"Pit Stop" 6.12.09

Today we continued our relentless pursuit of the Pacific Coast. We were on the on the road early and heading west. Utah is an amazing state. The drive on Interstate 70 is fantastic although I think my family had seen enough rock formations. After driving through Salt Lake City we began crossing the salt flats along the states western border.

We drove all day and began to get close to our Wells, Nevada. There we found a laundromat and decided to do the wash before it overtook the RV. While there I notice the back passenger side tire was low. The pressure was good but the inside tire was completely flat. After failed attempts to inflate the tire we decided we would have to have it worked on in the morning. We finished the laundry, found a campground and called it a night.

The next day we pulled into a local garage had them look at the tire. It had a gash in the sidewall and would have to be replaced. Fortunately they had one in stock. While putting the new tire on the mechanic noticed a crack all the way through the brake rotor. Wonderful. We would now need a rear brake job. Unlucky for us, it was Saturday. There would be no way to get the parts before Monday and I have reservations for Yosemite National Park. It did not look like a new crack in the rotor so I decided to continue west. I called ahead to a place in San Francisco and made arrangements to have the brakes done when I get there in five days.

As the day progressed we made it through the remainder of Nevada and through Reno. We then turned south to go around Lake Tahoe and down to the west side of Yosemite where we would camp for the night. Lake Tahoe was gorgeous but the next 100 miles of road where made up of hairpin turns and 8% slopes. (No pics because we were in a hurry and there were few places to pull off the road.) At one point we were on a road with nothing on either side. No guard rails, no side of the road. Just a white line and then oblivion. We took the next 4 hours to go a 100 miles and arrived at our campground at midnight. Everyone was asleep already so I quickly leveled the RV, put out the slides, hooked up the water and electric and got to bed. I was very tired but looking forward to tomorrow. Yosemite! Woo Hoo!