The day started off at 6:30, with packing, loading the car and checking out of the hotel. Not liking the looks of the continental breakfast we found The Original Pancake House about a quarter mile away. Our favorite place for Sunday breakfast in Redmond, it did not fail us in Las Vegas.
Finding highway 160 we headed for Pahrump and Death Valley Junction. The latter is home to the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel, an intimate theater and historic hotel. At that point temps were already in the low 80's, so our first stop at Furnace Creek Inn included a bottle of cold water as well as a walkabout. Next up was a stop and walk around at the Harmony Borax Works. Borax was refined on site by boiling cottonball borate ore and then hauled by the famous 20-mule teams 165 miles to the nearest railroad.
It was about here that the day started to go south on us. We both were a little anxious to get home, so we considered changing the overnight from Bishop to Carson City and then heading home, thus saving one night. With poor cell service in Death Valley Barb wasn't able to check on a reservation change until I got us out of Death Valley and over to highway 395. Once there she found nothing available in Carson City. So we arrived in Bishop at 2:00, way ahead of schedule. Our reservation there was a place we had stayed 20 plus years ago and age had not been kind. I was parking the car when I got a text from Barb saying the place was a dump inside, so I told her to cancel. Manages said she couldn't and we would have been stuck but for a copy of the email conformation saying we had till 4:00. Before leaving the Bishop area I want to mention some very dedicated high school students. They were standing by the road with signs and I took it to mean there was a car wash ahead. Not so. Upon closer examination the signs read "Senior Class Worm Sale". Yes worms. Seems there was some sort of fishing activity going on and worms must have played a big part. Being a fly fisherman I have no idea what part that would be.
So off we went toward Carson City and Reno with no reservation. Once in Reno I suggested, for some unknown reason, we just drive on. By then the "get home" fever was strong and a miscalculation suggested we could be home by 2:00 am. So we headed out on 395 to Susanville. Arriving in Susanville just before the 9:30 closing time at Starbucks we managed a pair of drinks and made tracks for Alturas. Tracks was going to become an appropriate description.
Several miles out of Susanville we encountered a very light snow/rain mix. Nothing to be concerned about. At about the halfway point, 50 or so miles out the snow was heavy and collecting on the roadway. Speed was down to about 25 MPH. The road was anything but straight. Elevation signs were in the 5,000 foot range. This sort of thing doesn't usually bother me much, but I wasn't too sure about summer tires even with AWD. Anyway, we struggled into Alturas way behind schedule. By that time the snow had let up a little and while Barb was thinking of getting a room for the night I was leaning more towards continuing on. While stopped deep in discussion a police cruiser made a quick u-turn, pulled along side and rolled down his window. Before he could get out the "what are you doing out here" question I told him we were trying to get home to Oregon. He said the storm was moving in and should be in Alturas in about 3 hours. He seemed to agree heading to Klamath Falls would keep us ahead of the snow, so off we went. Sure enough, while we had a little more snow/rain mix on the way most of the drive was a breeze. Of course we took the wrong highway, which added a very unnecessary 1:08 and and 51 miles.
So, 2:00 am we arrived in Klamath Falls rather than Redmond and 2:00 am is the magic for the bars to empty out. I gave every car a wide berth. We stopped in Klamath Falls at a Denny's for a cup of coffee and english muffin. Interesting crowd at 2:00.
The rest of the trip up highway 97 to Bend was uneventful. Somewhere near La Pine the sun came up and by the time we got home it was about 6:30 am.
980 miles today and 3,885 for the trip.
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