On Wednesday we transitioned from Tahoe National Forest to Twin Lakes near Bridgeport, CA. The drive was hectic due to being on crowded roads with a 6 ton rig attached to our truck. We had to navigate through the I-80 intersection at Truckee (did not go so smoothly), then along the east lake shore road of Lake Tahoe to Highway 50 down to Carson City, NV. What a downhill grade that was. I am sure glad we were going down and not up. I had researched a Wal-Mart Supercenter as being on Hwy 395 just north of Hwy 50 (the opposite direction where we were headed. We could not find it so I pulled off into a residential area to program the GPS (Barbie) to find it. Barbie led us through downtown Carson City to the Supercenter where we spent almost $200 (had to pick me up off the floor) before getting back on the road. You guessed it, about 2 miles SOUTH of Hwy 50 there was a Wal-Mart Supercenter right on the highway. AAARRGGHH.
When we checked in at Twin Lakes (Annette’s Mono Village) campground we were very surprised at how crowded it was. The place has about 400 sites, 90 of which have hook ups. Of course the hookup sites were all full. Just as well, as those sites are very close together. After wending our way through very narrow roads with trees close on both sides (inches of clearance in some cases) I was sure I was never going to find a spot I could get into. So I parked in the middle of the road and got out and walked until I found a suitable site. After a bit of close maneuvering, I managed to get the rig parked in a wooded area on a site big enough for all the family cars and tents to arrive on Friday.
One of the first things I had to deal with was that the refrigerator would not consistently switch to propane after being on AC. I fiddled around with it until I discovered that the spark ignition system was not lighting the pilot. If I manually lit the pilot, it burned forever. So ever since, we have had the fridge on propane, even when we had electricity.
Thursday was spent cleaning and spiffing up the camper for Friday’s arrivals. About noon on Friday, our oldest daughter Heidi and the two grandsons, Robert and Tyler arrived. We helped them pitch their tent on our site and they settled in.
About 4:00 pm, our other daughter, Michelle, arrived with boy friend Wayde. We had grilled chicken and baked chicken (Rosie’s yummy creation) with potato salad and other fixin’s for dinner. I took Tyler out fishing on the lake in my inflatable boat (no fish were injured in this endeavor). After we moved the campfire ring to get it away from the camper and started a nice campfire and marshmallows were sacrificed to the fire gods.
On Saturday we all took walks in the woods, checked out the wilderness fish hatchery, admired the wildlife, include very tame deer that came right into camp and generally relaxed and had a good time. Wayde had taken off with his off road motorcycle to explore an area about 20 miles away. He also had a great day. In the evening, I took Robert out on the boat in an attempt to catch fish, which was as unsuccessful as the night before. Rosie got some great pictures of Robert and a deer that came right into the camp. After dark fell, we were sitting around the campfire when we heard people yelling “Bear in the camp”. Sure enough, a small black bear came ambling through about 25 to 30 feet from where we were. Caused some excitement , I tell ya. After that it was hot chocolate time with more sacrificial marshmallows toasted in the flames. Sunday morning we all packed up and departed for our various destinations. Here are some pictures from the event:
Robert and Bambi Grandkids on the rocks.
In front of a waterfall. On the bridge.
Rosie and the girls with Annie. Jim and the boys. How did that rock get there?
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