We topped off the gas tank just north of Vegas at http://www.lvpaiutesmokeshop.com/. I'd done some rather precise fuel/distance calculations and was planning on stretching the 911 to nearly the limit of its one-tank endurance on the first leg of the trip. Side note: filling the gas tank on my car is a little weird--the auto-shutoff on the pump always gets triggered long before the tank reaches capacity. I wind up manually holding the pump trigger halfway down until I get a little spill from the filler port. Anyway, the tank's stated capacity is over 16 gallons, and if you take the Car & Driver observed MPG of 20, that's a 320-plus-mile range. I usually expect to get 22 or 23 mpg, so I figure 320 is a conservative range estimate--always want to err on the conservative side when it comes to fuel, for obvious reasons. From the Smoke Shop to the next refuel point at the http://whoanelliedeli.com/ in Lee Vining, CA is, per Google Maps, 311 miles.
There was some road resurfacing going on on 95 North--an extensive enough operation that the highway became one-lane, one direction at a time, with follow-me trucks pulling the traffic through. Fortunately the weather was beautiful, so I just dropped the windows, pulled the e-brake, and shut the engine off while we waited our turn. This happened in two different places! No big deal...these two delays turned out to be the only hiccups on the otherwise smooth trip.
One key to the smoothness was my eagle-eyed wife spotting the turn onto Route 266 at Lida Junction. I would have completely missed it. The trip began in earnest here--we were off the beaten track now. Cresting Lida Summit, we saw the Yosemite mountains scraping the sky, tantalizingly off in the distance. I admit to taking these pictures on the way back, which explains why the sun is setting:
We then descended into the farming community of Fish Lake/Dyer, nestled in the shadow of the Sierra Nevadas. The chief export seemed to be HUGE bales of hay. Dancing along the border of California and Nevada here, we finally found Route 6, which committed us to Cali and the Agricultural Inspection Station in the town of Benton. I note this only because stopped there at the station as we passed was a bee truck. That's right, an 18-wheel semi full of nothing but bees.
Next - Part 3 - More Journey.
There was some road resurfacing going on on 95 North--an extensive enough operation that the highway became one-lane, one direction at a time, with follow-me trucks pulling the traffic through. Fortunately the weather was beautiful, so I just dropped the windows, pulled the e-brake, and shut the engine off while we waited our turn. This happened in two different places! No big deal...these two delays turned out to be the only hiccups on the otherwise smooth trip.
One key to the smoothness was my eagle-eyed wife spotting the turn onto Route 266 at Lida Junction. I would have completely missed it. The trip began in earnest here--we were off the beaten track now. Cresting Lida Summit, we saw the Yosemite mountains scraping the sky, tantalizingly off in the distance. I admit to taking these pictures on the way back, which explains why the sun is setting:
We then descended into the farming community of Fish Lake/Dyer, nestled in the shadow of the Sierra Nevadas. The chief export seemed to be HUGE bales of hay. Dancing along the border of California and Nevada here, we finally found Route 6, which committed us to Cali and the Agricultural Inspection Station in the town of Benton. I note this only because stopped there at the station as we passed was a bee truck. That's right, an 18-wheel semi full of nothing but bees.
Next - Part 3 - More Journey.
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