The day after Thanksgiving Alan left for Reno with the new coach since there was a winter storm predicted to come in to the Reno on Saturday night. Kim was able to spend a couple more days in San Diego with her daughter before heading to Reno. However, on Thanksgiving morning we found the hot water heater wasn't working. Luckily, we were able to hear back from our sales-person Thanksgiving afternoon and he got us hooked up with the the service department of Holland RV in Santee. After showing up there right at 8, they found that it was a relay within a few minutes of looking at the heater. Unfortunately they didn't have one there but their shop in San Marcos had them in stock. Since the way back to Reno went by San Marcos, I just drove up to the dealership and had the part replaced. The repair with paperwork only took about an hour, so was on the road to Reno by about 11:30. I decided the easiest route was going to be out I10 and then cut through Death Valley to Beatty, NV and spend the night there. I decided to do this instead of going up 395 as the weather forecast was for high winds on 395. The problem I had was that everyone decided to go out I10 and there was lots of stop and go traffic all the way to the turn off to Death Valley. It probably took 3 or so hours longer for the drive. Finally got into Beatty well after dark and found a spot at the Death Valley Inn & RV Park. It turned out to be bit pricey for a spot ($38) but at least Alan and the babies had a place to stay with full hook ups.
Up the next morning (Saturday) and off for Reno. As it turned out the high winds decided to come over to highway 95 as well, so for about 100 miles it was slow going. The good thing was that the winter storm was cooperating and didn't come in early, so made it to Reno without any other issues. We decided to stay at Gold Ranch RV again since the staff and other campers have been friendly every time and they are very dog (and pig!) friendly. Kim left San Diego Saturday and made it to Reno that evening (she had good fortune and didn't hit any winds coming up 395), of course driving just the CR-V is a little quicker. But the winter storm did come in and this was what we woke up to Sunday morning:
There was actually a good deal more snow at first with the roads all covered but it melted off the roads quickly.
So the whole reason for being back in Reno was that Alan was schedule to have his back surgery on Monday morning (11/28). We had to show up at the hospital at 5:45 that morning but that meant Alan was the first surgery of the morning. To make a short story of all the events, the surgery went fine and the tumors were benign. Alan sent two days in the hospital then back to the coach for some rest for the next couple of weeks, mixed with physical therapy. Kim was able to visit family some more and registered for a Christmas craft show. She launched her new business, Rescue Me Dog Treats, did exceedingly well at the show and was able to donate several hundred dollars worth of items to the local SPCA.
Alan's follow up appointment was on Monday, Dec 12th and of course there was another winter storm predicted for the next morning. We decided not to chance getting stuck in Reno any longer than necessary so right after the appointment (about 5pm) we left Reno with the intention of making it to Hawthorne for the night since the storm was predicted to stay north of that area. We needed to get out of Reno and not be stuck there for the week as we had already promised Kim's younger daughter that we would be spending Christmas with her and her husband in Raleigh, NC so we didn't have much leeway in our travel plans.
We made it to Hawthorne and parked at the El Capitan Casino for the night. They allow RV and truck parking in their back lot so we just dry camped for the night. This worked out well and in the morning we found a small park in the town to walk the babies at before heading off for Las Vegas. The rest of the trip to North Carolina will be coming up in the next couple of posts.
