The Great Trans American Adventure, Part 1

January 30th, 2006 (Tuesday)

Liftofff. We woke at 4 a.m. This morning after a crappy night's sleep (or non-sleep, as the case may be) and left for Boston at 5. It was really sad to say goodbye to my family (my mom, Mike and Casey last night, my dad this morning). I do not feel sad about going to Boston, but the thought that I might not see my family for a while is hard.

On the way out of Reno, we stopped to get gas, and found a cool little coffee stand that the Purple Bean (a local independent shop) has. The girl looked like she loved her job—the inside of the stand was lit by candle light and it seemed really peaceful. 5 a.m. Hot chocolates hit the spot.

Rye Patch, Nevada: Crappy gas station with clean bathrooms. All I wanted to do was sleep, sleep, sleep...Once we left, the sunrise over the desert was really beautiful. I am really going to miss the desert and the mountains—Boston doesn't really have very many of those.

Carlin, Nevada: Crappy gas station with crappy bathrooms. Stopped to make a phone call and try to get Miles and Rosie to eat something and drink some water. They were freaking out too much to do either. Rosie was so pissed off she attacked me, which was not awesome.

Wendover, Nevada?: This stupid little town is on the border between Nevada and Utah. I remember eating a weird dinner at a casino there one time when we were coming back from Wyoming. I have to say, though, I was thoroughly impressed when we stopped at the Chevron station and the bathrooms were clean, smelled really nice, and had marble countertops and music playing over the speakers. Way to go, Wendover. Now, if you could only change your name to something that doesn't rhyme with “Bend over.”

Bonnevillie Salt Flats: Wow. A whole desert of whiteness. It was kind of like being on another planet, except that every 5 feet there were pieces of trash and little mementos like “Billy + Shelly 4EVR” fashioned out of stones in the salt. I really just wanted to go crunch around in the salty dirt for a while, but didn't really find a good place to stop. Too bad pictures can't really do it justice—the salt flats were really breathtaking. Saw one of the weirdest sculptures I have ever seen, even more weird because it was in the middle of nowhere. Oh yeah, and I saw where the Morton Salt factory is. Good to know, good to know.

Salt Lake City, Utah: Smoggy, busy, and had too many Jesus signs. Okay, I really only saw like one Jesus sign, but that was enough. I think I have too many preconceived notions about SLC. In reality, though, it looked kind of cool—Maybe I'll visit, maybe I won't.

Coalville, Utah: Cheap gas, crappy bathrooms, gas station attendant with fantastic hair. Learned that you can smoke cigarettes at 18 but can't buy them until you are 19. Sounds kind of stupid to me, but hey, I don't make the rules. Coleville seemed like a cute little town where I could spend some time for a while. Got Miles to use the litterbox, which was a total breakthrough. Way to go, Miles. Rosie just freaked out some more.

Little America, Wyoming: Too many signs for the Little America hotel, but the room was really nice. It is super cold here. Grrr. We had to sneak the kitties into the room (easy) and their giant litterbox (not so easy). Miles is being a total trooper—he's not scared at all, but Rosie won't come out from under the bed.

So I guess is me, signing off on my first day not living in Reno anymore. To the Boston friends, I'm coming!!! To the Reno friends, you will be missed terribly. Drop me a line sometime.