Attended the mass for MaryEtta.  The priest did a nice job.  He made the ceremony personal, yet instructive at the same time.  I think this was the first time I truly GOT the purpose of a religious funeral service.  If we base our belief on the idea that God forgives all of our sins so that we can reside in Heaven beside Him, then when someone dies, we put them before God and invoke the Holy Spirit and call on all the angels and the Heavenly Host and say come and get them now.  Take them to Heaven and intercede on their behalf.  Put them before God so that the promise can be kept---forgiveness for every sin committed as part of a human blunder.  Forgiveness that will heal the soul and make it whole again.

After leaving Reno, we traveled south on Hwy 395 and then crossed the Sierra at Sonora Pass.  Stopped halfway down on the Western side.  I have to say that the up close mountain scenery of today was just as beautiful, just as majestic, and just as awe-inspiring as anything I have seen in Colorado.

We are camping the next few nights at a forest service camp called Dardanelles just above the Stanislaus River.  Soothing sounds of the river reach us up here on the bank.