Reno and more: Day 1: Orlando to Boise, Idaho June 22, 2022

When it was announced that ClarinetFest would be in Reno in 2022, I immediately started planning what I wanted to see in the area. One place was Boise, Idaho. Why? I've already visited all 50 states and I'm working on the state capitols. Boise would complete the Northwest for me. We thought we'd start the trip there and end up in Reno in time for the conference. Unfortunately, the car rental companies really didn't want to rent a car for that trip. So, my husband K and I decided that we'd fly to Reno and drive about 6 hours from there to Boise. It wasn't optimal, but I saw no other way to get the Idaho state capitol checked off.

The day started abominably early. I gave up and got up at 4:03 am EDT. K got up at 4:30. When we left the house at 5:30, it was 15 minutes later than we'd originally planned. However, we were parked at the car lot at 5:59, because traffic was so light, and on the shuttle bus two minutes later. We arrived at Orlando International Airport at 6:14.

When we'd checked in online yesterday, we'd noticed that the TSA Precheck had not come through for either of us. This was ridiculous, since we'd just flown American Airlines last month. We had to find someone to help us at the kiosk. Luckily, my Global Entry number is in my phone. K, however, did not have his. Eventually, he remembered that he had a photo of his card. We were finally all checked in with new boarding passes and bags dropped at 6:40. 

Thanks to this work, we were easily through security at 6:52 and took the tram out to the gate area. Since our layover in Phoenix was brief, we had to pick up sandwiches for lunch. At 7:20, we went to Nature's Table and ordered 2 Turkey Cranberry Sandwiches. But, the woman screwed up and only made one and charged me just for that. K had to go to Camden Food Company and get his turkey sandwich.

At 7:40, we were seated in seats 17 D & E on AA 420 to Phoenix. And there we sat, as they announced a delay due to a mechanical issue. We watched our layover get shorter and shorter until the plane finally pushed back at 8:25 and took off 23 minutes later.

I mostly slept on this flight, which I really needed. It was just about 9:54 MST, when we landed in Phoenix. W arrived at Gate A7 and had to get to A12, as our flight was already boarding. I flew along the concourse, but had to go back to find K. Group 6 was ours, but by the time we'd gotten back to the gate, they were on Group 7. We were quickly seated in 22 D & E on AA1643 to Reno. We could only hope that our luggage would make the flight, as the plane pushed back at 10:11 and took off 12 minutes later.

To make the flight even more fun, there was turbulence and no beverages were served. But, at 11:46 am PDT, we landed safely in Reno. At noon, we were at the terminal. As soon as we disembarked, we saw slot machines. They were throughout the airport and a real surprise to us.

As we made our way through the terminal and downstairs to baggage claim, we saw ads for various resorts, including the one we'd be staying at that was hosting the ClarinetFest. We also saw a cool sculpture saluting Wayne E. Poulsen, who pioneered Nevada's first ski area. You may notice a video camera in the shot. We think they were filming a spot for television.

There weren't very many baggage carousels in the terminal and ours was at the far end. We had our luggage at 12:18 and went across the hall to the long Hertz line. Finally, at 1:05, we were at our Toyota Corolla with a California tag. I always find it disappointing, when the rental car has an out-of-state tag. 

As usual, I took photos of the car from every angle. This is in case the rental company tries to claim we did something to the car. Finally, we loaded up the car and headed out at 1:20 with 23620 on the odometer.

We knew we had to eat because we didn't know what we'd find on our way north. We soon saw an In N Out Burger, but the line was way too long. So, at 1:35, 2 miles from the airport, we parked at BJ's Barbecue in Sparks, Nevada. (All I could hear in my head, when I saw the name Sparks was "Sparks Nevada, Marshall on Mars" from The Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast. It was very disconcerting and still is.)

The service was friendly. We ordered 2 lunch specials with mine being a pulled pork sandwich with fries and Diet Coke for $14.95 and K's was brisket sandwich, cole slaw and Diet Coke for  $16.95. We both wisely ordered a mild sauce, since we had a long ride. The sauce was thin and the bread fell apart, but it was a good meal. When we left at 2:20, it was a hot 90 degrees, but we could see snow on the mountain in the distance.

Driving out of Sparks, we noted an "S" made from rocks on a nearby hill. As we  drove along I-80 east and north of Sparks, the landscape was really rather barren. It was easy to see where the Truckee river flowed, because you could see a line of green along its banks.

Billboards were a rarity, but we did see this one about 40 minutes into the drive.

Excitement was provided by seeing dust kicked up in the distance and trying to decide if they were dust devils.

We didn't have a map, because those are hard to come by, but Google Maps was doing our navigating. It alerted me that we were passing a salt flat, which was an interesting concept, especially since the Bonneville Salt Flats are the only ones I've ever hear of. K had to fight a rather strong crosswind here.

Fernley Sink at least had a lovely sky.

Other than being the last name of a late night host, Fallon provided more dust devils and a feeling of the road going just on and on.

At 3:29 (23191), we thought it prudent to take advantage of a rest stop at Exit 83. It was basically a large, clean outhouse with a rock-covered area of covered picnic tables. A couple of other cars were there.

 

 

When we left at 3:35, K continued  driving. Somehow, it was not terribly surprising to see a prison about 20 minutes later. It may have been a good location in terms of it having nowhere to escape to, but it seemed kind of cruel to be out here in this nothingness.

The terrain was not always flat. We did have some rolling areas. In the distance, at times, we could see a ranch or settlement. It looked like such a lonely life.

At Winnemucca at 4:50, we saw more of a town, or at least the outskirts thereof. We got to see their interesting post and then the directions sent us off of I80 onto US 95 N.

  

About 8 miles north of the town, we were surprised to see sand dunes along the road. It was the Winnemucca Sand Dunes, which are evidently the largest sand dune fields in Nevada. That seems to imply there are other sand dune fields in Nevada. Who knew? 

By 5:08, we were passing fields made green by irrigation. Huge bales of hay were stacked, no doubt in preparation for winter.

A few minutes later, a gas station literally in the middle of nowhere was taking advantage of its isolation to charge really high prices.

When we found ourselves on empty highway, it was a little unnerving. Definitely didn't want to break down out here, even if I continued to be able to follow the route on the phone.

At 5:56, we came upon this billboard in Orovada. Thacker Pass is to the west of US 95. The former president fast-tracked approval of the mining just 5 days before he left office. It would be the largest lithium mine in the nation and it is still under litigation. I tend to take the side of the Tribal Nations in these situations.

Just 3 minutes later, we saw the first gas station in an awfully long time. The odometer read 23865, which meant we'd gone about 260 miles on this tank. Not knowing when we'd see another gas station, we pulled into the Chevron in McDermitt, a town that straddles the Nevada/ Oregon border. the car took 5.04 gallons, with each gallon costing $5.699. There was a store right there called Quinn River Merc. I couldn't find any food locations on Google Maps. So, we went in to see what we could find.

It reminded me of some big truck stops. It had quite a mixture of products, including snacks. There was a rotating grill of hot dogs. But, there was also a refrigerated case of sandwiches. We got two bananas for 96 cents, because they were fruit. A Lipton Peach Tea was $2.39. Dessert is important and the Teddy Grahams in the car wouldn't cut it. So, we picked up brownie bites for $2.99. Egg salad on wheat bread was $5.69. Roast beef on a pretzel roll was $7.99 and we found packets of mustard near the hot dogs. Tax came to 39 cents. We sat in the car and ate what wasn't a bad meal and then went back in to use the restroom before I started driving at 6:25.

Just two minutes later, we crossed into Oregon. Interestingly, the sign thanking you for visiting Nevada was after the one welcoming you to Oregon. It wasn't the most exciting entrance to a state.

At 7:05 pm, we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone and lost an hour, as we'd expected. However, we were far enough west in the time zone, that it was still very light.  This also meant we were in Malheur County, because that is the only county in the state in this zone, even though there are two more counties to the north that are not in this zone.  Heck, the southern part of the county isn't even in this zone!

Within twenty minutes, we were seeing some interesting formations that looked like sandstone. We were entering the southern parts of the Pillars of Rome. Evidently, there were even more interesting ones north of us, but we had no time to check them out.

The land was becoming more verdant. The Jordan Valley was impressively green, seemingly without the heavy use of irrigation.

At 9:16 (23986), we crossed into Idaho. Twenty minutes later, we were getting views of an incredible sunset out the driver's side of the car. No one was behind me. So, I was able to slow down and get these beautiful shots.

 

At 10:16 pm MDT (24039), I pulled into the parking lot of the Tru by Hilton in Meridian. The room was in my name to preserve my Hilton points for the year. In just ten minutes, we were in room 204. The room was modern and spare. I liked it, especially the dispensers in the bathroom.

It had been a long day, but we covered a lot of ground. Amazingly, the phone said I'd walked 4457 steps for 1.5 miles. Even more surprising was its claim that I'd climbed 2 floors.