Winnipeg to Fernley, Day 7: Twin Falls ID to Elko NV

[kevin_standlee]

Here was today's trip:

Because this was the shortest leg of the entire trip, we left late, and I finally got a chance to actually use the hot tub at one of the hotels at which we've stayed on this trip.



The spa jets were a bit anemic, but I was able to get 20 minutes or so soaking in the hot water and trying to unkink my neck muscles and my sore leg. The latter is probably due to a pinched nerve that's been troubling me since Winnipeg.

Just before Noon, we checked out of one of the nicest of the Holiday Inn Expresses at which we've stayed, and after a coffee stop, we set course for Nevada.

Unfortunately, the Astro's air conditioning stopped working late yesterday. Lisa examined things and thinks the the AC clutch has failed. Worse, even without the AC working, we still had the annoying rattling from the loose pipe and the Service Engine Soon light. As Lisa put it, this made for a less-than-stellar driving experience. So once again we're without air conditioning. Fortunately, today was partly cloudy and not nearly as unpleasantly hot and humid as it was driving across southern Canada.



A target of opportunity was the Eastern Idaho Railroad yard office.



Following ID-74 out of town, and crossing our outbound route from Day 2, we finally closed the broadly lasso-shaped trip we've been making as we tried to take a different route home than outward. From this point onward, we would be retracing our outbound route.



We were once again on US-93, and our route took us past this marker. Kuma Bear asked, "Where's the Fishes?"



Shortly after 1 PM, we re-entered Nevada (and gained one hour as we moved into Pacific Time).



We once again stopped at this casino where we stopped on the outbound trip to use the restrooms. We spent $5 on slot machines there without success before the approximately 70-mile trip to Wells, Nevada, where we stopped at the Flying J truck stop for some beverages and a restroom break, then turned west on I-80 to Elko.

Thanks to the time change, we gained an hour and arrived at the Holiday Inn Express Elko NV around 3:30 PM.



Holiday Inn Express appears to have been installing these four-sided LED light fixtures, at least in the hotels in which we've stayed on this trip. Lisa says that most of them are aimed in such a way that instead of illuminating the walls as intended, they shoot out the sides, and she finds them very distressing, to the point that she's wearing her sunglasses in the halls to save her eyes.



We moved in to our double-queen room.



With this particular hotel's room layouts, if you want a bathtub, you have to book a double queen. The king rooms mostly only have showers. Lisa always wants a bathtub.



Another oddity is that while this is a double-queen-bed room, it has only one chair, located at the desk where I'm sitting composing this entry. We asked at the front desk, and they let us have a chair from one of their meeting rooms for tonight.

I took a shower after we settled in and thought I'd take advantage of the early arrival to get another soak in a hot tub. Unfortunately, this particular hotel has only an indoor pool, not a hot tub. Oh, well.

Tonight, instead of pizza, we're considering going out and getting some chicken, having dinner in the room, and getting to bed early in anticipation of our roughly 260-mile final day on the road tomorrow.

Comments

[msconduct]

No need to respond to this immediately given you're in the middle of travelling, but re our recent discussion on the possibly mythical greying of fandom: I was just reading Cheryl's con report and she said she really did feel it at Pemmi-Con. Was that also your experience?

[kevin_standlee]

I had not given it all that much thought. But I think part of this is that when conventions are held in places that cost more for being to travel to, younger fans are generally less likely to attend them. The days when a bunch of teenagers would pile into a car and drive across the country and sleep twenty to a room seem to have passed.

[msconduct]

Yes, that makes sense. I was disappointed for Cheryl that her panel, which she was hoping would educate younger fans, was mostly attended by people older than she is!