The Road: November 1-6, MMVII

Hittin%26#39; The Road to Sparks around 13:00. Will dine and dance there then go over Mount Rose to South Lake Tahoe for a Swing dance convention. Will return to The Road around 13:00 Monday.

The Road: November 1-6, MMVII

Have a great time!

And take a warm coat--the nights are getting down into the 30s.

The Road: November 1-6, MMVII

Dont take the Mt Rose road to get to South Lake Tahoe. It is quicker and pretty nice to go on to Carson City and catch 50. Mt. Rose can be problematic if the weather is questionable and its one lane each way. 50 is two lanes each way and a nicer drive. Of course the Mt. Rose way south of Incline has a nice lake view, but its just not worth the Mt. Rose drive.

[Zephyr Cove]

F%26#39;Rpadrimmer said «Have a great time!

«And take a warm coat--the nights are getting down into the 30s.»

Thank you. The time outside is so short that it matters little. It was 33°F at the Spooner Summit around 01:00

Gemma%26#39;smum advised «Dont take the Mt Rose road to get to South Lake Tahoe. It is quicker and pretty nice to go on to Carson City and catch 50. Mt. Rose»

Yes, that%26#39;s the way I came. Left Reno around 00:30. A sparkling clear night. Stopped at Spooner Summit to see the glorious celestular display punctuated by a golden half-moon near the horizon.

Had dinner and danced with she whom I call ';My Beautiful Mountain Queen'; to an excellent quintette. Nice time.

The hotel messed up my reservation so it%26#39;s not been a pleasant day but not that that%26#39;s been resolved, I%26#39;ma rarin%26#39; t%26#39;go! Clear the floor, play the music, bring on the partners!

Gah! I respectfully disagree. I think the road up over Mt. Rose%26#39;s shoulder (431? 341? Gah, again with those numbers... OK, 431), and down the east side of the lake is one of the most beautiful in the world... well worth the extra time and trek up the east side of the hill, even on a ski weekend. Well, maybe not on a ski weekend, or at night, or in a snowstorm. But otherwise, I wouldn%26#39;t miss it.

I%26#39;ve taken the road you suggest, Firewind, but getting more than seven thousand feet closer to the stars than normal on a clear night before our Moon was at full illumination made it th my choice the correct one.

***

A bit of excitement:

I don%26#39;t compete because, although judges enjoy dancing with me, when it comes to judging me, I ain%26#39;t no good.

After the Champions competition, there was a ';just for fun'; NiteClub TwoStep competition. Said I to me, `I%26#39;ll do it if someone asks me%26#39;. Well, my second favorite Reno dancer, who%26#39;s improved enormously over the past year, did ask me.

When the music started, I said ';Look who%26#39;s on the floor; we don%26#39;t stand a chance against those heavyweights';.

We danced to three numbers. When the time came, we were dumbfounded to be chosen the winning couple!

We won only small boxes of candy but we won and, for the rest of the evening, bathed in the congratulations and praise heaped upon us. Well, I guess she did. She went to bed early.

[The following also appears under the Subject: traffic question.....]

swirlinabc... suggested «heading to South Lake Tahoe, here is an alternative and what I consider a more scenic route...

«From Stockton, take highway 88. This will take you up the back way through Jackson, Pine Grove, and Kirkwood. This will connect you onto highway 89 and into S. Lake Tahoe. Quicker, no, but definitely more scenic, IMO.»

Came home that way this spectacularly clear and, in The Valley, warm (78°F) day. Yes, the first part was a beautiful trip but it took me 6.9 hours to cover the 230 miles. Yes, I stopt a lot to look at dis %26#39;n%26#39; dat but those stops were brief, perhaps half an hour making the driving time about 6.4. Although there was traffic all the way, more oten than not we were moving faster than the posted limit.

Last year%26#39;s round trip was 404.8 miles, going on Highway 40 and returning on Highway 50, 197.1 miles in 4.4 hours to come home. This year, returning by the Alpine Highway, it was thrity-three miles and 1.9 hours longer.

I said that the first part was beautiful and, indeed, it was. But rollilng down the foothills was a descent into Ugly. Only the vineyards and orchards weren%26#39;t, all bathed in ugly air. I welcomed the setting of our Sun, in Stockton, thus obscuring the rest of the ugly.

Was the Alpine Highway (88) worth the additional distance and time? No, I don%26#39;t think so. However, it would be were one to leave it in Jackson to travel on Highway 49. I would certainly not go up that way. It%26#39;s quite a climb.

SwingCha rhetoricated «Was the Alpine Highway (88) worth the additional distance and time?

«No, I don%26#39;t think so. However, it would be were one to leave it in Jackson to travel on Highway 49. I would certainly not go up that way. It%26#39;s quite a climb.»

The evidence of that was the mileage achieved by the car. Last year%26#39;s trip, it was 29.04mpg. This year it was 30.3mpg.