California Dreamin!

We're finally here! (click this to listen as you read)

Had a wonderful 2-day vaca on the Truckee River, just outside of Tahoe. Our first day out, we parked ourselves at Donner Lake (named for those tragic westward pioneers whose culinary adventures rivaled any challenge you've faced on the NJ Turnpike). Spent the day reading, sleeping, and just staring; it's gonna take some time to get over Nevada.

At just the right moment every evening at our campsite, the mountains turned pink.

And the sunsets...these are for you, Mols.

Day two, we rented bikes and explored the little communities around Lake Tahoe, following many miles of FLAT bike trails along the Truckee River. FLAT. Mark is pleased.

Our last morning in Tahoe, we drove a few miles from our campsite and went for a run near the Boca Reservoir. The sun had not come out yet. The mountains in the morning.

Here Comes the Valley

So the Great Salt Lake was a peak, which means now we're headed to the first valley of our trip. It started when we headed out of Utah, with its salt-covered plains and magnificent mountains. We knew we were entering another dimension when we stopped seeing pro-life home-schooling road signs and instead saw signs like this.

And then it all started to feel eerily foreign. Like we were entering another planet....

And it hit us...we must be traveling in "The Wendover Death Strip," known as such by the locals since it is"so monotonous, motorists have been known to doze off and not make it to their destination." Except, of course, for those jolted back to reality by...wait...what...

...catching a glimpse of artist Karl Momen's TREE OF UTAH, as we whizzed by, (click here) described as "the boldest piece of visual art to be conceived in this conservative state." Okeeey, we're awake!

For those of you who haven't been here, the Utah/Nevada border is marked by the town of Wendover, Utah on the east and West Wendover, Nevada on the west. If you cross the border in town, it looks like this (not our photo).

If you cross on the highway, you get the postcard sign, which looks like this.

Headed straight to the campground, and it was...ummm...quiet. empty. dusty. eery. hot.

But after a dinner of homemade guac and homemade chips, enjoyed a pretty sunset on this infernal hot dusty night. Did we mention how hot it was?

Left early the next morning hoping to get to a town that was less dusty, a little cooler, more habitated, with fewer casinos. We landed in Winnemucca, Nevada, at a campground that felt just as eery, hot, desolate, and pointless. We spent the entire day in the air-conditioned party room. And there was no party. No pictures from Winnemucca. Not happy campers.

But we did spend a good part of the night looking up the difference between the Chicken Ranch and the Bunny Ranch. Mark explained how they were different brands, like McDonald's and Burger King. Here's the Wikipedia listing on Winnemucca:

Winnemucca

Winnemucca's brothels were concentrated in a single cul-de-sac called The Line. There was parking for about 80 trucks, and the truck drivers were offered free showers & coffee.[63]

• Cozy Corner Brothel[57] - This brothel was refurbished in 2000.[63] It closed in the winter of 2005 and reopened in the summer of 2006 as the Wild West Saloon.[64]

• My Place Bar and Brothel (formerly Irene's Combination Bar; closed and demolished)[65]

• Paradise Cafe - This was also a strip club, the prostitutes also performing the striptease.[63]

• Pussycat Ranch - -It has also been known as Pussycat Saloon and Pussycat Brothel. It was built in 1839 as a saloon.[63] It is now closed and demolished[66]

• Simones de Paris - Simones reopened in 2001 and featured a Jacuzzi.[63] It is now closed[65] and was demolished in 2008.[5]

• Villa Joy Brothel[66] - This was the largest brothel in Winnemucca. It had a strip club attached, the Paradise Cafe.[63]

While there didn't seem to be any prostitutes in our campground, we weren't entirely on our own. The Mormon Crickets kept us company. Ahhhh, THAT'S why the streets are stained with dark red blotches.

Another hot, miserable night. So again we rise early and get the hell outta Winnemucca. On the outskirts, we were treated to yet another bizarre artistic feat/Indian monument/bottle house/hippy commune called Thunder Mountain (click here) on the outskirts of Winemucca (Drive slow, it's just past the dispensary sign on route 80. So serious.). Mark swears this place could be the backdrop for the hippy scenes in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."

Our photos...the one that's hard to read actually explains the Sweat House (a la Jim Jones).

Okay enough of these creepy dusty towns. Stopped in Lovelock, Nevada for our weekly A-Team Zoom call and had a lovely stroll around this town that featured a gazebo in a park surrounded by garlands of locks with lovers names on them.

Love is in the air! Let's head to RENO and renew our vows at the Arch of Reno Wedding Chapel!! Don't get too excited. We took one look at it and BOTH got cold feet because Reno is disgusting and we were hating Nevada.

Making our way to Tahoe. Too bad we have to leave Nevada so soon. We never even got to drive the Extra-terrestrial Highway.

Getting to the halfway point - Mark's Weekly Update

Week 3 and I'm still here! Well...well. Week 3 and it's had some real peaks and only a small valley. Let's start with the valley. Thursday night was our low point, thus far. We stayed at a KOA in West Wendover, Nevada that I would NOT recommend (not that anybody reading this blog would ever consider it, anyway). The good thing is that it was empty so we didn't have to worry about social distancing. The bad thing is that we literally were staying in a huge parking lot space next to some seedy casinos and, of course, it was well over 100 degrees. I did think this was the night my head would get chopped off. At several points during the night, I just wanted to get in the driver's seat and start driving. But where to? Nevada is a vast land of nothing, and driving through it at 3 AM didn't strike me as smart. I'll take my chance with not getting my head chopped off.

The high point of the week was, of course, hotel night! Picked a great place called the Alaskan Inn and Spa in Ogden, Utah. Awesome place. Spent the next morning doing work with good wifi and breakfast in bed, wearing the hotel bathrobe, while Judy went to do her nerdy history thing visiting the site of the transcontinental railroad. It was perfect - we were both very happy.

Once we got through Nevada (which seemed like forever), we ended the week in an RV park (note: not a KOA) outside of Lake Tahoe. Or, as Judy now refers... simply Tahoe. And, if that is not pretentious enough, she is now saying we are in "Cali." Oh brother. On the way into "Tahoe," we stopped at a wedding chapel in Reno and actually made an appointment to renew our wedding vows. Sounded like a cool idea. Unless...you've been to Reno. Reno is to Nevada like Las Vegas is to the US. And, to be clear, that's not a compliment. We got to the chapel, looked inside through the glass door, and decided we were not comfortable with their Covid procedures. And besides, I really thought if we parked the car on the street, it would get broken into. As we were pulling away, two people got into a real fist fight on the street right behind our van. I think we made the right choice.  As we reach the end of week 3, the next week will be very exciting for us. We will spend most of the week in Berkeley at an Airbnb (no, that's not the exciting part... well maybe just a bit...call it frosting on the cake). Jacob and Rachel are getting married next Saturday and it will be so nice to be there and be witness to it. During the week we'll get to see them as well as Lizzie and Dylan. For those of you who have had your children close by during Covid, you can only imagine how hard it has been for us to be away from them for so long. Now some observations and tidbits from week 3: * McDonald's parking lots are a great place to get free wifi with a strong connection. * Nevada has got to be the hottest place in the world, and I mean temperature.    It is unbearable, so just try to imagine sleeping in a van with one broken fan and    one fan that blows warm air. *  I am surviving (just) without my morning 4-shot skim no foam latte, but it has     not been easy or without complaining. *  Judy is amazing at killing mosquitoes at night in the van. Reminds me of Mr. Miagi in Karate Kid. *    I am able to work virtually and get work done. *    Morning runs are okay. *    I continue to have respect (Judy would call it a love affair) for people who can drive big rigs. *    Utah is more liberal than Wyoming and South Dakota. *  I miss my Friday morning coffee with the guys at Cafe Angelique.

Here is our itinerary for week 3: Day 16: KOA Montpelier Creek, Idaho Day 17: Alaskan Inn and Spa, Ogden, Utah (Yay!!!) Day 19:  KOA Provo, Utah Day 20:  KOA West Wendover, Nevada Day 21: New frontier RV park, Winnemucca, Nevada Day 22/23: Truckee River RV park, Truckee, CA Two more nights until the Airbnb!