1 Day, 2 Time Zones, 3 States, 425 Miles

We

reluctantly left the lovely town of Winnemucca this morning after our delightful stay at the Bates Motel and an incomparable, complimentary, continental breakfast of really weak coffee, always one of my favorites and a yummy cellophane wrapped danish.

As we were driving along, Guy saw a sign that said Fireworks for Sale, he almost killed us as he made a hard turn to get off at that exit. "What the hell are you doing?", I screamed. He said, "we have to get some fireworks". There is actually no rational reason in the world that we should buy fireworks, but I think that Guy thinks that its what you're supposed to do when you go on a road trip, buy fireworks wherever you can because they are illegal in the saner parts of the country. I really hope they don't explode in the car and kill me and the pups.

Onto to the town of Elko where we all, me, Guy, Sonny and Luigi, had a quick pee and then had a look at the barbed wire collection in the visitors' center, fascinating!

Next stop, Wendover, where we stopped at the Nugget Casino and had lunch while the dogs patiently waited in the car. By the way, Sonny was much better today and only panted for half the ride. This casino makes any casino in Atlantic City look like its in Monte Carlo and while we were having our salads, Guy learned how to play KENO. A waitress came over and since we were the only ones in the place, we got lots of attention, and asked Guy if he would like to play during lunch. Guy, being Guy, engaged her in a lengthy conversation about the game and then chose his numbers (Keno is sort of like Bingo, but dumber) and placed his $2.00 bet. He lost it all.

After lunch we got back on I-80, which is quickly becoming my favorite highway, and started driving toward Salt Lake City. On the way, we passed through one of the most interesting and beautiful, in a weird way, sights I have ever seen from a car window. It was the Bonneville Salt Flats. For as far as you can see, the landscape is so flat and white, it almost looks like it is water, but it is, instead, a salt covered plain. It goes on for miles and miles. I was driving at that point because Guy had to make a phone call and he really is being good about not using the phone while driving. I didn't have any music on, so as not to disturb him and almost instantly I began to get mesmerized by all of that flat whiteness. It was beautiful in a very eerie way.

We made a last minute decision to stop and take a quick tour around SLC. Wow, it is a most amazing place and I felt very Big Love-ish. I kept looking for Barb and I loved the Angel Moroni on the top of the Temple. (I told my friend Alexis who is also driving back to NY from the Bay Area that we had stopped and looked at the Angel Moroni and she said that name sounds like a girl from south Philly. It does, doesn't it?)

Then we started our drive through/over the Wasatch Mountain range, heading toward Wyoming. It is so majestic and kind of awe inspiring. It reminded me of the scenery in all of the cowboy movies I have ever seen, probably because so many of them were filmed right around there.

We arrived at Evanston, Wyoming, our last stop for the day. I am not ashamed to admit I was really apprehensive about what the motel was going to be like after last night's fiasco. Thank God, I was very pleasantly surprised. It is definitely not a Bates repro, but is a wonderful, clean Comfort Inn. (Hey Brandt, it is a real wood headboard) Obviously, I can't be that spoiled if I can refer to a Comfort Inn as wonderful. Please don't misinterpret , the term is relative you understand and I am still using the sleep sack. The woman at the front desk is definitely not a prostitute, however, the view from our window is the "Romantix" sign which is advertising a shop right next door to the motel, that sells "intimate" lingerie, and erotic books and dvds. A friggin' dirty book store, how funny is that?

No fancy dinner tonight, we just went across the road to the local steak place. I'm not feeling great, just really tired and a bit of a sore throat, so we thought we'd take it easy. I have to be on point for tomorrow's adventure, Cody, Wyoming and the rodeo!

One post script about yesterday. At one point during our drive, we saw a sign that said "correctional institution" and saw a prison in the distance. We looked for the name of it, but didn't see one, so I thought maybe it was a secret government Guantanamo kind of place. I googled it this morning and found out that it is just a regular state prison, but it has a very famous inmate, O.J. Simpson!!! And to think, I could have gone and visited the gentleman. Another lost opportunity.