There's a violence out here in the West. You can feel it. It's a harsh landscape, steeped in the blood of those who fought and died for it, seekers of gold, defenders of nations, and pilgrims of faith. You can't walk these arid badlands, these sagebrush plains, these salt deserts and come away the same as when you entered. Their stark desolation will stay with you long after you've left, seen in a winter mudpuddle's reflections, heard in the echoes in an empty staircase.
| If you gather from that preceding paragraph that we've been driving wayyyy too long the last couple days, then you've pretty much pinned the tail on the donkey. Further evidence (as if you really needed it) is found in the shot at right. Somewhere around halfway across Nevada, I thought to myself, "boy, I bet a nice close-up of my big toe is just what the Odyssey needs." The thought, once begun, soon found itself half done as I snapped digital photo after digital photo of my big toe, searching for that elusive combination of light, composition, and creativity of expression that would just scream, "Pulitzer, baby." And, yes, it did pretty much degenerate from there. Fast, too. |  |
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For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, let me just give a brief description of the drive from Salt Lake City to Reno on I-80. It's barren, desolate, lifeless...sort of like the Republican platform in the '96 election. After a couple hours exposure to this, you start to hallucinate (much like the Republicans hallucinated that they actually had a chance to win that election). For example, as we drew nearer and nearer to the odd obelisk at left, I began to imagine myself living on the cover of the Led Zeppelin album, "Presence," for the rest of my life. You know -- the one with the family sitting around the breakfast table staring at an obelisk much like the one in the picture? You don't know? Well, nobody's fault but mine, I guess -- I'll try to keep my hallucinations more grounded in the realm of common experience from now on. |
| Salt desert aside, Otto was humming along like Little Richard after two pots of coffee, courtesy of his much-needed oil change in Salt Lake City. Kristanne was doing the driving honors, letting me concentrate on some work in the back seat. This was a dangerous combination, given our surroundings -- Otto humming and Kristanne driving. Luckily for everybody, I spotted the sign at right in plenty of time to head Kristanne off before she got any ideas. She was starting to get that look in her eye again, like a little land-speed record might not be such a bad thing to go for this afternoon. Forcibly, I pulled the wheel back onto the highway, preventing Kristanne from making an assault (heh-heh...get it? "A-salt" Oboy oboy oboy...hee hee hee) on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Close shave, I tell you. |  |
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We were somewhere around Winnemucca when the Diet Cokes began to take hold. Bad craziness with the digital camera, freaking the natives as we bombed down I-80 at speeds as high as 70 miles an hour. We got the shot at left just before Kristanne experienced Total Interstate Meltdown, leaving me to drive the remaining few miles into Reno. |
| After my vitriolic screed about Las Vegas, you probably expect me to hate Reno, too. Curiously enough, I don't -- I even sort of like Reno. It's small enough that you can get a handle on it, it's not intimidating, and there's no veneer of evil there. Plus, if you drive five minutes west, you're in the mountains, right on a better-than-average trout stream, the Truckee River. We didn't do that, though -- we opted for the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino. Hooo-eeee, baby! Kristanne has never done the casino gambling thing, so we gave it a shot. We're pretty much the epitome of gambling wimps, sticking with slots and video poker, but we still had a good time. I even managed to win $100 on video poker while upstairs my laptop was busily downloading seven megabytes worth of work stuff. I like that kind of division of labor. |  |
Gambling got old rather quickly, though, so we headed off to sleep. I had some rather pressing work to do in the morning, and then we had to hammer on for the mountains east of Fresno for our engagement party. See you tomorrow!
Total Miles for 8/6 = 534