After having to turn on the car many times during the night to heat it up, the sunrise happens at last!

That’s where we slept! It’s around 5:45AM… At least we had a wonderful view of the stars through the hatch of the car 😉

Map of the day:

We take the Scotlys Castle road to the North, to the junction with the 95 to make our way towards Tonopah. The road is beautiful in the morning lights.

We stop at Tonopah to refill the tank, take some coffee (yeah it’s around 9AM, more than time to have breakfast!). It is really cold outside, around 0°C. We decide to try to make our way to the lake Tahoe, either tonight or tomorrow. The first point is the lake Mono. Beautiful road again!

As you can see the scenaries change a lot, from the morning in the desert, to the high mountain passes full of snow, then the high altitude lake Mono. The path from Mono to Tahoe is a high altitude road, around 5000 feet with passes above 7000 feet.

We stop close to the South pointe of the lake Tahoe. Did I mention it was cold?

Despite the cold we decide to make a small walk to the Fallen Leaf Lake. Worth every breath!

However it is already 5PM, more than time to find a motel as sleeping in the car is not an option, we need a good bed, and anyway it is far too cold outside. We try Tahoe City (north of the lake). The road is fabulous! There are some beautiful inns too, but the rooms are about 300$ the night… too expensive!

Best Value America Inn has a last room, we take it! We are still registering that other guests arrive, and too bad for them no more room…

We eat at a tavern recommended by the hotel, pretty good burgers & beer. Ok we eat a lot of burgers during this trip… Time to sleep! In a real bed!!!!