Reno, NV

Hey, we found this neat AirBnB place in Reno where we were lucky enough to get a long-term reservation!

We stayed Friday night in Billings, MT and had decided to take it easy and stay at Twin Falls, ID on the way to Reno.  However, when we got up Saturday morning, we decided we had enough traveling and just wanted to get home.  Left early and arrived home about 10 p.m.  It was Interstate all the way (90 to 15 to 86 to 84 - a little bit of US 93 - 80). 

Montana is such a beautiful state to drive through (and biiigggggg). The 80 mph speed limit helps you get through it.  It has so many natural resources which are easily apparent as you travel through the state - cattle, timber, farmland, coal, oil, water, mountains, etc.  One of their treasures is the Wheat Montana Bakery in Three Forks - without a doubt the best bakery in the country.  We had to stop and get a loaf to take home - we passed up the cinnamon buns (you gain about a pound just looking at them). 

Three Forks is kind of an interesting town - it's at the confluence of the Jefferson and Madison Rivers.  If you know your geography, you'll realize that they form the Missouri River.  Just east of Butte, MT, we crossed the continental divide at 6363'.  Interesting because the day before we crossed the continental divide in North Dakota at 1491'; however, that one is the divide which separates East from West in the US.

Driving from Twin Forks, ID to Wells, NV, we ran into a hellacious rain storm.  Who knew you had to return to Nevada to get caught in a deluge!  After that, it was an uneventful trip on I-80 across Nevada.  Where's auto-pilot when you need it?  As we got closer to Reno, the smell of smoke was heavy in the air.  We later found out that there are five fires burning up near Pyramid Lake - a total of over 32,000 acres!  They sure could have used that rain which we hit in the eastern part of the state.

Back home we moved the Jeep out of the garage - it protested, but the Red Baron takes precedence.  Unloaded the car, unpacked some bags (I think the Impala raised about two inches when everything came out).  Ken and Melanie had given us some elk sausage when we left Christine.  It survived the trip well, but Vi wanted to reapportion it into smaller portions,  That will be a reminder of our visit there for a while.  The sausage came from an elk hunting trip which Ken and Connor had made to Colorado.  Ken, we noticed a sign in Montana which advertised "beetle cleaned mounts" - maybe you should try that on Connor's rack :-). 

Think we'll stick around Reno for a while (although the Garlic Festival is going on in Gilroy, CA).  Hot August Nights starts this week, so it'll be fun seeing all the old cars in town.

Our thanks to everyone for their hospitality on our month-long trip across the country.  It's the longest trip we've taken in a while, but we caught up with everyone along the way.  The only one we missed was George - guess we'll have to wait and visit them in Pensacola in the winter.