Indiana to California: Day Four and Beyond

A good night's sleep and a full breakfast was just what we needed, and after we lost a couple more bucks in the slots we got back on the road.

We skirted around Reno, not wanting to stop at this point, and headed into California.

The area near the border is crazy beautiful -- mountains, big blue lakes, an amazing sky -- it was an *immediate* difference as we crossed the border, and there was so much gorgeous scenery that John had trouble keeping track of the road.

Things got flatter and more urban until we were in Sacramento. We'd talked about stopping for lunch, but at this point, we just wanted to *get* there. So we kept going.

On and on into the Bay Area, and oh, that's the Bay!!!

Oakland had a *huge* amount of traffic, and then we passed through the biggest conglomeration of highway ramps and curves and lanes either of us had ever seen.

On to Los Gatos -- where we drove around for *an hour* looking for something we recognized from our research. We *finally* found Vasona Park, after stopping for directions.

This was Saturday afternoon, and our apartment wasn't going to be ready until Thursday. So we checked into the Los Gatos Lodge, and made that our new base of operations.

Cute little place, nice people -- I'd recommend it for someone staying in this area.

As to what the past three weeks have been like? Eh, that seems like another post. So far, though, I love California.

Indianapolis to California: Day Three -- The Nevada Chronicles

I guess I should finish this overblown tale before I review the last Harry Potter book, right?

Anyway ...

We crossed into Nevada -- we knew it was Nevada, because there were casinos. And we're driving, there is desert and mountains and a book on the mp3 player (Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin) and everyone's happy. Well, the cats weren't happy, but they were hecka pissed all the way across the country.

Hey, what's that black cloud? Is that smoke?

Why yes, officer, we'll pull off I-80 now.

Apparently the area surrounding the interstate was ... ON FIRE!!!! An approximately 7,000-acre wildfire, and there was no way to know when the road would be re-opened.

And we were stuck at a truck stop with everyone else. So we grabbed some sodas, and I lost two bucks in the slots (Those things are *way* more complicated than "pull the lever, look for cherries.")

While I was losing quarters, John was studying the map. And he found another road, U.S. 50, that was out of the fire area and ended in the same place I-80 would have put us -- Reno.

A local said it would take three to three-and-a-half hours to drive. No problem! It was mid-afternoon, and we'd be in Reno in time for dinner.

Yeah, I don't know how *they* drive, but ...

A few interesting things to know about U.S. 50. The Nevada stretch has been called "The Loneliest Road in America." AAA advises not driving it unless you have survival skills!

But did we know that? Nah!

And we're driving, and we're driving, and there's *nothing.* No towns, no stops, no people. A few bunny rabbits. Horror movies start like this.

And for miles and miles and miles, this is all we see:



And it's OK, because we've got our snacks and our mp3 player and we'll be in Reno in a little while.

But then it starts to get dark. And we're not in Reno.

And in the fading light, we start to see stuff like this:



Now we're going up and down mountains on tight hairpin turns. And it's pitch black. John could only drive 25 mph or so, and that was on the easier stretches.

And ... it ... just ... goes ... on ... forever.

We decide we're stopping at the next available opportunity.

At the bottom of the mountains, we hit a town, Austin. Time for rejoicing? Not quite. The first thing we see is a spray-painted sign warning about a speed trap. The next? The speed trap -- it was all John could do to get our speed down in time.

It's late by now, and we see a couple of scary looking bars, and two even-scarier looking motels with a bunch of Hogs out front. I'm sure the people of Austin, Nevada are good people and all, but they should know that after dark, their town looks like someplace where they serve wayward travelers with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

We decide not to stop.

So we keep driving ... and driving ... and driving ... and driving ... and driving ...

And there's no end to this road. We're in the Twilight Zone. We're trapped in some sort of alternative dimension where we are the only people.

This was one of the main routes of the Pony Express, so that was cool, but really. I thought people in Wyoming were isolated. Compared to this, people in the backwoods of Indiana are downright suburban!

About *midnight,* we start to see lights. A town! A good-sized, not so scary town! Fallon welcomes us with ... a bunch of totally booked motels.

It seems there was a *rodeo* in town. Danged cowboys! I grab the AAA guide and start dialing numbers, and we luck out at the Motel 8/casino -- one room left. Non-pet. Why no, I don't have a kitty! (/em hides cages behind her back.)

We were *scrupulous* about cleaning up after the felines, but we needed a bed. Who cared about dinner ... that passed hours ago. Shower and collapse.

Indiana to California: Day Three

After a fuel stop and a quick breakfast (more strawberry cereal bars) we were back on the road.

Wyoming is really, really gorgeous. I just can't say enough, and we're making plans to go back for a longer vacation so we can take it all in.

As we moved into "The West," though, we were both struck at how many manufactured homes and trailers we saw instead of houses, and the vast distances between them. Since we're both from the rural Midwest, we thought we understood isolation. Not so much. Out there? That's isolation.

We stopped near the Utah border for lunch at a regional chain called Taco Time. It was *packed,* so I guess that's what passes for good food there. I had a chicken soft taco that looked suspiciously like a burrito, and their signature Mexi-Fries.

The secret's out -- Mexi-Fries are tater tots with seasoned salt. I make those at home, but I didn't know I was recreating a Wyoming treat.


And then there's Utah.

OK, I'll admit, ever since I read Under the Banner of Heaven I've found Mormons to be kinda scary. And I watch Big Love, so you know ... :-)

I entered Utah with a little trepidation.

Pretty mountains, pretty mountains ... bam! Salt Lake City!

Salt Lake City is *huge,* yo, and it's interstates are some of the most twisted and convoluted I've ever seen. We saw the temple from a distance, and then we headed to the Great Salt Lake.

I bought a Coke at the last cluster of gas stations and civilization before the lake. Caffeine for the win!

The Great Salt Lake is huge, and very flat, and incredibly impressive in a bleak way. There was that sense of isolation again, because there were miles and miles of nothing but road and the lake.

I kept noticing messages spelled out in rocks. People wanting to leave their mark on nothingness. It was very ... human. But as we zoomed past, I wondered if anyone would ever stop to read those messages.

A cluster of casinos told us we were in Nevada. Day Three isn't over, but Nevada deserves its own post.

Indiana to California: Day 2

Get up, shove the cats in the car, grab some milk, cereal bars and gas and we're back on the road!

Iowa ... yeah, not much to report here. We stopped at a A&W in the middle of nowhere for lunch. Chili dogs are good. I bought a postcard of a cow's behind -- I'm not sure that's the image Iowa wants to project.

Onto Nebraska!

No, wait, Nebraska doesn't deserve an exclamation point. Onto Nebraska.

It's boring, it's flat, and it's huge. Omaha was bigger than I expected, but it looked like three-fourths of the state's population was concentrated there.

We stopped at outside Omaha at a gas station so old and scary I refused to buy lemon drops. They looked like they'd been there since time began. And there was a bunch of photos on the wall about the big meth bust at the station a few weeks back.

There were some Old West-type attractions advertised, but for the most part, there's no good reason to go to Nebraska. We did see the Great Platte River Road Arch, though, which comes out of friggin' nowhere.

Stop again for gas and postcards. At this point, we just want out of this pie-loving state.

There is a notable difference in the scenery when you pass into Wyoming. It's beautiful!

We passed through the Medicine Bow National Forest, and saw the Lincoln Monument, which apparently marks the highest point of I-80.

Didn't see as many cows as I expected to, but we did see a great vintage iron sign from the Laramie County Cowbelles urging us to eat beef.

We were going to stop for the night in Cheyenne, but everything near the interstate looked hinky, so we pushed on to Laramie.

Laramie is an adorable little college town. I love college towns. We checked into the Ramada, had a nice dinner at a brew pub-type place called The Altitude, and called it a night.

Indiana to California on I-80: Day One

Packing up the house, cleaning, etc. Ugh. I'm so, so grateful for all the help we got from our friends and family. Without you guys, I would have set the place on fire.

Then a shocker: My last day at work was on a Wednesday. On Friday, my former employer announced it was going to cut its workforce through buyouts.

Talk about dodging a bullet! I'm not really going to talk about The Indianapolis Star (on the "if you don't have anything nice to say" theory) but there's a lot of good people in a *very* bad situation there, and I feel for them. Good luck, guys.

And it's the Newsroom, dammit, not the Information Center. I'll go to my grave before I start spouting that stupid corporate speak!

Sigh. OK, breathe, breathe ...

And I'm fine now. ;)

Day One

We said goodbye and left Indiana on July 4. Yep, it was Independence Day.

Illinois was the same old, same old. It had the nicest rest stop I've *ever* seen, though -- it was even staffed. My cats thoroughly rejected all the suggestions from the pet books that they come out of their cages and walk around and drink some water every couple of hours and refused to budge. Only Gabriel was brave enough to accept the leash and hop up on a picnic table to look around, but you could tell he wasn't thrilled with the idea.

Stopped at a gas station at the Illinois border that didn't sell Coke products. I didn't think places like that existed. Then we crossed the Mississippi, which was the first time I'd done that by car.

Iowa was hillier than I expected, but there were lots of fields and cows, which is what I did expect. The rest stops there had wifi ... pretty progressive, if you ask me. This trip has taught me how dependent I am on the Internet.

We passed the world's biggest truck stop (or so they claimed) and the International Museum of Wrestling. We were getting tired when we hit Des Moines, so we pulled into a Motel 6 for the night.

The cats kicked up another fuss, so we had to resort to letting them out of their cages and locking them in the bathroom with all the kitty essentials (food, water, litter box) one at a time.

So much for finding cool little restaurants along the way -- we were exhausted, and dinner came from Burger King. A little TV watching with my Whopper Jr. and we crashed.