Maybe I should actually start with yesterday though. It was kind of a handful. Packing! Packing was really challenging. Even when living in the smallest apartment ever, one can still accumulate a lot of stuff. And I had already shipped a lot. But there it all was, keyboard, stand and bench, large suitcase, small suitcase and miscellaneous other items. On top of the camping gear. Kevin helped a lot- carrying the heaviest boxes to the post office, carrying everything out to the car, and, finally, agreeing to ship a lot of other things that I decided would just not fit in the car. Yay Kevin! (I am missing him a lot right now....as they say, home is where the heart is, and I left mine in San Francisco...)
Anyway, the car is really packed in. So much stuff!!! However, as I guessed, Engineer Dad came through and we've gone through two more configurations of the car stuff. The current one looks good to me actually, but you never know! There may be a better way to do it. Right now though, it is really easy to get to just about everything, except the unnecessary stuff like the keyboard and framed Waterhouse print.
Last night a bunch of people came out to Little Shamrock to say goodbye - it was so great to see everyone. Much love! I had a really great time and it seemed like everyone else did as well. But saying goodbye was still difficult. I think in many ways it really hasn't hit me completely, the enormity of leaving. Being in a novel place (which Nevada certainly is) helps to take the edge off a bit.
(A brief aside - I tried to upload lots of great photos from the drive today, but the internet connection here is pretty weak and it was not happening. Next time I have more than one tiny bar though, they will be here!) Update 6/1/09 10:43 MST - Pictures added!
So Nevada. But backing up once again, our journey today began with a stop at Sports Basement for some camping gear (thanks Dad!)...I am now the owner of coral pink long johns. They are awesome. Maybe I will take a picture of them later.
After Sports Basement (a major landmark, of course, in San Francisco...), we headed over the Bay Bridge and continued on I-80 through Sacramento, where we then picked up Route 50 to Tahoe. (The car's navigation system did
not like that at all. I think for almost an hour it insisted we get off the highway or make u-turns.) We stopped off to get some fresh cherries and peaches, almonds and pistachios, yum! Much later, Route 50 turned into a pretty gorgeous drive through forests and up to
elevations of 7000 feet! We were driving right along the American River and what looked to be the location of an old forest fire, though with lots of new growth coming through. We even saw some salamanders on the rocks near the river, and pretty pink sweet pea blossoming there too.
The-little-car-that-could did great - got about 36 miles to the gallon today, though was really pushing 4000+ rpms as we went up the grades into the mountains. It doesn't actually look really steep, but you can really hear the engine working. As we started descending a bit, lovely Lake Tahoe came into view.
You could also still see some snow up on the mountains there. It was one of the best drives I've taken and really fun too - lots of great curves in the road. From there we stopped briefly in South Lake Tahoe for some photos and fresh air, and continued on to Nevada.
Things certainly changed once we crossed the line: Casinos! Oh my! Lots. Of. Casinos. Once through Carson City, Route 50 became a straightaway like nothing I've ever seen. Just rolling hills, little dots of green and tan (possibly tumbleweed? I'm not sure) and the occasional home/ranch/housing development/storage area. Also
bull crossing signs. Or maybe long horn cows I guess. But it looks like a bull. Oh and a bear crossing sign!
What's most striking is the landscape along Route 50 so far. It's hard to describe....strange, but lovely in its own way I suppose, though still surreal, kind of alien. After a long drive continuing on Route 50 (the Loneliest Road), we came into Fallon, NV. Apparently there's not a lot between here and Ely which we really couldn't reach tonight, so here I am, in Fallon, NV. Again, casinos everywhere and the list of restaurants from the hotel had more fast food places than actual restaurants. We ended up eating at one of the casinos, Keno screens flashing behind us. It's hard to imagine living some place like this - it doesn't seem like there is a lot to it, though the landscape is pretty spectacular. (Okay, living in a place like San Francisco has probably biased me a bit to what entails a nice lifestyle, but not too much! I want to live on a farm out in rural New England, but this kind of place is something completely different. Maybe it's the whole sustainability thing, living in the desert and needing to pipe in so much.)
Tomorrow we will continue on to Ely and then to Great Basin. Again, it should be a surreal kind of drive with not a lot of human activity and mostly interesting/beautiful/strange landscapes. From there, we'll drive north through some forests in Utah to Salt Lake City and I guess see where that leaves us. I hope to check out one of the Pony Express stations that's not too far from here and do a bit of hiking around Great Basin if we have some time. We're starting early - breakfast at 7:30, getting some food and gas and then back on the Loneliest Road....
For now I'm thinking a bath or shower would be great and maybe I can catch the last two episodes of In Treatment on the Netflix I brought with me. Nothing like watching a good couples therapy session to relax....
The second stop of Day Two was not too far from Grimes Point. It was at Sand Mountain, a large, sometimes musical sand dune resulting I think from the particles and sand from surrounding, drying up lakes being carried by wind and then dropped by the mountains around it.
It was pretty cool, though we didn't hear it singing as it sometimes does while we were there. We did see a few off road vehicles racing up and down though. (Note the awesome look I donned on Day Two - peasant skirt and grey straw fedora...not sure it worked in the fashion sense, but it helped with the sun at least.)
From there we continued on our way along the Loneliest Road, not stopping for a really long time, until Ely, for lunch. More pictures from the Loneliest Road and Great Basin are to come!
