Days Ten and Eleven
Saturday: Breckenridge to Winnemucca 903 miles
Sunday: Winnemucca to Novato 403 miles
Total trip: 3024 miles
We drove away from Breckenridge at 6:35a on Saturday after packing up the car and getting coffees to go. Unbelievably clear skies – ha! and 36*. Frost on the rooftops. Beautiful drive through Colorado.
Our first stop was Frutta CO at 9:35a for another coffee and a doughnut for Bob. We have stopped here two or three times on past trips. The drive through Utah was more beauty though also more clouds.
Next stop was Delta UT for gas, water and lunch at Delta Freeze, another repeat stop. We were there from 1:50 to 2:20 and it was bustling! Bob had a burger and fries and I had a grilled chicken wrap with buffalo (spicy!) sauce. We were starving so it probably tasted better than it should have. I took this photo through the sunroof while we were getting gas. We are listening to Inferno……this seemed to fit.
The drive through the Nevada desert on Hwy 50 was gorgeous. Passed a windmill farm where all the windmills were actually spinning.
The sunset was amazing.
We arrived in Winnemucca at 7:52p (Bob was determined to make it by 8!) and checked into the Town House Motel where Bob had stayed on his way home from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It is owned by a lovely couple and very clean. It is a 50’s type motor court style with two chairs and a little table outside every room and most everyone was sitting outside! It was 75* and there was a nice breeze. We dumped our stuff and took off for Ormachea’s, a Basque restaurant that was recommended by Anne-Marie, the motel owner.
It was fantastic! We sat in the bar and Brian the owner/bartender made us good cocktails – back to plain old Chivas and a dirty martini. Bob ordered a filet and I ordered the Basque chicken and included were… minestrone soup (delicious! I had two helpings), green salad, sides of green beans (ok but only had a bite) and pasta (didn’t touch) and a ton of french fries (could have eaten Every. Single. One. But refrained). We barely made a dent in any of it and brought most of the chicken and the filet home. We had the house burgundy and were as happy as clams chatting with Brian about the area, economy, etc etc. We didn’t get back to the motel til after 10p and just crashed.
Sunday we packed up, got gas and were on the road at 6:35a again! Our intention was to have breakfast at the Cowpoke Cafe in Lovelock and already knew what we were going to order: Biscuit, scrambled egg and bacon for Bob and a poached egg and half a biscuit for me. But when we got there at 7:30 it was closed. arghhh….. And no coffee yet. We continued on and thought about stopping for breakfast (and coffee!) in Sparks or Reno but all of a sudden the highway was full of Burning Man traffic — easily spotted by the layer of white dust covering everything. We decided to just push on through. At 10:30 we were passing through Sacramento and were on target to be home by noon. Then at about 11:15 we hit traffic on Hwy 37 at Wilson Ave in Vallejo. It was dead stopped. We figured it must be an accident so turned around and got on I-80 to take the Richmond / San Rafael Bridge. THAT was backed up to San Pablo! WTF?!? So we detoured into Pt. Richmond and had a lovely, unplanned lunch at Salute, on the water. You can tell we were hungry, having had nothing but water all day: Bob started with a caprese salad and then veal scallopini in lemon caper sauce with mashed potatoes and vegetables. I had carpaccio and a grilled prawn salad. We drank an entire carafe of water and two glasses of Montepulciano.
Got back in the car at 1:45, put on the book and didn’t stress about the traffic. Took us 45 minutes to get onto and over the bridge but then it was fine. We arrived home at 3p to find the raccoon(s) had done more damage to the front lawn but everything else looks good. Great, great trip.
Bob and Sharon's Travel Diary 