The Exit

UPDATE: Sorry for not posting pictures with the entry last night -- our Internet in the room wasn't working.

It feels like we’ve been on this trip a long time… but, in a good way. It also feels like we’re on a road trip again for the first time since we reached California. That’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy our time in California, we truly did. It’s just that the bulk of this road trip has taken us through sparsely populated regions of the US. Today we again settled into this comfortable setting to begin the part of our journey we knew would come someday but neither of us wanted to admit – the return home.

As most of you know, our beloved Vanderbilt Commodores fell just short of their goal of making the field at Omaha. Therefore, we had to adjust our itinerary for the remainder of the incredible journey. I believe Mark outlined it in our last entry but, I will recap it in a little more detail before the end of this entry.

Leaving Healdsburg was extremely difficult. It is such a terrific place to stay and being that it is one of Mark’s homes, he feels very comfortable there. Mark and his mother were up at the crack of dawn (and by that I mean 7:20) to take his car to get serviced. Upon his return I was awoken at about 9:00 to come down for breakfast. We ate at the same leisurely pace we had become accustomed to at the Halling Vineyard. After breakfast we set about to packing. It was like pulling teeth getting Mark to pack his bag, understandably so – I didn’t want to leave either. After packing up all of our things we went to pick up Mark’s car and grab some lunch. I’m really learning to love supermarket delis – Big John’s supermarket has an incredible one. Mark and I each ordered a Panini and we grabbed a piece of triple-berry cobbler to take back and eat with Susan (Marks’ mom). Again, lunch was had at a leisurely pace and then we slowly packed our things into the Red Ranger, said our good-byes and headed off to start the second half of our trip.

Today’s travels have brought us through the town/city of Truckee. The significance of this place is that the Halling’s had a home here until Mark was about 16. We dropped by their former residence, an adorable two story wooden cabin, and got out of the car to walk around the house. Its current owners were not home so we just walked down a side path to the backyard where Mark proceeded to take me on a tour of memories – I enjoyed it very much. I wish I could have seen the inside of the house to really get a sense of the memories that were experienced there.

After that quick side trip, we went looking for Mark’s favorite Truckee pizza place, “Pizza Junction.” We found it but, it wasn’t the place he remembered. Actually, it has been completely remodeled and the only hints of its former glory are the fact that it still serves pizza/Italian food and the caboose outside bears the seal of “Pizza Junction.” Its latest incarnation is called Zano’s and to be honest it wasn’t very good. Add to that that we happened to arrive at the same time as a gaggle of adolescent girls some of which were surreptitiously attempting to photograph Mark (not that I blame them, he is hot) and a great time was had by all. We tried to have our table moved but, there was apparently a little league convention in the other room. Needless to say, we didn’t get great service. Once we got our check we paid in cash and slipped out seemingly unnoticed by anyone, not even the paparazzi dressed as teenage girls.

This area of California is so beautiful. There are mountains (some of which still have snow!) rivers, abandoned railroad tracks, wonderfully tall trees, and clear gorgeous azure skies – absolute paradise. I tried to take as many pictures as I could but, with dusk upon us and a camera that doesn’t like shooting anything out a car window I found it quite difficult to get a shot that didn’t blur. So take my word and these few pictures we could get that this drive is beautiful. As I have many times thus far, I recommend this to anyone!

The dusk + camera combination led to the first failure to capture a “welcome to” state sign. Unfortunately for us Nevada’s is one of the best we have seen so far. I don’t know how we will manage to get it but, find a way we will.

So tonight we find ourselves in Reno, Nevada – home to the finest law enforcement bureau in the country (for those of you that have never seen an episode of “Reno 911” just trust that I am being completely sarcastic) and the “Biggest Little City in the World(?).” We are staying at the Silver Legacy hotel and casino. I’m kind of excited about this because I’ve only been here once before when my family spent some time skiing in Tahoe and I remember that of all the casinos we visited I liked the Silver Legacy the best. We got a terrific rate for our room this time and although we have stayed in nicer rooms so far this trip, you can’t expect much more for what we’re paying. We haven’t had a chance to hit the casino floor yet but, we will do that tomorrow. For tonight we just wanted to get to our hotel room and veg out until nature awakens us tomorrow (that translates to: we are sleeping in until it hurts to lie in bed).

Tomorrow we are exploring Reno, possibly heading back to Truckee to see the Donner Museum, and relaxing at our hotel. Wednesday we head to Salt Lake City. Thursday we head to Denver through Cheyenne. Friday we will catch a Rockies game in the Mile-High City. Saturday we begin the drive to Kansas City so we can catch the last of the KC Royals’ homestand on Sunday and then it’s off to St. Louis to watch some Cardinals’ games. Where we go from there is anybody’s guess but, it won’t be too long before we head back to Nashvegas…