Day 17

He Said:

Yesterday was an amazing day. My life will be forever changed for the better.

Today I woke up early and proceeded to pack up the stuff for our trip north. We had planned on being at a motorcycle shop right when it opened up at nine. Much to my surprise, we were in fact at the shop when it opened. She and I were still grinning ear to ear.

Of course, nothing ever goes exactly as planned, and the shop ended up not having the correct chain after all, despite me double checking the day before. We showed up and this guy behind the counter still insisted that that they had it, and proceeded to look everywhere for the right size. Unfortunately, he had no luck and I was forced to buy a chain from a shop down the road. I say "unfortunate" because, despite their somewhat unorganized style, I really liked the shop guys.

I drove to the other shop, only to be greeted with the most expensive chain on the market. Oh well, it was the only one available in Vegas at the time, so I swallowed my frustration and purchased the chain. I then drove back to the original shop for them to throw it on for me. I would rather give them the business than the other shop.

We finally got the chain on and were ready to leave town by 11:30 or so. The goal was to get as close to Tahoe as possible, but that wouldn't be as easy as it looked on the map, especially after getting such a late start. Our first stop was in Beaty, at this cool candy shop. We devoured some ice cream and drank some much needed water.

Death Valley was too close to pass up, so we headed west. It was hot. That is actually an understatement, but let's just leave it at hot. The best part is that when we finally reached the lowest point, the clouds rolled in and provided us with some welcomed cover from the blistering sun. We were delighted.

After crossing the valley and having a great lunch at a small resort, we reached Highway 395 and our home for the next several hours. It was getting late though, and we didn't want to be driving too long after the sun went down. We continued north, through Bishop and some other fantastic little towns, past the enterance to Yosemite National Park, and further north to Carson City, NV. We landed in another Best Western and fell asleep excited about seeing Lake Tahoe the following day.