An easy start today (On the road by 8:15, after filling up the gas tank).
The last of scenic rout 395, but worth a drive-through. Paused to take photos of the "Now Entering Nevada" sign. First state-line crossing of the trip :). Stopped on the way to Reno at a place called the Chocolate Nugget in Washoe city to take a photo of the Miner (one of those huge plaster men so beloved of old road-side stops). Then on into Reno.
Reno was worse than I expected. Traffic-y and torn-up from construction, it was such miserable going that I decided to skip getting lunch there (it was only 11:30 when I reached it, maybe?) and get lunch further on the road.
Fortunately this was not a catastrophic mistake (although it could be, if you are hungry and about to start down I-80, for the love of all that is holy, STOP AND GET SOMETHING TO EAT, vast swaths of I-80 are desolate, un-inhabited wastelands.
Aaand, according to the rest stop near the Carson Sink, it always has been so. Funny, because before I saw the signs at the rest stop I thought, "Gosh I hope no one ever tried to cross this place." Evidently LOTS of people did, and, as a result, LOTS of people (and animals) died.
Ohhh right, I thinks reading the sign, I've heard about the California Trail, I guess I just never heard about this particular part of the California trail. Desolate isn't even the word, it's almost grimmer than that. So little resources that even the rest-stop didn't have running water. Looking at the map I decided that there was as good a place as any to have lunch, so I dug in the cooler and grabbed my lunch and ate it at a table, then climbed back on the road.
There really wasn't much to see along I-80 except for afore-mentioned wasteland, so my next stop wasn't until Winnemucca, where I visited a charmingly tiny museum and stared in wonder at all the 50's style hotel & casino signs.
The road between Winnemucca and Elko prettied up some, climbing up into the mountains, taking on more character. So, though i'm quite tired, I have to say i'm still really enjoying my roadtrip. Let's hope I can keep it up a bit longer.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
ERT Day One: Palmdale to, eh, somewhere more north than Palmdale
I'll go ahead and confess up front: I got a late start today.
Now, that doesn't mean that I did not get up at 5:30 a.m., because believe me, I did, but rather it means that I followed my brother into work around 6:30, got my oil changed, then called my Mum, who made me a cup of coffee. We sat around and chitty-chatted and then, i'd say around 9:45, THEN, coffee'd and fed, I climbed into the car, put on the Buffy compilation (a long-standing road-trip tradition in my family) and hit the road.
The 14, for the most part, was dead empty. Just me and the road and wide-open desert vistas. Naturally, just as I was hitting my grove there was road construction, but that couldn't be helped and, since the tunes were good, I could hardly complain.
First official stop of the day was a piss-break (naturally, two cups of coffee, what WAS I thinking?), which held a VERY good sign. A group of classical-car enthusiasts must be cruising 395, because there were perhaps twenty at the gas station filling-up, most appeared to fall in-between 1920 & 1950, but i'm crap at cars, so I can't say for sure.
I will say that it was a fine gathering of stunning vehicles. I snapped a few photos, which I would happily upload here, if my connection here at the hotel were such that it would allow me.
For the moment, it is nothing so sophistocated, it turns out.
Anyway, the first PLANNED stop of the day was at Fossil falls. I like fossil falls a lot for a lot of reasons:
1) It's a good place to get out and do an easy leg-stretch.
2) Snakes can sometimes be easy to find here.
3) I just love the worn-down volcanic rock at the actual 'falls' itself.
So, I did the easy hike out, snapped a few photos, then hiked back to the car and then back to moving. I like driving through the sierras, something about the jagged-jawbone of the mountains just does it for me. Unfortunately viewing was at a low, since there must be a fire somewhere (or perhaps a controlled burn?) because there was a heavy pall of smoke in the air throughout the drive.
Next official stop was, naturaly, Schat's bakery in Bishop home of one of the best pastrami sandwiches i've ever eaten, some amazing apple-cinemon pull-apart bread aaaaaand macarons that have to be tasted to be believed. Anyway, after a few brief stops in Bishop (needed to pop into the bank), I hit the road again and decided I wanted to see Mono Lake.
After Bishop the air improved considerably, allowing for excellent views of the surrounding mountains and valleys and for perfect weather at Mono-lake.
The alkali-flies (I believe that is what they are called...) were out in force. They really are the weirdest fly ever. They just swarm away from you, never buzzing up higher than your knee, just dodging away and landing again in a little buzzing flurry. The California gulls like to plow into dense areas of them, their heads held low and beaks open, trying to snap-up a mouthful of them before they swarm out of its way.
Having watched this for a bit I can say that it appears that the fly is much faster than the gull, the main part of the swarm always just ahead of it, parting like the red sea.
It was a bit too windy on the lake to watch the fresh water bubbling up beneath the salt like oil, but that's okay, it was so pleasant to walk around the tufa domes and watch the gulls and grebes that I didn't feel cheated in the least.
From there more "gosh isn't this pretty" and to here, where i've settled in early, admitting defeat to the extraordinarily small amount of sleep I got last night. The city I am in is really pretty and was worth a nice wonder-around taking photos.
And so for now, dear readers, that is all you get.
Now, that doesn't mean that I did not get up at 5:30 a.m., because believe me, I did, but rather it means that I followed my brother into work around 6:30, got my oil changed, then called my Mum, who made me a cup of coffee. We sat around and chitty-chatted and then, i'd say around 9:45, THEN, coffee'd and fed, I climbed into the car, put on the Buffy compilation (a long-standing road-trip tradition in my family) and hit the road.
The 14, for the most part, was dead empty. Just me and the road and wide-open desert vistas. Naturally, just as I was hitting my grove there was road construction, but that couldn't be helped and, since the tunes were good, I could hardly complain.
First official stop of the day was a piss-break (naturally, two cups of coffee, what WAS I thinking?), which held a VERY good sign. A group of classical-car enthusiasts must be cruising 395, because there were perhaps twenty at the gas station filling-up, most appeared to fall in-between 1920 & 1950, but i'm crap at cars, so I can't say for sure.
I will say that it was a fine gathering of stunning vehicles. I snapped a few photos, which I would happily upload here, if my connection here at the hotel were such that it would allow me.
For the moment, it is nothing so sophistocated, it turns out.
Anyway, the first PLANNED stop of the day was at Fossil falls. I like fossil falls a lot for a lot of reasons:
1) It's a good place to get out and do an easy leg-stretch.
2) Snakes can sometimes be easy to find here.
3) I just love the worn-down volcanic rock at the actual 'falls' itself.
So, I did the easy hike out, snapped a few photos, then hiked back to the car and then back to moving. I like driving through the sierras, something about the jagged-jawbone of the mountains just does it for me. Unfortunately viewing was at a low, since there must be a fire somewhere (or perhaps a controlled burn?) because there was a heavy pall of smoke in the air throughout the drive.
Next official stop was, naturaly, Schat's bakery in Bishop home of one of the best pastrami sandwiches i've ever eaten, some amazing apple-cinemon pull-apart bread aaaaaand macarons that have to be tasted to be believed. Anyway, after a few brief stops in Bishop (needed to pop into the bank), I hit the road again and decided I wanted to see Mono Lake.
After Bishop the air improved considerably, allowing for excellent views of the surrounding mountains and valleys and for perfect weather at Mono-lake.
The alkali-flies (I believe that is what they are called...) were out in force. They really are the weirdest fly ever. They just swarm away from you, never buzzing up higher than your knee, just dodging away and landing again in a little buzzing flurry. The California gulls like to plow into dense areas of them, their heads held low and beaks open, trying to snap-up a mouthful of them before they swarm out of its way.
Having watched this for a bit I can say that it appears that the fly is much faster than the gull, the main part of the swarm always just ahead of it, parting like the red sea.
It was a bit too windy on the lake to watch the fresh water bubbling up beneath the salt like oil, but that's okay, it was so pleasant to walk around the tufa domes and watch the gulls and grebes that I didn't feel cheated in the least.
From there more "gosh isn't this pretty" and to here, where i've settled in early, admitting defeat to the extraordinarily small amount of sleep I got last night. The city I am in is really pretty and was worth a nice wonder-around taking photos.
And so for now, dear readers, that is all you get.
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