A horrible day: instead of 5 hours we drove for 8, with short stops, not even time to eat, but mostly on sharply turning, winding, precipitous roads, across mountain passes, where at some points there was just a one-lane road - and you could never tell what will jump at you from around that next corner. People say that the most dangerous thing on this road is to face a rented RV. I wish I followed the directions they gave me at the AAA office; instead, I trusted my GPS device.
Of course, crossing the Sierra Nevada is a beautiful, if harrowing, experience. The Ebbot's Pass takes you through alpine forests, along pristine lakes, untouched,wild nature.
In the evening we reached the Pyramid Lake. Peace, asolute quiet, beauty of pale blue and dusty rose colors around you. The lake is only an hour and a half from Reno, but as it is part of the Native American rezervation, it is untouched by civilization. There are a few hundred people on its banks, mostly in RVs - and the town of Suttcliff ( a dozen of small homes bunched up together ). One motel to offer lodging: Crosby's Lodge has 3 cottages, a lively bar fueled by modern country music, a few gambling apparatuses, and a store that sells everything a fisherman might dream of.
They took us in with genuine welcome and fed us! Finally! We each got a gigantic basket of fish and chips - even my father could not finish!
The cottage was fully equipped for a long stay: a full-size refrigerator, a full size gas stove, a microwave oven, pots, pans, siverware, salt, pepper, flour, - 4 beds - and a bathroom - for the price of meager 70 bucks a night!
We could not wait to see the lake. So, after dinner, we walked about 100 feet down to the water. There were white pelicans, moodily watching the waters, sandpipers running along the shore, rabbits, quail, quite unintimidated by our presence.
The lake is beautiful. I wish we could rent a boat trip - but the only rentals available were superexpensive speedboats that I would never dare to drive.
Even from this shore you could see an out-of-this world vision of a stone pyramid closer to the eastern bank of the lake, rising from the water, changing color every half hour in the setting sun.
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