Travelled across Nevada (all the way) listening to Northern Lights, by Nora Roberts. Books on disc certainly make the trip go faster. Passed through some exciting towns (yeah right) - Lovelock where OJ's prison is located. We didn't stop in to see him, but we did wave as we went by. Lovelock is where the Lovers Leap Balloon Festival is in February. They have a tradition there of having people put a lock on a series of chains around the court house. Started out small, but it has really grown. The idea is to "lock your love" - get it, in Lovelock. They have a similar tradition at a bridge in Paris and it has grown so popular that the bridge is in danger of being overloaded.
As we travel across Nevada, I always marvel at the speed with which we traverse the land and how painfully slow it was for the pioneers when they made their trek via oxen and horse-drawn wagon. Little different going 75 mph than five miles a day. To give you an idea of the length of time it took them, there is a place in Wyoming called Independence Rock because the pioneers hit that area on the 4th of July after starting from St Louis in April. The pioneers travelled along the Humboldt River through most of their trip until they got to the Humboldt Sink just west of Lovelock. They then had to cross the Forty Mile Desert until they got to either the Truckee or Carson River. This was the area of greatest hardship and where they jettisoned a lot of their cargo, lost animals, and just generally had a tough time. Now we breeze along a four-lane Interstate.
Made a rest stop at Puckerbrush, NV - population 28. I think they all work at the truck stop there. Had lunch in Elko after trying to stop at the Pioneer Interpretative Center just west, only to find that the Center is only open Wednesday through Sunday. It's a fun stop and outlines a lot of the history of the area and the pioneers who crossed there. Funny, the Indians used the Humboldt River as a major trade route, followed by the trappers/explorers, then the pioneers. Now the railroad follows the same route as does the Interstate. Easier to follow the river than cross all the mountain ranges.
The folks at the Peppermill were kind enough to make reservations for us at the Peppermill Hotel/Casino in West Wendover. This town sits right on the Nevada - Utah border and just east of here is the Great Salt Lake. We met Tom III and his family here several (well, more than several) years ago when they were travelling across the area. It has a lot of history - the Enola Gay crew trained here at a now run-down air base. For those not up on their history, the Enola Gay was the bomber which dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.
Couldn't believe how much rain we it coming across. It seemed like there was one squall after another - not used to that kind of weather in Nevada. Tomorrow we head into Utah and pass through Salt Lake City and into the Wasatch Mountains. Hopefully, we'll have better weather and see some of the great scenery.
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