Here There and Everywhere

Crossing California on CA 20

This was going to be one of those days we dreaded; we don’t have any happy destination today, it’s just one of three days driving to get where we want to get next. We’re going to see Little Diamond, and to meet her babies!

But first, we have to leave the California northern coast, where we have had so much fun, and get to Sparks, just past Reno. It’s one of those drives where we could drive an hour more, but an hour more just puts us no-where, on I-80 where there are not a lot of great stops.

GoogleMaps tells us what routes to take, and to our great surprise, we are on CA 20 most of the day, crossing California west to east, and we encounter very little traffic, and some gorgeous views and nice driving.

AdventureMan is feeling awful. He caught some kind of respiratory virus, so he drove the first hour, and then I drove most of the rest of the day to get to Sparks. Our hotel is right off the interstate, a piece of cake.

En route, as AdventureMan wakes up, we realize we had better find a place to eat as we have a long stretch ahead of us with no great prospects, so we decide barbecue, and he says “There is a Mongolian BBQ in Yuba City” and I say “Yes! I LOVE Mongolian BBQ” and he grumps because he is not feeling well and Mongolian BBQ does not count, in his book, as BBQ. But, he loves me, and the Mongolian BBQ is right on the road we are taking, and turns out to be a great stop.

After choosing your ingredients, you hand them to one of two cooks, and the cooks dance around a large barbecue drum, cooking your selections. I’ve never seen Mongolian BBQ done that way before, but it was fun, and the result was delicious.

I had never seen this before, either, but we saw it all along CA-20, different prices listed depending on whether you used cash, credit card or debit card.

I had thought this route would be hot, but it was cool, and we saw snow close up.

We also didn’t know this route would take us over the infamous Donner pass, where a group of pioneers got stopped crossing the mountains and ended up cannibalizing one or two of their party in order to survive.

Welcome to Nevada!

Old mining train

We found a small Mexican place to eat dinner in Sparks, Betos II, and we were the only non-Mexicans eating there. The food was all pictured on the wall, quickly prepared, and delicious:

May 2, 2015 - Posted by intlxpatr | Adventure, Eating Out, Family Issues, Geography / Maps, Restaurant, Road Trips, Travel