The first entry.

Took the opportunity of a free weekday to ride my DL650 to Lake Tahoe, via Placerville and US 50. Good trip, had a quick bite at the Truckee McDonald's where I met a chap who was riding from Montana to Hanford. He mentioned slow traffic on 80.

After lunch, I went up Westbound 80 and, sure enough, hit really slow traffic. I was able to lane split quite a bit though, and the traffic cleared after Donner summit.

Should have taken the old highway...would have missed all the traffic.

Here's a shot from HWY 50 overlooking Lake Tahoe waaay in the distance.

The weather up was very good, almost cool in the shady spots, with a bit of gusty wind over the higher terrain on 50. But it got hotter and hotter as I descended from Donner. Colfax, surprisingly,  seemed like the hottest spot of the whole trip.