Member of the Arts and Cultural Highway
September 15th, 2002
Carson City, Nevada features prominently in Jo's Triumph. This is where the fictitious orphanage, The Carson City Home for Unfortunate Girls is located and where Jo first meets Sarah Winnemucca.
September 15th – Sunday We all enjoyed staying at the Royer Ranch located between Stagecoach and Dayton and gave Breezy a well-deserved day off. After catching up on some email and posting a few photos to the website, Jane and I headed into Carson City to run a few errands and visit with Bonnie and Dale Ryan, Pony Express riders from way back.
In the evening we drove back up to Virginia City to meet my brother, Peter, for dinner. Pete has travelled even farther than we have to visit Nevada – he usually lives in Tokyo. In keeping with the flavour of the old west, we all ate big steaks for dinner – yum!
September 16th After sorting mail, finishing up my column for Island Parent magazine, and organizing the motorhome a bit, we headed off to Gardnerville with a new crew member in tow. Tokyo Pete donned a red shirt, yellow bandana, and black hat and joined us at Gardnerville Elementary School for the delivery of the first batch of mail from BC students.
After a quick meal, we headed for Kingsbury Grade – the pass that leads over the Sierra-Nevada Mountains to California.
Breezy and I followed the side of the road towards Genoa. Semi-trailers, whizzing cars, and Harley motorcycles didn’t bother the mare at all – but when a herd of cattle started mooing, she panicked! We had a few exciting moments where she balked and decided she didn’t want to go forward, but Pete shadowed us with his rental car and we were able to safely navigate even a couple of narrow bits of road.
Took photos in front of the historical marker at Kingsbury Grade,
rode a little farther along the road, and then trailered the last mile or so into the first permanent settlement in Nevada, Genoa. It was nearly dark when we rolled through town, but we all agreed that Genoa must be added to the list of cool places to visit on our next trip to Nevada.
After dropping Breezy off at the Ryan Ranch in Carson City, we headed for the hotel, had a snack, and collapsed into bed. Strange how the days down here seem to have fewer hours in them than the days back at home!