Posts Tagged ‘cross country’

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The beagle has landed

May 14, 2012

We’re home. Yay!

All pets are here. Some of them were even happy to see us. Of course, only for awhile.20120514-204509.jpg

C just said he took 1000 photos, not counting iPhone photos (I took 500 with my iPhone).

Oh, gotta go, Ani came out, she must have really missed us. She’s so soft and fuzzy.

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Fernely, last gas(p)

May 14, 2012

Um, it is a 2:45pm and twenty minutes to Reno. Which Google says is four hours from home.

The funny thing about google’s estimates: they are horrific overestimates for how we drive (which isn’t always hideously fast, once we see civilizations we are polite). Anyway, google times end up being how long we are on the road, including meal breaks and pit stops and traffic and gas.

We could be home in time for a latish dinner.

I tried to talk C into going all the way yesterday. I mean, in getting an early start for today and powering through. It’d be a long day but about the same as our first day out (San Jose to Flagstaff).

C replied by giving me hotel suggestions in Reno. And explaining he didn’t want to do the mountain climb at the end of a day of driving.

Fair enough and the Reno hotels seemed ok. And we haven’t gone over budget on the trip so maybe we’ll splurge on the resort-spa.

So I dawdled this morning, read a novel for a bit, breakfasted at a restaurant, took C on my walk… We didn’t get out of the hotel until 10am (goal is usually 9am). If we weren’t going to do the drive we shouldn’t be tempted, we should get into Reno at 5pm, that will keep us adhered to the plan.

Quit laughing. It was a plan. My spouse told me what he wanted and I made an effort to make it happen.

Except we gained an hour and we went a little fast in Nevada. So here we are, well within striking distance to home. We’ll get home before the sun sets.

Though we both agree the other can call a halt. And I’m not calling the petsitter until we get off the mountain.

But hearing him say, “I can see California” in the same voice I used to squee over the ape in the Chicago zoo, well, HOME, here we come.

301.0 miles (288 to home), 14.448 gallons, 20.8 mpg, $57.78.

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Rock me

May 14, 2012

Hey, look! A rock!
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That part of the drive was pretty. Right now, a little over an hour away from Reno, it is less pretty. Oh, I like the mountains, even the scrub plains. But we are driving into a dust storm. Not a bad one, it probably won’t delay us at all. Visibility is good on the road. But the mountains are hiding. The desert looks bigger this way, kind of like a Japanese woodcut using fog to indicate the distance of mountains, printed on yellowing paper.

A picture just looks blurry, you’ll have to take my word that it looks mildly interesting, then kind of boring, kind of spooky. Yeah, I know it isn’t usually both but there you have it.

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Well Wells

May 14, 2012

In Wells, Nevada. The original route called for us to stay here (and spend longer in Yellowstone) but since we pushed on to Twin Falls, Idaho last night, we’ll make the last day’s drive a shortish one (when did six hours of driving become short?!?).

Anyway, stopped to get gas. It is dusty and smells like tiles being cut by a saw during kitchen remodels. Glad we stayed in the much greener and prettier Twin Falls.

We’re getting gas little early so we can cross the desert with confidence. We have water too (quit nagging!).

241.0 miles, 12.02 gallons, $48.31. 20mpg. Some lowness is due to the start of the hill climb. The rest is due to outrunning the copper. Oh, sorry, I meant, using the radar detector to slow down enough that the officer of the law nabbed the guy that C had been considering passing.

We’re all fine here, how are you?

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In our own timezone!

May 14, 2012

We are in Nevada! The last state to cross; we now border California. I was going to wait until we got all done for this but I think this calls for a celebratory photo…

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