Return from Tonopah

This morning we were able to sleep in for a while, which is good because we both were quite tired after all of the Tonopah facilities discussions. I do so much wish I could tell y'all more about what we discussed, but it's best if we wait for our facilities liaison, Mike Willmoth, to follow up with the hotels and convention center to get formal confirmation of things. The short version I can think of is, "Lots of those things we complain about with larger facilities in big cities don't apply at all here."

Because I was late off the mark, the coffee service on our floor was empty by the time I went to get some. I went down to the restaurant, and they kindly filled my 24 oz. travel mug for me.

After checking out of the room, Lisa and I went down to Beans and Brews at the south end of town for breakfast, as we didn't want a big meal. Then, after some other photos coming up shortly, we went back down to the convention center to re-shoot some video.

When Lisa reviewed the "rushes" from our work yesterday, she discovered that the video she shot of me standing in front of the convention center was out of focus, so we went back and redid it. We did several takes, one of which we threw out completely because several cars came roaring through as we were recording it. Lisa then put the tripod away and put the camera on her shoulder to record me walking the approximately 450 ft / 140 m down Brougher Avenue (and the newly rebuilt, step-free, curb-cut sidewalk) past the Belvada Hotel to the Mizpah Hotel. There we also shot video showing how close the Mizpah, Belvada, and Jim Butler Suites are to each other (they're three corners of the intersection of Main and Brougher, which is effectively the center of town) and to the Old Brewery Hostel.

( Conveniently Close to the Town Library )

( Stargazing Park )

( Tonopah Grocery Shopping )

Something I wrote earlier may have left a misconception about parking at the Mizpah, especially for people with mobility issues, so I took a photo to clarify what's available.

( Paved Parking at the Mizpah )

( Housing Alternatives in Tonopah )

Finally, after refueling at the Giggle Springs gas station next to the Mizpah, we left Tonopah about 1 PM. We did make two detours, however.

( Crescent Dunes Again )

( Bears Likes Trees, but Maybe Not This One So Much )

Then it was off to the races up US-95. The more we've done this drive, the more familiar it gets and thus somewhat easier. Lisa drove from Miller's to Hawthorne (with a stop at the rest area in Luning), where we stopped and had a late lunch at the El Capitan casino. Hawthorne is roughly halfway between Tonopah and Fernley (around 100 miles each direction). I drove us the rest of the way home. For variety, we went home via US-95 from Schurz to Fallon, then west on US-50A, having come down via Yerrington and US-95A.

We made it home around 6 PM, unpacked, and tried to relax a little. We're both tired. And I'm sunburned. You'd think I would remember by now that Tonopah is at 6000 feet and sunny. While it wasn't hot, that has nothing to do with sunburn. Furthermore, to do the video we shot, I wasn't wearing my hat because it throws shade across my face (of course; that's what it's supposed to do). Having forgotten once again to apply sunscreen, I am now paying the price for it. I'm sure I'll start remembering this eventually, especially as if things go the way we hope, we'll be making quite a few more trips to Tonopah over the next few years, not just traveling through it as we plan to do to drive to the SMOFCon in Albuquerque next December.

I'm sure glad that we got home today though, giving me tomorrow to recover from the trip. It wasn't all that far — shorter than driving to Fremont and my company's office there — and because US-95 is a pretty fast highway (except where it slows when it passes through the small number of towns along the way), but we worked pretty hard these past two days, and we're both tired.