I have driven from S.F. to Truckee a number of times and usually don't have a hard time getting going in Tahoe unless it's well below freezing. Be careful though driving up there with fuel from the valley because fuel sold in the valley is seldom winterized yet this time of year. I usually try to fill up in the mountains before I get where I am going because the stations there seem to get the winterized stuff earlier. You were probably getting a small amount of solids settling out in the cold with non winterized fuel. You're probably lucky because most times when that happens you can't get it started at all until it warms up. As to where to buy fuel, there are a few stations around the lake. I know of a Shell station in Incline Village and also another in Tahoe City. There aren't too many along route 80 because the truckers never fill up there, it's much cheaper just across the boarder in Nevada so most stations in Ca. don't bother to carry it for the few diesel heads like us.

LRG

__________________
LRG
1987 300D Turbo 175K
2006 Toyota Prius, efficent but no soul
1985 300 TDT(130K miles of trouble free motoring)now sold