Leaving SoCal up the I-15 to get to the 395 means skirting the Mojave on the right.
Further up, once you get into the Owens Valley, there are some cool little towns like Lone Pine, Big Pine, Bishop, and Mammoth Lakes. There’s also Manzanar, in the middle of utter desolation, where Japanese were held captive during WWII. We’d visited some years before. Definitely worth a visit. But don’t expect a cool little town. You can also get some nice views of the Eastern Sierras.
Further north there are pine forests. I wished I could take a pict of the fresh pine smell that makes your lungs feel they’re expanding to take in the fragrance. But I *could* take a picture of a monument to the “famous lost cement mine.”
Then into Nevada, which I thought was known as “The Silver State.” But no. And it’s not what the greeting monument says (“Battle Born") either.
It’s “All for Our Country.” Something to do with NV's entering the union as the Civil War and a presidential campaign raged. Lincoln was up for re-election (1864) and worried he’d need a few more electoral votes to win. Nevada’s first constitutional convention sent a strong pro-union message in 1863, possibly to curry favor with Lincoln and his party. NV became the 36th state 8 days before the election, which Lincoln won handily (and would have even without NV’s electors).
I hit the state as the Calder and Tamarack fires in eastern California really took off, causing evacuation of South Lake Tahoe. I was never in any danger, but I went through Gardnerville (see map, just below “395” at the top), which was enveloped in smoke.
I could see it coming over the ridge, creeping into the town, and spreading over the entire area.
Fortunately Virginia City is farther east and north; plus it sits high atop a canyon, scalloped into the Virginia Range of the Sierras. I could see the smoke in the canyon, but Virginia City was largely unaffected.
Then tonight I met a man and his daughter who had just arrived at the motel where I’m staying. They had been among the first evacuated from Tahoe. He appeared to be covered in soot, a bit in shock, and harried with all of his family’s luggage. His young daughter cheerily did cartwheels in the parking lot and chatted up a storm.