Dateline Elko, NV: A routine day turned into a real adventure. It started out well enough, leaving Klamath Falls at 7:07 AM and making good time thru mountains and forests and deserts. We were happy to get to Nevada, with a reasonable speed limit (70 vs 55) and without that stupid Oregon law requiring the station to pump ones' gas (honest, no pump-your-own, and boy, do you pay for that service!). We had long runs without seeing a shred of settlement, other than scattered ranches in the distance. Virtually all volcanic landscapes, basin and range country. The most exciting climb was up the side of a sheer cliff, which is used as a hang glider launching point. Got to Winnemucca in time for lunch (Sandra said "Now 'I've been everywhere' and I didn't even get dusty").
It was 30 miles out of Elko that the adventure hit. I noticed a bit of shimmy in the car, and found the right rear tire was way down. I aired it up at a rest area using the in-car pump, and proceeded on. Heard a thump - oops, now I had a flat! Started getting out the spare & as I was looking for the jack point, a couple of Highway patrolmen stopped and changed it for us. I would have gotten it done, but it would have taken a LOT longer. On to Elko, dropped off the tire's remains at Wal-Mart, and $170 later was as good as new (I think).
All checked in, we went to the recommended Mexican restaurant, Sergio's, for supper. Ahead of us in line - those same two highway patrolmen! So we joined htem for dinner.
For the day, 444.8 miles, trip to date 3966.7. Tomorrow it's boogie thru Nevada and Utah to Grand Junction, with fingers crossed.
No comments:
Post a Comment