see some of the fall colors in the trees. The roads are nice, no problem driving with a motorhome but the tree leaves seemed to go from green straight to a brown. Of course, most of the trees in the mountains are evergreen, although they are nice to see, there isn't much color except green in them.

When we got about 50 miles out from Reno, Lorraine called the campground we had checked out in our books. They said come on in but they were getting some snow. As we were still under clear, blue skies and the I had checked the forecast before leaving, this was a surprise to us. I had washed the coach in Medford and ran the car through a car wash so both were clean. It had been raining in Medford but the roads were, for the most part, bare and dry. Not so about 20 miles out of Reno! We started getting a little bit of snow and the temperature started dropping. We go to about 37F and more snow but nothing sticking. As we got closer to Reno, we got more snow and the roads were getting wet plus there was more traffic. The coach is heavy enough (34,000 lbs I think) that it handles well in snow. By the time we got to the campground, it was in the low 30s, cloudy with a steady North wind. The coach and especially the car were filthy, looked like they had never been washed, shoot. We ended up getting about 1” of snow and the nighttime temperatures were below freezing, meaning we don't leave our water or sewer hoses hooked up at night. This isn't what I signed up for!!

The forecast was for two days of cool (cold) temperatures, warming up on Monday. The temperature got down to the high 20s last night, but we kept the heaters on and didn't have any problems. Today is cool, clear with blue skies, hope it warms up more, however. Heck, I could have stayed in Washington and had the same weather, guess we aren't' far enough South yet.

We have hit a couple of casinos here already, nothing to write home about. I'm a few dollars ahead, I think Lorraine may have lost a few. This is a good place to people watch some of them are interesting, to say the least. It is amazing how some folks loose all their good manners when they are in the casinos.

Last night, we wanted Bar-B-Q for dinner so out comes the trusty GPS. We find a place called “Earp's Smokehouse and Bar-B-Q”, located in Sparks about 10 miles away. We took off through the desert, very remote. Finally we get to the address and it's nothing more than someone's house, no sign of a restaurant or anything. Never did find the place, we drove back to Reno and had dinner at the Peppermill Casino, bummer.

I guess I can't do one of these without some editorial comments. Although I have my own feeling about this financial mess we are in, I will not discuss it here. All I want is for all of us to do our research and vote. We received our ballots in our last mail delivery and will fill them out soon. I believe if you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain. So as they used to say in Chicago, vote early and vote often.

'till next time, Chuck