Hennesseys_Hangout: Day 8

Day 8
This morning is the start of day 8. It was a good start to the day. We all slept in until about 0630. That was about an hour longer than normal. First thing we did was have a problem with my ATM card. I needed a cash infusion and went to the ATM. It rejected my card and told me the account was locked. Oh No! Now what? Call 5/3rd and see what can be done. Apparently nothing terrible was wrong, they took care of every thing on the phone. All is right with the world.
We had breakfast at the Denny's in the Hotel Casino complex. It was a normal Denny's breakfast, ok and filling.
Today Pam arrives to join our little group. We checked out of the hotel and headed for the airport.
What a day for her arrival. We met Pam at the airport in Reno. The day was a bright sunny day.

Temps in the mid 70's. A good day for riding. Our first destination of the day was rt.50 to Lake Tahoe to drive the south shore. On the way over the Sierra Nevada Mountains the temps started dropping some. The views were spectacular

Doug didn't get too many pictures today because of the traffic. It was pretty heavy going over the mountains.
During the ride the weather started to get a bit overcast.

Then it rained a little, not too much. Going around Lake Tahoe was like driving through Gatlinburg TN. Extreme commercialism. It's ok, just not for me.
After Tahoe we headed for Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California.
This was about 120 miles or so from Tahoe.
During this ride the weather REALLY started changing.

The temps dropped and the rain got a little more frequent.

Then things started to feel strange, like snow!
It smelled like snow! The rain fell in earnest at this point, then the sleet started then HAIL!

See, Pam's sooooo happy. At least she has a sense of humor about this.

Then it went back to heavy rain.

So for Pams first day with us she's seen warm temps, cold temps, rain, sleet and hail. Not a bad first day. And still has a sense of humor left.
Things did eventually calm down. We had a good ride through the mountains until partway through the mountains on rt. 4 we came up on an accident.

The accident was up around the bend in this photo.
A motorcycle had gone over the edge. Fortunately the rider was conscious and speaking when he was taken away.
That part of the road is a severe S curve. Route 4 through the Sierras makes the Tail of the Dragon look like a kiddie course. This road has spectacular scenery, but along with the views comes some extreme danger.
We took very few pictures along this route because of the risk in stopping or worse NOT stopping.

Eventually we got to some better roads and weather. We were able to continue on to the nights camp ground.

Here we were warned to make sure we put ALL food stuff into the food lockers and chain it shut because there was a mother bear and cub roaming the campground and she had learned to open the lockers. Add bears to Pams first days experience.

Here's a kiss my butt look if I ever saw one.
As we were pulling into our camping spot for the night, the campers from across the road were tending the fire ring in our camp site. It seems the previous campers had just left and left the fire burning. Fine folks in a fire prone area. Actually the local fire crews were fighting a fire on a ridge just a few miles away. Add fire to Pam's first night!!

Pam searching for safest tent site
Any way, we started setting up camp, Doug was behind a large fallen tree. Jim and Pam on the other side. I was trying to decide where to set my tent when next to Dougs tent I found dozens of peanuts and peanut shells. I decided not to set my tent over a bear treat. Doug decided to move his tent up front. There he found the previous campers had dumped out about a cup or two of coffee grounds. He shoveled them into the fire pit. These folks were real winners.