Blogs from Reno, Nevada, United States, North America

It’s 4am, it’s dark as we drive into the wide open spaces of the field. We are being guided by lighted wands that look like light sabers from Star Wars. We are directed to park our car at the end of the line. It’s early, we are still waking up and we’re tramping down a dirt path following others, kindred spirits who seek the balloon lift-off at Rancho San Rafael Park. We are promised picture perfect weather this morning for the balloon launch. Our excitement builds as we enter the park, a place where there’s some light and booths set up to sell many things, including coffee for those of us who have braved the pre-dawn light to be here for the festivities. We immediately grab some coffee and head to a place on the hill, ... read more

Moving south from Eureka we continue enjoying the redwoods, especially as we traverse old US 101 – The Avenue of the Giants. There were times when our 36 foot motorhome seemed to squeeze between the “giants” and we wondered how the trucks, etc of old managed to travel this major north-south highway in years past. The new 101 is a four lane marvel paralleling the Eel River and various meetings of the old and new allow you to stay long enough to visit the wonderful Humboldt Redwoods State Park Visitor Center and then escape to the new highway. We were fortunate up the coast to be able to walk a short trail through an especially preserved grove. Our overnight RV park turns out to be on the floor of the valley retirement ranch home of the ... read more

I never thought I would enjoy myself so much as I did in a city devoted to sin, avarice and gluttony. Kris and I drove to Reno in the afternoon after my last class at Sacramento State University. We stopped for lunch less than an hour later in Roseville. By 3pm we were heading up into the Sierra Mountains through the Donner Pass. By train this route takes hours at it winds up utilizing many switchbacks, whereas Interstate 80 just muscles its way directly up and over the mountains. The Donner Party came through in the winter of 1846-1847 and got delayed by a variety of mishaps. Ironic that they ended up dining on each other so close in distance to the Sunday buffet at a Reno Casino, though they missed the party by 150 years. ... read more

This, my first attempt at blogging, is a work in progress. Uploading photos, sifting through archives in Adobe Photoshop, labeling pictures, and creating a story is time-intensive. Time has been the most costly resource for me of late. There is much that needs to be amended and edited in this blog. It's completion, if that comes to a fruition, may take months or longer. Before you explore this blog, let me warn you that I may still be considered crazy for making this and other trips. Still, you only live once, if you don't suffer some sort of reincarnation. So let me explain the blog title. The "western rectangle" is a path from Reno to San Francisco to Los Angeles to Flagstaff to Reno that roughly, very roughly resembles a rectangle. Rather than simply going in ... read more

Monday 4th October San Fran to Reno = 220 miles. California into Nevada State. Reno to Salt Lake = 520 miles. Nevada into Utah State. Went for breakfast at Denny's in Reno & both had a grand slam breakfast then hit the road. The first few hours were quite average freeway driving. We passed a sign on the road which said "You are now entering Mountain time", we wondered if this was a time line but hopefully we'll find out later on. We arrived at the salt lake plains which were absolutely breathtaking. It is easy to understand why they hold the world record land speed records here because not only is it flat but the salt plains can be seen for miles in all directions. Half an hour into driving the salt plains we ... read more