The social visit has become a viewing and a wake, and we head on this gloriously-clear-day-between-storms over the Sierra past Yuba Gap -- the Central Valley fog having started in Dixon and fled
by the Foothills
approaching Auburn.
The late fall colors
and early early snow
are stunning
up close and
afar all the way to
Truckee for
brunch
at
Coffee And with
views south and
west past
other familiar locales.
Back on the road,
through Truckee Meadows and
down
the
steep-walled,
precipitous
Canyon,
we are soon amongst the desertic, dusted domes near Verdi ("Vurd-eye," the composer notwithstanding), and on to
Reno and
Sparks
where
Megan and Dawn await,
then off, back to Reno's
Mountain
View
Cemetery (map above has west at top), specifically the
Masonic /
Final Wishes
Chapel.
We are all briefed as to the viewing, and there is
Mike at rest (a big man with a big heart, that suddenly gave out on him prematurely at 50),
overlooking the prospect of downtown Reno and the distant eastern mountains.
Mike's brother Roger and his wife are there, as well as their
son, daughter-in-law, and
granddaughter (Samuel Becket - Waiting for Godot: "Astride...");
Mike's son (called Mikey by some) and his wife;
Dawn,
Harriet, and
Megan.
The wake is back at Megan's, then we head, after dropping Dawn off near
Mike's notorious truck, into that good night, back over the Sierra, with only a bit of fog on a fuzzy, moonlit, bonny night that may presage more storms to come.
