Day 84 : Town

12th July 2013
Mile 1081 to mile 1092 : Carson Pass to Highway 50
Mileage : 11

I think somewhere in the last couple days I have made a mistake with dates, but I am sure that this entry's date is correct. I'll modify the offending post later. With so few miles to do today, we could have taken it easy, but the thought of town, and all that goes with it, was a major motivation and we coverd the miles to Highway 50, our hitching point into South Lake Tahoe, at speed. Before long the 4 of us were squished into a jeep on our way down to the lake having successfully flagged down a ride. Our ride today was thanks to Ben, a former Search and Rescue volunteer who knew all about the trail and therefore knew who we were. South Lake Tahoe straddles both California and Nevada, with the Nevadan (?) side known for two things: the casinos and the casino buffets. Buffets aren't usually my thing, but I had heard good things about these buffets, and was prepared to make an exception. Ben dropped us off on the Californian side of town at a central shopping district, and only seconds after extracting ourselves from the car and coaxing our legs back into the upright position, Mr Green had spotted an All You Can Eat lunch at a local pizza place, it seems that California does buffets too. Many stodgy American style pizza calories later, we were back in a car, this time courtesy of Aloha, on our way to find somewhere to put up for the night. A while later we found ourselves in the cheapest motel we could find for a Friday night. South Lake Tahoe is a weekend getaway resort for people living in the Bay Area, and consequently the prices were grossly inflated. The cheapest motel turns out a to be not so cheap, and b very, very, decrepit. Not a great deal to be done about that unfortunately as even the campground was 50 dollars a night. After getting clean and lounging long enough to digest lunch, we set out to a nearby micro-brewery for a local beer and some more food.