What a long strange trip!

Elisabeth Boonin

Jun 5, 2020 • 3 min read

The last two days have been a blur of states and a LOT of driving. We're ahead of schedule, and we'll be home by 2pm, I think. We've been listening to the audiobook of Lonesome Dove as we go. The RV is so loud that we can only understand the narration with earbuds, but we've agreed the driver shouldn't have both ears covered, so we split my airpods, Sara gets the left, I get the right.

Listening to the story of 19th century cowboys in an incredibly dusty, hot, desolate part of Texas while driving through Wyoming, Utah and Nevada has provided a healthy supply of fun synchronicities. We both discovered that our minds get a little murky on fiction vs reality; I've more than once gotten out of the RV expecting the temperature to be 110, shocked to discover it's in the 60s and only then remembering that we're not actually in the place the book is describing.

I don't think that Gus McCrae and Captain Call blasted Crosby, Stills & Nash on the speakers for a change of pace like we're doing right now.

Wow, we just crossed into California, so let me catch you up. I posted yesterday (Thursday) about our bonus state visit to Colorado and subsequent re-entry into Nebraska. We made it well into Wyoming that day.

Nothing says Wyoming like a mini cowboy offering poop bags

Wyoming was friendly and uncomplicated this time through. We stayed at another really great interstate rest stop where we had our typically fun evening complete with canned cocktails and a great sunset.

You meet all sorts of folks at rest stops. The big rig drivers aren't always who you think they'll be

The drive from the Wyoming border to Salt Lake City was beautiful and I think I'll forever associate those two areas with color palettes- yellows and reds respectively. We barely stopped in Utah, though– zooming through our 10-days-old memories and missing Roberta, sending her videos and pictures and "remember when?" texts.

One advantage of the return trip was a second chance to get pictures we'd missed on our way east

Nevada was easy driving but logistically challenging. The rest areas were all closed, with no mention 0f that on their DOT website. We'd identified three possible stopping places the night before (easy distance, probable & ambitious) and all three were closed. After passing the third, we decided to head to the next truck stop. I prefer not to stay there because there's typically a lot of noise from the generators, but when we saw this sign in front of the TA we pulled into, we KNEW we were in the right place!

We might resettle here to bump the numbers up to 30

We pulled out of Puckerbrush a few hours ago and Sara has been at the wheel ever since. We're at the Donner summit now (fortunately, we ate before crossing) and I think it's my turn to drive now.