Day Two
Reno to Park City 563 miles
We were both awake at 3a and finally got up at 4a. I did some work emails and we showered etc and were checked out and in the car by 5:30. We plugged ‘coffiee’ into Gladys (the GPS, named after grandmother Sis whose given name was Gladys; she would talk and talk trying to convince you of her point of view sort of like the GPS lady who keeps saying “make the next left turn” “make a u-turn” when you veer off her route. She sounds like she is getting more and more pissy until we get back on track.) and lo and behold! Peet’s 1.2 miles away! It turned out that it was in the Reno Airport! Bob stayed with the car in the deserted passenger zone while I ran into the sparkling, almost empty airport. Sadly, three of the few people who were in attendance were ahead of me in line. Two humongous male TSA agents both ordered complicated frou frou ice drinks with different flavors and whipped cream etc etc. One poor barrista doing it all sort of slo-mo. The guy behind them and in front of me sighed and gave me a look and an eye roll. And then he ordered THE SAME THING. Seriously. I got a medium coffee and ran back to the car.
So we were on the road to Lovelock for breakfast by 6a. It was a gorgeous morning with pink sky and mountains all around us — our favorite time to be on the road with no cars once we got a couple of miles outside of Reno.
We started a John Grisham book on CD yesterday in the car, ‘Sycamore Row’, which we are both really enjoying and makes the time fly by. The traffic yesterday would have been way more irritating without it!
Rolled into Lovelock with 0 miles left in the tank (Thrill. Seekers.) and got gas and then breakfast at the Cowpoke Cafe. The waitress remembered Bob from June when he was on his way home from his Lewis and Clark Expedition and he has been talking about the biscuits since. Bob: scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, a biscuit and OJ. Me: two poached eggs, ham and a biscuit that Bob ordered for me. The biscuits are AMAZING. Bob ate his whole biscuit and only bites of the eggs, etc. In the cooler went most of the ham and half of my biscuit. It is a place of regulars mostly men by themselves in cowboy hats and they hang around drinking coffee and talking amongst the tables. Today the conversation was Burning Man and all the characters going through town on their way to and from — which this town needs! Gas, food, whatever. One guy was lamenting that he was too late to sign up for the Senior Center field trip to Burning Man: “I had a gung ho time last year.” And people wonder why we like road trips…..
We stopped in Winnemucca for a coffee and bathroom and I took over driving to the California Trail Visitor Center just west of Elko. It is a must stop for history of the westward expansion with personal stories, dioramas, etc. And very nice, clean bathrooms.
We found a great place for lunch in Elko thanks to Yelp: Luciano’s. It is in the charming historic downtown area — which is so so much better than the near-the-freeway endless fast food spots part. Bob has a chicken pasta with garlic, fresh basil and roasted tomatoes and a small green salad. I had a big fresh, Mediterranean salad that I demolished: crisp romaine, garbanzo beans, olives, grape tomatoes, perfect amount of feta and a lemon vinaigrette. Yum. Bob had a glass of Chianti and I had a Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc — both were $6! Can’t remember when we have had a decent glass of wine for $6. We have big bottles of water that we keep replenishing — hence all the bathroom stops; I don’t mention some of them!
It was 81* and getting really windy as Bob drove toward Salt Lake City. It started raining just west of Elko and the temperature dropped to 56*. Air smelled so good! We were in and out of storms all the way to Park City. Utah speed limit is 80 but we couldn’t always go that fast because of road conditions. One of our stops for gas and the loo was Delle UT by the Bonneville Salt Flats. The ‘town’ consists of a gas station. And not a great one. One of the two bathrooms was out of order. And yet…. bumper stickers for sale saying “I’ve been to Delle UT!” Very scary, extraordinarily large wo/man at the cash register who grabbed the $3 I put on the counter for Bob’s Hershey bars and slid my change across the counter so hard it fell on the floor. We did not buy a bumper sticker.
Arrived at the Best Western at 5:30 at it was raining and 64*. We dumped our stuff, brushed our teeth, put on warmer clothes and headed to find dinner on Main Street, about 8 miles away. We walked the length of Main Street in a light rain — yay Camp Birchwood jacket with big hood! — reading menus. Decided on Bistro 415. Ate at the bar upstairs to watch football. Good Dirty Martini and generous Chivas. Warm bread served with an herby red pepper oil. Bob had French onion soup that smelled so good — beefy broth. I had poached pear and almond salad that also had beets and a toasty nub of Chevre. Bob had steak frites and I had Bourguignonne that was in a small cast iron dish and a perfect portion. Carrots, super tender beef, some potatoes and sauteed leeks. YUM! Bob had a glass of Faiveley Burgundy and I had a Talbot Pinot Noir. Both $10 a glass and very nice. We traded halfway through.
We were walking back to the car and it was raining a little more. Bob said, “It would be great to have a good thunder storm.” He was heard. About 3 minutes later was a brilliant lightening strike followed closely by loud thunder. We were in a huge storm for the eight miles back to the hotel. The wipers could barely keep up and lots of cars had pulled to the side of the road. Yay new Acura all wheel drive!
Back at the room we listened to the storm and caught up on email, weather channel, Sudoku, blog.
Bob and Sharon's Travel Diary 