I have fuel my route favorited on my laptop and planned on doing just that. Changing our 3 day means I'll fill up near Medford, OR then near Reno, NV before we head back into Cali. The rest I'll work out day of. Ta!
Printable View
If you want a nice view looking down on Mono Lake and/or you are ready to eat, you can turn right onto CA120 and take a left turn 300 or 400 yds along the road. You will find Whoa Nellie Deli in the gas station which serves up some great food [gas probably expensive here] and just up the hill past the gas station is a small parking area that overlooks the lake. From here it's about an hour and a qtr to Bishop.
Gas is very expensive in Lee Vining - today's price is $4.89 according to Gasbuddy. It's about $1 cheaper in Nevada.
Yeah, that'll be the tricky fill up I think. I can get it about 20-30c cheaper in Reno but then it's about 520 miles until I cross back into NV (Pahrump first cheapest gas) taking my route through Bishop to DV. But I'll figure it out, I'll just choose the lesser of two evils haha. Whatever the cheapest CA gas I can find will have to do out of necessity but that's ok.
And thank you SWDave! I'm not too sure how we'll be looking by the time we get to Mono Lake, we may end up going to Rock Creek Lake resort for pie but I've written down almost every suggestion you guys have given me so we could end up going there on a whim and if we do get there around sunset your viewpoint sounds like it would make great photos. I can't thank you guys enough, I wouldn't have half the awesome suggestions I do without you guys! I really appreciate what you guys do.
I was also wondering if anyone knows anything about State Line Rd/Bell Vista Rd that cuts from the 190 at 127 and goes straight across to Pahrump? Google shows a drivable road and it seems the faster/ more direct route as opposed to taking 127 S, then NE on the 178. I'd obviously like to take the faster road but I was just curious if anyone knew what condition those roads are in, it looks like on the NV side of the border Bell Vista is a community area so I'm hoping that means it's a common short cut haha
Bishop is a lot cheaper than Lee Vining. Regular Unleaded sitting at $4.13/gal today.
Donna
Definitely! I even see there's one a little down the road that's $4.09 so I'm not too worried. I could even just put enough gas in to get me comfortably to Pahrump where I can top off.
What you do is fill up in Minden or Gardnerville instead of Reno - it's actually cheaper. It's just under 400 miles from there to Pahrump. Arco is the cheapest major brand, but pay cash. They don't take credit cards and they have a surcharge for debit cards.
Bell Vista is a good 2 lane well maintained road with a 55 mph speed limit till you get to the edge of Pahrump, where it becomes a city street. It is a well known and traveled shortcut.
Sweet! Yeah, 'Reno' is just an estimate, it's around the place along our route where the gas gets much cheaper. I'll be using the fuelmyroute/ gasbuddy site each morning and try to find say the 3 cheapest places for the day. Arco, ok I've written that down as I'm unfamiliar with that haha. Awesome!
Here's our rule of thumb for Arco/AM-PM stations: there is usually a 35c surcharge for debit cards. If we are buying 7 gallons, that raises their price 5c per gallon. So if the neighboring station wants that extra nickel anyway, we're not saving anything by using Arco. If the neighboring station wants more than a nickel extra per gallon, we'll go ahead and use the Arco unless the lines are extraordinarily long (like they often are at a station we liked to use in Yuma, AZ).
Donna
When you are used to playing closer to $6 a gallon on the north side of the border, even $4.80 doesn't seem that bad haha. As long as I'm in the 5-10c range of the cheaper gas in the area I'll be happy. I just don't want to run out =P!
Just don't get in a situation where you have to buy gas in Death Valley - today's price is $5.54.
Noooooo. I looked at that when I added DV to our itin. There are so few places to gas up through there that if you aren't lucky, you're almost paying Canadian tax levy equivalents! I've written down a few places along the route NOT to stop for gas too hahaha. DV is terrible as well as anywhere close to LA I noticed, thankfully with the new plans we aren't getting as close as we were before.
If you don't think you will have enough gas to make it to Pahrump, get some in Bishop or Independence.
So I may have a few last minute questions.
I'm looking at the best way to get from the I-5 to Crater Lake. I thought maybe taking the 58 from Eugene would make the most sense but an Oregon site is suggesting to take the 138 from Roseburg? Is there an advantage or disadvantage to either?
Quickest way in is 58 to 97 to 138 and in the north entrance. Coming in from Roseburg adds about 30 minutes.
The 138 out of Roseburg is a very pretty drive, if I recall correctly. It's probably a little slower than the way glc is recommending, but it's prettier. (I've done both, on two separate trips to Crater Lake.)
Donna
Awesome! I guess it'll just depend how we're doing that day then; if we just want to get to CL asap then 58 for sure. If we have more time on our hands then we'll take the pretty way out of Roseburg. I can't say it enough, you guys are invaluable. Thank you!
Just wanted to send a quick update from our second day in!
We're in Weed, CA and it's been fantastic so far. We've seen everything we wanted to including Powell's Books and eating at an amazing little food cart 'town' in Portland, Multnomah Falls, Crater Lake and that beautiful drive back down to Medford. Mt Shasta is incredible and I find myself staring every time we go outside. It's hot! Hahaha, I'm not complaining because we've yet to get through Death Valley. Tomorrow we get to see the east side of the Sierra Nevada and I'm incredibly excited to see Mono Lake. Probably won't get a chance to update again until I'm back home but I promise I will. My partner in crime and I have been singing all of your praises multiple times during this trip. Now we're off to have dinner and famous pie!
Thanks for the update, pleased to hear you are up and running.
Have a great trip !
Dave.
Yeah, great to hear how much you are enjoying it. But don't forget, we do like to see pictures.
If you can't post till you get home, why not start a thread in the Field Reports, and include your favourite pictures. I am looking forward to seeing them.
Lifey
Alright, so I needed a few days to recover but I put up my recap post (in the Field Reports section, thanks Lifey!) as well as some of the pictures. I took over 300 on my phone so I tried to pic the cream of the crop =P This should link you to the thread. Thank you again for all you help! I'll certainly be coming back to your expertise on the next adventure!
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum...253#post157253