Reno, NV - 3360 Miles

After finishing our final San Francisco requirement of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, we made a right turn and drove to Reno, NV. We planned this deviation from our primarily coastal route to spend a week where Terry could work, I could do laundry, and we both could gamble and do nothing for a while somewhere with cheap, good hotels. Lake Tahoe is also on our agenda here. The drive from San Francisco through Sacramento was unimpressive, but crossing over the Sierras before heading into Reno was quite beautiful. The mountains still have snow at higher elevations but skiing ended about two weeks ago. I managed to pass by Donner Lake, Donner Summit, Donner Pass, and the Donner Ski Ranch without the slightest urge for cannibalism.

Just for the record, Reno is not faring well. We are at the Alantis Hotel/Casino south of downtown, but hotels and casinos in the immediate downtown area are fading fast. At least five major (by Reno standards) hotel/casinos are closed. One closed long enough ago that the ground floor casino area has been subdivided into souvenir and pawn shops. Several are simply vacant. One closed recently enough that peering in the doors I could see the machines and tables still intact. A vacant hotel is converting to condos though I saw no reason to live in downtown Reno unless you happen to own one of the many pawn shops or liquor stores.

I'm slowly relearning the intricacies of doing laundry on a long road trip. I've mastered looking up locations on the internet. I remember to take a roll of quarters with me since a functioning change machine is iffy at best. I accept that a third of the washers will be broken but only half of those will have a sign stating that fact. Actually, putting quarters in a washer is not unlike putting quarters in a slot machine. The biggest diferences are the laundomat lacks cocktail waitresses bringing me free drinks and I lose more in the slot machines. I also relearned (the hard way) that one shouldn't simply throw the door open on a tumbling dryer to check on how wet clothes are. The drum will continue rotating for a good five seconds after the door is open thereby spewing your clothes all over the floor.

Also here in Washoe county we are in a hot spot for the H1N1 virus, or the Swine Flu if you are less poltically correct, or Mexican Flu if you are downright evil. One school has been closed with 20+ cases. Several other schools have multiple cases. I'm just looking at it as another form of gambling.