Road Trip U.S.A. Days 4-6

Day Four

We left Monterey and motored up to San Francisco. We crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge (blog post HERE). Unfortunately the weather was not good, so we didn’t get the photos and video we really wanted, but we were pleased to have driven over it as planned.
Then it was on to Sonoma, which was a bit of a let down, so we carried on to Napa. Someone had mentioned that Gott’s was worth a visit, so we stopped for lunch. The meat was pretty good. After eating we looked for a place to stay. We found a campsite for the night (Skyline Wilderness Park, 2201 Imola Ave). A place to sleep sorted, we drove to downtown Napa. It was only 5.30pm but a lot of places were closed, a real pity. Deciding to try for a beer we headed to Napa Smith Brewery, but that was also closed. Apparently it closes at 5pm.
Giving up on wetting our whistles, we drove back to the campsite and made dinner. Well, when I say we drove, it was actually Laura, her first time driving the van. I don’t think she was that impressed though as she said it was not only her first drive, but her last too.

Day Five

We departed Napa and headed East towards Lake Tahoe. Along the way we stopped for a late breakfast at ‘California Burgers’ in Citrus Heights (8537 Auburn Blvd). After filling up on bacon, sausages, eggs, and toast, we hit the road again. We drove higher and higher into the mountains. We saw a fair bit of snow on the peaks.
We arrived at Truckee and planned to head down to Lake Tahoe, but all of the off ramps were closed for road works, and worse still there were no detour signs. The SatNav was of no help, and a very weak signal on our iPhone 4 meant that Google maps was not available either.
Not wanting to spend hours driving around in circles we gave up on a night in Lake Tahoe and instead headed to Reno.
We found a cheap motel for the night, it was right across the street from the Sands Casino.
Giving the sands Casino a miss we headed just down the street to the Eldorado, and their Brew brothers microbrewery. Good beer, good food, and rounded off by a chat with a local guy who was very interested in our travels.
Missing the turn-off for Lake Tahoe turned out to be a good thing. We had a really good night, and lots of good beer. Happy campers.

Day 6

We departed Reno and headed across Nevada to West Wendover. On the way we stopped at Elko for lunch, and to get fuel, yet again, for the very thirsty camper-van.
For lunch we went to Dos Amigos, a Mexican restaurant. Not really sure why we chose a Mexican restaurant as neither of us particularly like Mexican food. I blame tiredness, and the fact that it was pretty much the best of a bad bunch of eating places. The food was not that good. I think the Top Gear guys have a point.
Lunch over, it was back on the road to West Wendover. It felt a bit freaky driving in the same state but with the clock going forward an hour.
When we arrived in West Wendover, we found a hotel in a casino to stay in. Being exhausted from the drive, we just ate at one of the Rainbow casino restaurants. The food was ok.

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