Rallye Over, Headed South and East

Okay everyone, this is going to be a long one, so sit back, put your feet up and start reading. This will be long because I have not blogged for a while--I do have excuses, are you ready for them? First, while we were in Reno we stayed very busy and when we returned to the room, I just wanted to relax. Then, when we reached San Francisco, the internet was unreliable so we kept losing all the things we typed. We finally decided to wait until today--so now is the time!



Okay, when last we wrote we were in Ely. So the next day we headed off to Reno. Again, it was an amazing display of God's creativity. The scenery was out of this world. The clouds were hanging low on the mountains as we started out. They looked amazing.


Then, we were surprised by a mountain made of sand. Here is a picture. It may not seem too impressive until you realize those little dots at the bottom of the sand are RVs, cars, and people walking around. It was truly a mountain of sand. The day was beautiful and we couldn't get enough of the mountains. We finally made it to Carson City where we gathered to drive into Reno as a parade of MGs. There must have been 50 of us. It was amazing to see so many different models and years of MGs all together. We finally arrived in Reno to a crowd of people waving and taking pictures. It really was fantastic. While in Reno we met a lot of new friends and some old ones. We went to dinners, auctions, toured some of the local areas, and I even played the slot machines a little (started with $10 and left with $30!!!). On Wednesday we went to Virginia City. For those of you who remember Bonanza, that is the city the Cartrights used to frequent. It still looks like an old western town with saloons, donkeys, and horse drawn carriages. However, the roads up the mountains had a lot of switch backs, and I was scared out of my mind!. However, I think Dennis loved it. We did get to see some wild horses on the way down--really cool, but I was holding onto the car so tight that I didn't get any pictures!


On Thursday there was a huge car show with about 612 cars. Believe it or not, our little midget came in second in the rubber bumper midgets--yeah! Congrats Dennis!


Friday we headed out for San Francisco. We were traveling with our friends Ron and Pat and Trip and Georgia. Let me tell you, Trip has had his share of trouble with his car on this trip. He has replaced the starter, gotten a new muffler, had the radiator fan sling a blade, replaced a plug, and then on this trip he broke down again! We have a rule--no car left behind, so on the way up a mountain in Colorado, we stopped at a beautiful landscape and the guys changed Trip's fuel pump! Good job guys! I took the opportunity to take some pictures of our award winning Midget against the beautiful scenery. Once the guys got the car running again, we were once more on our way. We went around the south end of Lake Tahoe-what beautiful country--they still had many feet of snow in the mountains. Check out this beautiful scene. I think my camera was constantly clicking. Again, we were going up, up, up, and down, down, down--not quite as scary, but a little nerve wracking. After many hours, we finally arrived in California and stopped at the bottom of the Bay Bridge for a photo op before entering San Francisco.


San Francisco is a beautiful city--if you get a little out of the city. The SF MG club gave us a wonderful tour of the town. We saw the Pacific Ocean (with some surfers), the Golden Gate Bridge from below (and later Dennis took us to view the Golden Gate Bridge from above), the Presidio, we went to the highest peak in SF, and then ended with a picture of all the people who actually drove coast to coast. What a great morning.







At Twin Peaks, the highest peak in SF, Dennis decided he had had enough and tried to jump--we coaxed him back up. Good thing he has strong fingers!!!!!







Sunday morning Dennis and I went to church--very nice service, and we met a very nice couple. The young lady had an MGB and was a flight attendant--how cool is God to lead us to a couple that has so much in common with us. We also went to Lombard Street--that really curvy road you always see in SF on TV. What a beautiful road--but the curves are unbelievable!

Later we took a ride on the cable cars--what a blast. We both chose to ride on the outside. Going up and down those SF streets is better than a roller coaster. You will not believe how close you come to other cable cars, and cars in general!

Later in the evening we took a trip to Alcatraz. It was very interesting, definitely worth a look see.

We left SF today and headed down the Pacific coast on Route 1. OMG, you would not believe how magnificent the coastline looks. The cliffs dropped right down to the ocean on the right side of the highway, and there were mountains on the left. In some areas there were cattle grazing on the mountain side of the road. As we traveled down the highway, we saw a lot of people stopped at one viewing spot. We had stopped at so many we decided not to stop, but as we were going by I glanced out and saw movement. I told Dennis to please turn around so I could see what was happening. I couldn't believe the number of Elephant Seals on the shore. They were magnificent to see, and you would not believe the noise they make. I was thrilled to get to see these animals in their natural habitat.

We are now in Santa Maria, and tomorrow we are heading to the Los Anglos area.

Dennis will be blogging tomorrow. Until then, have a great evening