<– Day 34 – Apr. 22nd: Old Town Sacramento | OVERVIEW | Day 36 – Apr. 24th: ‘Tire’d of Reno –>

Southern end of Lake Tahoe.

Reno was our goal on Wednesday, but not before a few stops along the way.

Wednesday’s drive from Sacramento through the beautiful Sierra mountains to Reno, Nevada.

We started by taking I-80 east, turning off at Auburn, then following highway 49/193 as it wound into the Sierras towards Georgetown, the western gateway to the Rubicon Trail. The drive is delightful, with trees, valleys and mountains all around. Many of the turns are tight and slow, but we weren’t in a hurry.

This huge statue commemorating the Chinese is much taller than the rail car behind it. Cool sculpture!

We knew we’d arrived at the right location when we spotted a “Jeep Jamboree USA” building. We hopped out and peered in the windows. Nobody was home, but there were several vehicles, including Mark Smith’s green CJ-3A and yellow Jeepster. We would have taken photos, but the glass was kind of dark.

Me looking in the window at a CJ-3A and Jeepster housed at the Jeep Jamboree USA building.

As we pondered the vehicles inside the building, a truck pulled up near us. The driver got out and he too peered into the windows. We got to talking and it turned out he was a retail rep for YETI coolers named JD Holt. He handles the area south of the Oregon border all the way to Bakersfield. He explained that YETI is trying to penetrate the Northwest better. I explained that sounded like some of my readers would appreciate. After some discussion, he told me he’d set me up with a cooler at good price so I could test and report on it. Sounded like a deal to me, so we’ll be arranging that after we return home [Ed Note: I never did hear from him … we ended up buying a Bison Cooler, which has since changed company names].

JD telling me about the YETI coolers.

Close up of the YETI.

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<– Day 33 – Apr. 21st: Tom, Paty, Sparky, Bill, Lucy, Snoopy, Charlie, Linus, and More | OVERVIEW | Day 35 – Apr. 23rd: Over the Sierras –>

Given the public can climb into this old Ford, it was still a pretty nice car!. They even let me jump into it!

During the spring of 2013 my son Karson visited Old Town Sacramento and said it was a great area of the city.  Ann and I didn’t know for sure what to expect when we arrived there today, but we came away pleasantly surprised.

Today we drove from our Sacramento motel room to the California Auto Museum, then to Old Town Sacramento.

We began the day at the California Auto Museum located just a little south of the Old Town Sacramento area. Much of the museum’s collection came from Edward Towe, a Montana banker who assembled a large collection of Fords in Deer Lodge, Montana (some of his collection is still there at the Montana Auto Museum). That explains why many of the early vehicles and artifacts are related to Ford.

I felt like the museum started strong, with some good explanations and backgrounds. The exhibit is organized on a timeline, starting with some very early Fords.

This is a good display of how Camp Curry at Yosemite began. It started as a tent camp in 1899 by David and Jennie Curry.

A pretty static display more typical of the arrangement of the early vehicles at the museum.

The demonstration of how/why a ring and pinion developed was particularly well done. There was a video (see below the picture of the R&P machine) of the R&P and played above a hands-on example that people could spin by hand. Well done!

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<– Day 32 – Apr. 20th: A Sunday Drive to Santa Rosa | OVERVIEW | Day 34 – Apr. 22nd: Old Town Sacramento –>

Apparently, Snoopy can be a little frisky sometimes!

Fun day today! We met some great people and had a beautiful drive through the Sonoma and Napa areas.

We drove from Santa Rosa to Sacramento on Monday.

The morning began with a trip down to Tree Line Teardrop Trailers in Petaluma where we met Tom and Paty Perkins. You can also find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TreelineTeardrops.

Tom had contacted me a few months ago about finding a flat fender. He’d explained that the first vehicle he’d driven was his dad’s CJ-2A. So, he was interested in finding another one. As we exchanged emails, I learned he was building teardrop trailers. Fascinated by them, we agreed that Ann and I would stop by during our trip.

Paty and Tom quickly made us feel at home as they showed us the two different trailers in their driveway, one an off road version and one a lightweight (700lb) road cruiser that was being picked up by the new owner that day. One look at both of the trailers and it is easy to see how well made they are. This reflects Tom’s background in construction and finish work. Both Ann and I were very impressed, from the quality of the workmanship and materials, to the choices in stove top (high quality, sturdy, high btu burners) and portable fridge (ARB). Each trailer is built to order by Tom.

Perhaps the best selling point was how easy it was for Ann to climb inside. The doorways are wide and even with Ann’s bad knee and brace, she had no problem slipping inside. So sold is Ann, that she’s reviewing each trailer option as I type this.

Thanks to Tom and Paty for sharing the trailers, the bees, the chickens and more!

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<– Day 30-31 – Apr.18th-19th: Bay Area Fun | OVERVIEW | Day 33 – Apr. 21st: Tom, Paty, Sparky, Bill, Lucy, Snoopy, Charlie, Linus, and More –>

Today we enjoyed a relaxing morning and afternoon with Ann’s cousin in Belmont.

Sunday’s trip to Santa Rosa

On Saturday, we’d planned to visit downtown San Francisco some more. However, after hearing that officials were warning that the city was extra busy and that driving downtown was going to be crazy, we chose to take a quick trip into the city to get Ann’s mother something and return to the housetop spend more time with my friend Jack.

Today after visiting with Ann’s cousin and her family, we drove north to Santa Rosa. Except for narrowly avoided some jerk who almost hit us, the drive was pretty nice. We landed in Santa Rosa and were surprised to see Peanuts Character Statutes along some of the city’s streets. We didn’t have much time to explore the city as much was closed Sunday.

Ann’s selfie with Lucy

A little research informed us that Santa Rosa is home to the Shulz Museum. We’ll be exploring that tomorrow after meeting with Treeline Teardrop Trailers in Petaluma. We have a couple additional stops before we head to Sacramento on Monday evening.

<– Day 30-31 – Apr.18th-19th: Bay Area Fun | OVERVIEW | Day 33 – Apr. 21st: Tom, Paty, Sparky, Bill, Lucy, Snoopy, Charlie, Linus, and More –>