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Halfway to Loscon: Fernley to Bishop
Nov. 24th, 2021 07:35 pmTwo years ago, when we drove from Fernley to Bishop on our trip to Loscon (part of a multi-leg tour that took us on to SMOFCon in Albuquerque), things did not go that great. We were running late, crossed the mountains after dark and as snow started falling. The Vagabond Inn where we stayed was fine, though. This year, everything was reversed. We got away from Fernley at Noon. Weather was perfect. Traffic was not a problem (aside from idiot drivers on US-95). But the Vagabond Inn disappointed us and has lost our business for the return trip.
( Today's Journey )
Halfway to halfway, at Hawthorne, Lisa asked us to stop briefly at the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum, as she'd seen information in a local newspaper about a new and large item in their museum.
( Not a Tank: Sergeant York AA Gun )
So after the brief photo stop in Hawthorne, we scooted on south on US-95 at the 70 MPH speed limit, which was not fast enough for some people, which was frustrating. What was frightening was people coming north on the two-lane highway trying to pass with not enough room. In one case, I had to slow way down to give the idiot enough room to get back over onto his side of the road, and I was only about a second away from trying to take to the soft shoulder, which would have been not fun. Once we reached the cutoff (NV-360) to Bishop, things got very quiet. We made really good time, arriving at the Vagabond Inn in Bishop when it was still daylight at about 4:30 PM.
Check-in to the hotel was so annoying that we very nearly balked completely and found another hotel, but I would have forfeited the room payment. When I produced my passport to prove my identity, the newly-trained front-desk clerk insisted that the only acceptable form of ID was a US driver's license, which they scan into their system. I pointed out that a passport is a better form of ID that a driver's license, but she wasn't having any of it, and I could take it or leave it. I gritted my teeth and handed over my driver's license. On the positive side, she was able to meet my original room request of a ground-floor room. The hotel is only two floors, but there's no elevator, and I did not want to have to lump the camera case up the stairs.
Despite the prominent signs insisting that masks must be worn, neither of the hotel staff we saw including the clerk were wearing masks.
The section of the hotel in which our room is located was under a complete rebuild (forced by a fire) in 2019. It's okay. We've had worse. Lisa was able to use the bathtub (we don't have a full-size bathtub at home) after we did our shopping. But the working space isn't very good, and that's a consideration to me because on Tuesday morning (we'll be here in Bishop again on Monday night), I need to work for several hours in order to use my PTO more effectively. Day Jobbe requires that I use two separate computers for reasons I need not discuss here, and there isn't enough room to work two machines here comfortably.
After confirming that the room was acceptable, we headed to Schat's Bakkery, a Bishop institution and "Home of the Original Sheepherder Bread." We bought some nice bread and cookies here, but there are too many people not wearing masks and crowding too close together for our comfort. I keep reminding myself: "We're triple-vaccinated and wearing N95 face masks."
After Schat's, we went to the Von's grocery store, refueled the Astro at the gas station there (paying about 75 cents/gallon more than when we topped off the van in Fernley yesterday), and bought a small amount of groceries including some sliced ham to eat with the good bread. (You have to eat it pretty quickly, as with no preservatives it simply goes stale and that's a waste.) Then it was back to the hotel room, where I got logged in, dealt with email, and made a hotel change.
After our experience with the Vagabond Inn here, I cancelled my reservation for our return stay on Monday night and instead cashed some of my IHG points to stay at the Holiday Inn Express down the street. I hope they will be easier to deal with and will have a better room configuration. Also, as I'm still a Spire member of IHG's program for now, I might get a room upgrade to a room large enough that Lisa isn't obliged to squeeze around me when I'm working in order to get around the room.
The Vagabond Inn had been our go-to hotel when coming through here in the past, but by establishing a nonsensical policy (I wonder what they do if someone shows up who has government-issued ID that isn't a driver's license and they have no driver's license), they've lost my future business. But for now, I'm trying to take it relatively easy. We are not in a huge hurry tomorrow, and hope that traveling on Thanksgiving Day proper might not be so bad as Thanksgiving Eve in the LA area.
( Today's Journey )
Halfway to halfway, at Hawthorne, Lisa asked us to stop briefly at the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum, as she'd seen information in a local newspaper about a new and large item in their museum.
( Not a Tank: Sergeant York AA Gun )
So after the brief photo stop in Hawthorne, we scooted on south on US-95 at the 70 MPH speed limit, which was not fast enough for some people, which was frustrating. What was frightening was people coming north on the two-lane highway trying to pass with not enough room. In one case, I had to slow way down to give the idiot enough room to get back over onto his side of the road, and I was only about a second away from trying to take to the soft shoulder, which would have been not fun. Once we reached the cutoff (NV-360) to Bishop, things got very quiet. We made really good time, arriving at the Vagabond Inn in Bishop when it was still daylight at about 4:30 PM.
Check-in to the hotel was so annoying that we very nearly balked completely and found another hotel, but I would have forfeited the room payment. When I produced my passport to prove my identity, the newly-trained front-desk clerk insisted that the only acceptable form of ID was a US driver's license, which they scan into their system. I pointed out that a passport is a better form of ID that a driver's license, but she wasn't having any of it, and I could take it or leave it. I gritted my teeth and handed over my driver's license. On the positive side, she was able to meet my original room request of a ground-floor room. The hotel is only two floors, but there's no elevator, and I did not want to have to lump the camera case up the stairs.
Despite the prominent signs insisting that masks must be worn, neither of the hotel staff we saw including the clerk were wearing masks.
The section of the hotel in which our room is located was under a complete rebuild (forced by a fire) in 2019. It's okay. We've had worse. Lisa was able to use the bathtub (we don't have a full-size bathtub at home) after we did our shopping. But the working space isn't very good, and that's a consideration to me because on Tuesday morning (we'll be here in Bishop again on Monday night), I need to work for several hours in order to use my PTO more effectively. Day Jobbe requires that I use two separate computers for reasons I need not discuss here, and there isn't enough room to work two machines here comfortably.
After confirming that the room was acceptable, we headed to Schat's Bakkery, a Bishop institution and "Home of the Original Sheepherder Bread." We bought some nice bread and cookies here, but there are too many people not wearing masks and crowding too close together for our comfort. I keep reminding myself: "We're triple-vaccinated and wearing N95 face masks."
After Schat's, we went to the Von's grocery store, refueled the Astro at the gas station there (paying about 75 cents/gallon more than when we topped off the van in Fernley yesterday), and bought a small amount of groceries including some sliced ham to eat with the good bread. (You have to eat it pretty quickly, as with no preservatives it simply goes stale and that's a waste.) Then it was back to the hotel room, where I got logged in, dealt with email, and made a hotel change.
After our experience with the Vagabond Inn here, I cancelled my reservation for our return stay on Monday night and instead cashed some of my IHG points to stay at the Holiday Inn Express down the street. I hope they will be easier to deal with and will have a better room configuration. Also, as I'm still a Spire member of IHG's program for now, I might get a room upgrade to a room large enough that Lisa isn't obliged to squeeze around me when I'm working in order to get around the room.
The Vagabond Inn had been our go-to hotel when coming through here in the past, but by establishing a nonsensical policy (I wonder what they do if someone shows up who has government-issued ID that isn't a driver's license and they have no driver's license), they've lost my future business. But for now, I'm trying to take it relatively easy. We are not in a huge hurry tomorrow, and hope that traveling on Thanksgiving Day proper might not be so bad as Thanksgiving Eve in the LA area.
