Day 19: Home at last
by Andrew JohnsonEd. Note: Being a blog, the newer entries are posted at the top. To read this sequentially, go to Older Entries and hunt for the beginning.
We got on the road about 9:00am for the 450 mile drive to Reno. There is one road – through the most beautiful, barren, hostile, incredible moonscape you can imagine. There are very few towns along the way, mostly forgotten old mining outposts left over from the gold rush. Mining is still one the largest industries in Nevada – that and building alien landing strips. Yes, we go by the infamous Area 51. The drive is surprisingly easy. They say it always takes 8 hours to get from Vegas to Reno no matter how fast or slow you drive. When we last did it last June, we averaged about 75-80 mph – we did it in 8 hours. This time, with the trailer we averaged about 60-65 mph and did in… 8 hours. Go figure. Must be some sort of alien time warp.
The trip was uneventful. It got colder and colder as we got further north. When we came into the general Reno area, we were greeted by a frozen landscape, 15-degree temperatures, overcast skies and a light snow..we remarked that it felt like we were entering “The Polar Express”…. All the trees were covered in a fine misty ice and there was (still is) a few inches of snow everywhere. Which begs the question: “We came 4000 miles for this?!” Everyone assures us it is highly unusual, and since it’s precipitation, it’s welcomed. Great. Love to hear it. They LOVE rain. We have an attitude adjustment ahead of us…
So that’s it – we’re here. We’d like to thank everyone who helped make this decision and journey easier for us. From family and friends who helped pack, put us up for a night or two, helped with car troubles and trailer shopping, and just those who called us on our cells and emailed us (when we could get them) – it was an experience. ..Hindsight is 20/20 as they say, and we are much wiser for the experience, and as we end this part of our journey, we leave you with the immortal pearls of wisdom that my dear cousins, Paul and Renee, tried to impart on us (who listens to good advice anyways??) when we decided to do this…..SELL EVERYTHING, TAKE YOUR TOOTHBRUSH AND CLEAN UNDERWEAR AND JUST DRIVE!!!!! We miss you all so very much, setting up our new lives feels like an emotional rollercoaster (like we haven’t been on one of those before in our lives!) but we are confident that this is the right choice for us, like all new changes, it just is going to take some time to adjust…….We love you and miss you and will never be far in spirit ( or cel phones!!)……Although we do have a storage unit full of stuff left in Syracuse and we don’t know how we’ll get it out here…Which begs the question, is there another wacky travel email journal in our future???? Stay tuned……
Final Tally:
Days on the road: 19
States covered: 13
Miles Traveled: 4,304
Number of Trailers consumed: 2
Visits to the Auto Mechanic: 3
Gallons of gas consumed: immeasurable
Quarts of oil consumed: surprisingly, only 2
Cost of the move: (let’s not go there, but it’s 5 figures)
Value of the Experience: priceless
Thanks again!
- Alex, Spike and ‘drew
