Day One-hundred-and-fifty-two: Nevada Backcountry

I didn't look in the Atlas for the "as the crow flies" distance between Reno and Las Vegas, but I followed the short route on my Prius navigator.  This had me going NW, SE, E, and S.  It also had me on a wash board dirt road for what turned out to be only 14 miles.  The maximum speed I could go on that road made me believe the Prius' navigation estimate of 11 hours.  It was actually closer to eight hours.

The scenery before it got repetitive was really great.  Even the repetitive parts were great, but literally two or three hundred miles of high desert caldera looking land.  Every once in a while I had to cross the rims that it looked like the caldera through up.  I did take some pictures.

I had my doubts about the dirt road that got worse.  About a mile from Alt 95, right at Fortchurchill, it became paved again. I thought that I was coming up on a town but it turned out to be a Nevada Auto Test site.

The mountain tops were dusted with snow but the road level was clear, even at the plus six thousand feet.  While still on the dirt road I passed a formation that looked like a small version of the Devil's Postpile.

The dirt road ran along Carson River.  I took a picture but all that can be seen are trees.  Of course in a desert, the only place a tree can grow is where there is water.  This route took me through Virginia City.  Marilyn and I did make it to Virginia City once because she wanted to see the city that the Cartrights rode to from the Ponderosa.  (We drove by the Ponderosa a couple times near Lake Tahoe but never stopped there.)  We toured "The Way It Was" museum and I thought about stopping and taking a picture but that was when the Prius was telling me it would take 11 hours to drive to Las Vegas.

I'm sure Marilyn would have liked Tonopah and Goldfield.  She probably would have had me pull into the 20-mile beach at Walker Lake.  There were long stretches where we couldn't have stopped for a rest break and I made it all the way to my exit in Las Vegas, which was surprising, given the amount of water I drank.  The air is dryer.

I set the Prius up to take me to a Whole Foods in Las Vegas to post my flyer for the Marilyn Westbrook Garment Fund.  As I was leaving Reno, I happened to be driving right by a Whole Foods, so I stopped in.  They didn't allow customer postings.  All the way to Las Vegas, this stuck in my mind.  But when I got to the Las Vegas Whole Foods, as I was checking out, I asked the clerk about posting it.  She said, "Sure, just put it on the bulletin board over there."  There was a perfect open space for it.  I'll still have quite a few left when I get back to Ohio and West Virginia so I will have to take a different way back to California.

Early tomorrow I want to leave for Zion National Park.  I don't intend to stay there long as I also want to get all the way to Gallup.  I had thought to take a more northern route into Taos but that would be even further on roads that zig zag as much as my Nevada travels today.

Even though I have not burned through all the money I set aside to gamble with, I will not be going out to a casino tonight.  Conflicting desires mean that I'd prefer to go to sleep early to be able to get up early over getting all smoked up again.  Tough choices in my Life after Layoff.  Oh well, there are Indian Casinos in New Mexico and River Boat casinos in Saint Louis.  And there is always the return trip.

Day One-hundred-and-fifty-one: More memories

I'm staying in a hotel in Reno that Marilyn and I once stayed at.  I had forgotten how bad it was but at least it is reasonable, and has free WiFi.  I walked over to the Peppermill casino to have dinner but their only likely source of vegan food was a Chinese restaurant that will open the middle of December.  So, I gambled before I walked back to hotel to eat out of my traveling stash.  (I'm limiting myself to $100 per casino unless I'm using their money.)  However, I decided not to reinvest $30 in winnings and the original $20, which means that I only lost $50.

At this rate, my Den of Inequities tour will be very short.  Cigarette smoke and losing take the luster off of it.  I can tolerate the cigarette smoke much better if I'm winning but to have to pay for the punishment...

This trip so far is a series of memories of Marilyn.  Auburn and the Grass Valley turn off all the way to Grae Eagle.  Auburn itself.  Truckee.  She loved to poke around in Truckee's stores.  We were there more than once.  One time we even went skiing at the downtown Truckee ski slope.  She said it reminded her a lot of Mansfield.

Even Reno has several memories, our first or second Thanksgiving on the road was a trip to Reno to stay at the Flamingo Hilton.  As we were walking up to check-in, my son, who was no older than five, was jaw dropping amazed at the machines that gave real money.  Someone had just hit a minor jackpot and the machine was paying out.  Now they are all paper.  It definitely takes the fun out of it and makes it easier to go through money.  There's no slowing to look for double dated, 1976, quarters or pulling out state quarters.

Life keeps changing.  I guess that's what makes it Life after Layoff.

It is a longer drive to Reno from Pacifica than Fremont anyway and the stop, stop, and go around I-680 didn't help.  I think I will try and stop while it is still daylight tomorrow, which means that I need to get to bed early enough to get up and get out early.  So, its off to the shower and then to bed.