Since we had a great morning playing around on the salt flats we figured we should stop and get some coffee. On the map we found a Starbucks…but as we rolled up to it, it was in a casino haha. Our son fell asleep as I was inside ordering the coffees and one thing we figured out from the first two days is once in motion you better stay in motion. Left the casino and headed south on 93, passed about three gas stations on our way out of West Wendover, NV. I looked at the fuel gauge and said, yeah we should be good! It was about a half tank, 101°F outside and not a cloud in sight. Not 16 miles outside of town and I see a sign that says 116 miles to next fuel station. Our son was sleeping and the trip meter on our 4Runner said 120 miles to empty and our Scangauge said 160 miles to empty. Stress was high and our decision was to keep pushing on so we didn’t wake our son by turning around and stopping for gas. I turned on cruise control and monitored fuel usage (gpm) on the Scangauge. Of course we were driving into a head wind haha. Fast forward 100 miles and my fuel light is not on yet but with the head wind and trying to conserve fuel it added about 30-45 minutes to our drive and our son is crying. Tensions were high but we rolled into a town called McGill and didn’t care how much the fuel was. We stopped at the first station called the Pony Express. While I was fueling my wife was feeding our son and I was trying to decide where we go and if we camp again or find a random hotel off of highway 50.
After fueling I noticed across the street was a park with trees and very lush green grass. There was shade on this blistering hot day! Drove across the street and got everyone out including our dog. We set up a picnic under a tree. This was a turning point for the day. Our son was in awe of the leaves rustling in the breeze. It was the first time I took a look through my son’s eyes and it was so fresh to do so! In a great mood and fueled ourselves with food we packed up the picnic and headed for some hot springs outside of Austin, NV. Got in the 4Runner and all in our seats. Go to the stop sign and my wife’s kombucha slides off my armrest and the sweating glass bottle hits my seat heater switch. I turned it off and drove maybe 1 mile and my butt was on FIRE!! Mind you it’s over 100°F outside. I pulled over and found the seat heater fuse and took it out.
1) wasn’t going to risk an electrical short/fire
2) didn’t want swamp butt anymore
3) didn’t need a seat heater in the middle of summer
With that fixed, we made our way to the hot springs to set up camp. It was such a beautiful drive. So desolate out there but still gorgeous in its own way. Really want to come back here and explore this part of Nevada more. The drive was long but it was the first real feeling of adventure we had as a whole family. Stopped about half way and enjoyed a quick lunch in a rest area. After that drove some more and rolled into the hot spring with a Sheriff tailing pretty close and followed every turn we made. This hot spring apparently is so loved by locals that the Sheriff was just dropping his wife off at the hot spring for a little dip before leaving the area. I was so nervous that I kicked up too much dust on the county road. (Old thing I learned when working for the oil field and the ranchers didn’t want dust kicked up on the lease road)
Setup camp and enjoyed some dinner and then hit the springs for some nice relaxation. Absolutely best way to cap off the day! Then as we were in the spring some burros showed up to drink some water haha. Some fighting in the distance and others just relaxing in the shade as the sun sets behind the mountains. Once the sun fully set the sweltering heat disappeared! Got into bed and lulled ourselves to sleep with the sound machine for our son and the burros hee-hawing in the background.
Next day was more windshield time on highway 50 and our end goal was Tahoe. Staying at a place the was not far back off of the lake on the California side. Again this area is on our list to explore more and feels quite remote. Unfortunately there is a lot of military presence out here. So I can only imagine what testing sounds like with jets and bombs getting dropped. We did make one mistake that I will never do again in Austin, NV. We needed to refill our cooler with ice. I pulled the drain plug and then went inside to buy ice. Their ice machine was broken so I rushed back outside to plug the cooler. Luckily a micro amount of ice was left and some cool water. It took us all the way to Fallon where we could enjoy lunch and get ice! Nothing got spoiled thank goodness!
The drive to Tahoe after getting out of Carson City was wild. We have only seen pictures of Tahoe and never been before. The 4Runner struggled up the pass and transmission temps were getting about 230°F at their height. But all this worries melted away after we got over the pass and saw the lake. Made it to our hotel and checked in. Immediately got our lives situated in the hotel and chilled in the AC! Our son was just so smiley and loving life! It was a game changer having my wife in the back seat with him. He felt so much more comfortable and this day flew by without any hiccups! We finally hit our groove!
Only downfall was finding perfect pull offs that were safe so we could feed him and change him.
Sorry for the long post but these two days were hilarious on all the miscalculations and misjudgments I had haha. Luckily it didn’t cost us in the long run and we were all safe. In the moment I was worried but now looking back we definitely have some good laughs!
But wanted to share this story of my wife and I as new parents enjoying a trip with our newborn son so others can build the courage to still go on their adventures even after becoming parents. In my opinion that is when things became really fun! For now here is a picture of how it all began in our 2016 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro (Grizzly)!
