It was a crazy day, but there was beautiful scenery along the way. I left Mammoth planning to drive to Reno and then take the 80 down to Grass Valley, but those plans changed, as I will explain.

By the way, every time we used to drive to Mammoth we sped along, anxious to get there to ski. Since I wasn't in a hurry I drove around side streets in Lone Pine and Bishop. Great dog park in Bishop and Koka got tp play with two beautiful Irish setters. The setter owners are a retired couple from L.A. who now live on a little ranch outside of Bishop. They rent out some of their land for cattle grazing. I went into Schat's Bakery to see if they perchance had gluten free things but left with only a cup of coffee. Damn.

After breakfast at the cafe Whoa Nellie in the Mobil gas station in Lee Vining (if you haven't been there that might sound strange), I stopped a few times for Koka to play.

As I approached Bridgeport I was pulled over by a highway patrol who advised me to stay off of hwy 395 north of Carson City. Actually, he didn't really give advice, he said I would be stopped from traveling further north than Carson City, due to high winds. Reno was expecting a big storm and indeed there were clouds in big round shapes that looked like cotton candy.

I decided to keep going and figure out a plan when I got to Carson City. As I approached Minden the DEF fluid light came on on the dash. So I went to a gas station but they didn't carry it. There was an auto part store down the road so I purchased a gallon of the stuff but then I had to get 3 more gallons to fill it. When I opened the hood I also found that the oil cap was missing. It took about 20 minutes to find a replacement oil cap, and after refilling the DEF fluid and the window washer fluid I was on my way. Trucks usually have a DEF meter thingy next to their diesel fuel fill spot and they can tell when the fluid is low. Sprinters don't have a meter - the light just comes on and after that you can only drive so far or start the engine two more times before it will not start again until the fluid is replaced. That happened to me in my previous RV. Now I know that every 3000 or so miles the light will come on and thankfully this time (since I wasn't paying attention) I was not in an isolated area. I left Minden full of fuel, DEF, coolant and window washer stuff, and wondering what to do when I got to Carson City.

Then about 15 miles down the road there was a warning sign about the winds, and RVs and trucks were given the choice of staying in Carson City or taking hwy 50 over the mountains to Lake Tahoe. So, I'm camping in a city park in South Lake Tahoe. It's a nice camp!

Dinner - chicken, red cabbage slaw with pico de gallo, cheese and chips.

View from my dinner table - that's the lake in the background. The sky is a bit stormy looking and people are talking about snow, but just a little bit in the lake area. Tomorrow I'll drive along the west side of the lake and head down to Grass Valley.