Moving North

Good morning, my friends. We’re in a death march toward home, although with our new rule about driving shorter distances, it doesn’t feel as much like a death march. It’s more like a pleasant trot. We’ll head to Reno, Nevada, for today’s drive. There’s no particular reason for stopping in Reno, but it was a good amount of travel for a single day. It probably seems as if ending our day in Nevada would have us traveling in the wrong direction, but it makes sense when you realize that Nevada and Oregon share a portion of their borders.

So let’s talk about yesterday’s drive, shall we? We headed north and west from Furnace Creek, where we stayed in Death Valley. Heading toward Stove Pipe Wells, we passed by Death Valley’s Mesquite Dunes. There were a lot of people out walking on them. Mike and I have never been enticed to go out there. Walking on soft sand is hard on feet and knees.

We saw even more wildflowers on our way out of the park. The blooming rabbit brush lined both sides of the road.

This next image is one in which I hear my mother’s voice: “There goes the road.” Look off there just a little to the right of center in the image below, and you’ll see how the curve we’re taking will lead to a straight-away up into those mountains.

It’s a bit of a harrowing drive through those mountains…narrow roads, twists and turns, rock walls, cliffs without guardrails. Really, there should be a length limit. We’re fine at our length, but there are a lot of folks out there longer than we are. And with the lack of guardrails, folks on those outside turns tend to hug the center line to avoid going over the side. We had two close calls yesterday, coming around a blind turn and finding someone straddling the center line. Yikes! And all’s well that ends well. Nobody died, and so it was a good day.

Coming over a rise, we had a view of the tippy top of Mt. Whitney.

A little farther along, we had a more expansive view of the Sierra Nevada.

This is such a pretty area, and being on the east side of these mountains makes for a beautiful drive home. You might remember in an earlier post what I mentioned about young mountains vs. old mountains. In the image below, I want you to notice the sharp peaks on the snow-capped mountains. Then contrast them with the brown hills in the foreground, where the tops are more rounded. Those are new and old mountains in the same image.

The Sierra Nevada are being pushed up by the depletion of ground water in the region. One figure I read said that the Sierra Nevada has been raised as much as six inches over the past 150 years from ground water depletion alone. Tectonic shifts push the mountains up along the San Andreas Fault, and the depletion of ground water may cause more frequent earthquakes along the faultline. There’s an interesting article about this process right here, if you’d like to learn more.

We stopped at a rest area just north of Lone Pine. There was another pretty view of the mountains there.

It’s tempting to walk on out there, but nah….not feeling like getting snake bit today. Go ahead, though. We’ll wait. Probably.

Okay, and I’m aware that it’s time to choose a goal for March’s

It’s going to be busy when we get home. There will be unpacking to do, and haircuts to get, and pedicures to sit through, and doctor’s appointments to attend, and…oh yes!…I need to pick up Eliza from her long vaycay at the Babylock spa. Nevertheless, I still think I can finish sewing together the Gumballs quilt top. I finished off the final ten blocks while we were traveling.

The remaining 20 blocks are at home.

My goal for March will be to sew the Gumballs blocks into a finished quilt top.

Okay, and my goal for March 2nd will be to make it to our stop in Reno without any unintended interruptions. Fingers crossed.