I love my semi-annual Stone’s Tires run. If you live in Truckee or North Lake Tahoe, you might have an idea of what I’m talking about. If not, let me explain…
Adequate snow tires are a necessity for living and driving in snow country. One way to achieve this is to run good mud and snow tires year-round. Another technique is to do the seasonal snow tire swap. This means installing snow tires every fall and taking them off again in the spring. And that’s where Stone Tires comes in.
The semi-annual trip to Stone’s Tires to have your tires swapped is a well-known North Tahoe tradition (click here to read a Moonshine Ink article from 2008). I suspect that most people either love it or really hate it, with not much in between. My family falls squarely in the in the “love it” column. Not only do we love the ritual experience, but we pretty much think that Bob Stone is the nicest and most trustworthy business person in Truckee and perhaps on this planet.
My husband likes the free Wi-Fi in the comfortable lobby and visiting with friends and neighbors that he’s more likely to see there than on our own street. Our kids love the popcorn machine, though they are rarely lucky enough to get to go, now that they are both in school full-time. As for me, it’s probably no surprise that I love just going for a run.
I carefully prepare my running pack so that nothing of value will be left in the car. When I arrive at Stone’s Tires, it is usually Bob Stone that greets me with a smile. He always apologizes for not remembering my name (though I don’t expect him to), gives an honest, if overly-conservative time estimate, and sends me on my merry run.
Some years the run is rainy and cold and lots of times it’s snowing. But this year it was sunny and 70 degrees on November 5. There are plenty of on- and off-road pavement runs right out the front door of Stone’s Tires. The paved bike path in front of the building leads goes through Pioneer Center with access to both the new Community Recreation Center and Downtown Truckee. Or, if you go north on the path, your run takes you through the Pine Forest neighborhood and past Alder Creek Middle school, where you can continue on to cross Highway 89 into Gray’s Crossing. (Click here for route ideas in Gray’s Crossing.)
This year my “Stone’s Tires run” took me through Downtown Truckee and onto the Truckee River Legacy Trail (click here for a full route description of the Truckee River Legacy Trail). To get Downtown, you head east on the bike path along Pioneer Trail Road for just a short bit. Watch carefully for the pavement to split right (south) before you get into the main part of Pioneer Center. The path goes south and crosses a parking lot after just a few yards. Continue on the path as it turns west then heads down a steep hill. Keep going downhill on pavement as the path dumps you onto a road, then follow Bridge Street south under Highway 80 and into Downtown Truckee. To get to the Truckee River Legacy Trail, continue south on Bridge Street through Downtown and across the railroad tracks. Take the first left onto East River Street. East River Street ends at a pedestrian bridge over the Truckee River to the Legacy Trail.
Where ever your run takes you, I hope you are one of the many that finds comfort and enjoyment in the Truckee tradition called Stone’s Tires.
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