Truckee, CA:   Beware of wildlife on Truckee and Lake Tahoe roads warns Quality Automotive Servicing of Truckee, CA.  Deer and bear on the roadway are common and each year they fall victim to collisions with vehicles.  "It's absolutely horrible to hit an animal in the first place, but it can also do a lot of damage to your car," says a local Sierra Valley commuter. Quality Automotive Servicing recommends that if you drive at night, one of the best things you can do is improve your night vision with a professional headlight restoration service.    Headlights become yellowed and cloudy over time (see below). This decreases the distance a driver can see at night.  On   mountain highways and roads, not having clear and long distance vision can result in not identifying wildlife until it's too late to avoid them.  If you drive areas with heavy deer activity, a h ... read more

RESTORE YOUR HEADLIGHTS TO SEE WILDLIFE! My neighbor's daughter was driving carefully that night, watching for deer and other animals on the roadway.  But out of the dark crossed a coyote and her pup.  A thousand pounds of Toyota and her were about to collide.  Luckily she zipped across the road to safety.  Was it luck or animal instinct? Daylight savings time ends November 1st and days will become shorter and shorter.  Daylight is yielding to darkness and poorly lit mountain roads can be hazardous for your vehicle and wildlife. For your safety and the life of an animal out on the roadway, it’s important to have bright headlights.    Over the years of use, headlights will loose clarity and hinder your long distance view on dark Sierra roads such as Highway 89 toward Squaw Valley.  The result could be deadly for a neighborhood pet or wild animal.  A ... read more

Look for a series of blog posts labeled "Get Out of Town" and discovering some special spots in the Sierra Nevada and foothills. All within a 2 hour drive of Truckee. Not far from Truckee, down Highway 20, just short of Nevada City on Harmony Ridge, sits the well-known Five Mile House and new home to ol’ Republic Roadhouse. An established Nevada City brewery, ol’ Republic is spreading it’s wings beyond the two tap rooms (Nevada City & Roseville) to reopen the historic Five Mile House and pair their award-winning brews with some delicious “Roadhouse” food and atmosphere. You might call this pub food on vacation. Fresh bread is baked daily and available for purchase, Wednesday is “oyster night” and the eggs benedict are perfect with a mimosa or my favorite, extra spicy Bloody Mary. Yes, they have a full bar as well as serving their award-winning brews. Hungry yet? Browse their Facebook page if you are in the mood for food and ... read more

Never heard of it? Lack of familiarity is central to the sometimes emotional debate that erupts when talking about the zipper merge, aka late merging. Say there are two lanes of highway traffic and because of construction a section of one lane is closed, narrowing traffic to one lane. It's rush hour and traffic flow has slowed dramatically. You see the sign well before the merge telling you traffic is reduced to one lane ahead. What's the safest, most polite course of action? A) Put your turn signal on and move from the ending lane to the continuing lane when there's a natural break or another motorist waves you over, or B) Continue in the ending lane all the way to the merge point, then make your way over. Conventional wisdom or common courtesy dictates that you follow procedure A, getting over as early as possible to keep traffic flowing and be fair to everyone. And that presumptuous driver who motors all the way up to the front and then expects someone who got over early and paid t ... read more