Driving to San Francisco - Day 3

We were up and early on Monday morning and we hit the road at 6:00 AM. I80 was still snowy but it was much better so we were able to make good time. Once we got out of the mountains it clear sailing again.

We were stoked to finally cross the Wyoming-Utah border! We made it into Salt Lake City at around 9:00 AM. We had a great breakfast and hit the road again.

Our goal was to drive like crazy and make it into San Francisco late Monday night. We were making great time. Utah is a beautiful state!

We crossed into Nevada and all was well. We made it into Reno, Nevada about 5:00 PM. We thought of stopping there for the night but decided to press onto San Francisco. We crossed the California border and all seemed well... until we hit those damn mountains again!

I80 came to a complete stop again near Truckee, CA. We were there again for about 30 minutes until we decided to exit off and got into Truckee, CA.

At a gas station there we learned trucks again were causing havoc and that it would be hours before we could get out so we decided to spend the night in Truckee, CA.

I had never heard of Truckee but I guess it's a well-known resort town near Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful but it was a bit stressed out as we looked for a pet friendly hotel.

We found the Best Western in Truckee and Jennifer, myself, and our 3 dogs hunkered down for the night.

It was a great place and the Mexican restaurant inside the Best Western was delicious. I had a much needed beer while I waited for dinner to bring up to the room. :-)

The next day the snow was coming down hard and I80 was closed. I talked to some of the truckers who stayed at the hotel and one of them spent 10 hours on I80 until all trucks were ordered off I80 so we were glad we spent the night in Truckee.

The snow was coming down hard in the morning...

I thought I was still in Minnesota not California! But at 6,000 ft. elevation this happens in the mountains.

We had to wait until I80 opened up again. Luckily the Best Western let us stay for a late check out of 1:00 PM.

I80 west bound finally opened but you needed tire chains. What?? In all my years living in Minnesota I've never used tire chains but without them they wouldn't let make the drive up to 7,000 ft then the decent down to 75 ft near Sacramento!

So off to find tire chains. The local 76 Gas Station in Truckee had them so I had to pay $99 and they installed them for me. The rental had big tired so the regular $60 chains were a no-go.

But finally the chains were installed and off we went! It took us 3+ hours driving 30-35 MPH to get out of the mountains.

Getting the tire chains off was a pain but we won't go there! I was glad to be out of 7,000 feet of elevation.

We were finally back on track as we made our way down to San Francisco. We stopped in Roseville, California for gas and to change clothes (yea getting the tire chains off was a bit of a challenge) and we finally where home free through Sacramento heading west to Oakland to the bridge into San Francisco.

We finally made it to our new place at around 10:00 PM on Tuesday. We were tired but happy the trip was over!