Day 1: April 8, 2000
Drive from Bay Area, CA to Cedar City, Utah

With the road through Yosemite closed in winter, we had to take the northern route from the Bay Area across California into Nevada, via Rt 80. The California part of the trip was uneventful, no traffic, no problems. To pass the time, we talked about what each of us would do if we knew we had one hour before the house would be destroyed in some natural disaster. Walendo said he'd first go for the irreplaceable data (computer backup tapes, legal docs), then for the sentimental things (photos etc), then for the valuables. I said I'd first go for the sentimentals (lots of photos, scrapbooks), then the data, then the valuables, but I'd also want to pack a small bag of clothes, since I'd be living off of them for a few days. (Who knows what you'd be able to buy after a natural disaster, after all.)

Anyway, on we went. Just before Reno we stopped at a town that looked like EveryTown USA with all the nice, new stores that seem to popping up everywhere. We got gas and I got lunch at Jack in the Box. It certainly is convenient, but it is a bit of a shame that you lose the local town flavor. Then again, in the days to come, we saw plenty of that. We drove on till we hit Rt 50 and took that east cruising along the desolate but interesting Nevada landscape. Somewhere around here, we started listening to the audio tape of the first book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We'd picked it up on a whim at Price Club a couple of months ago and thought it might be good to travel with. It was pretty engaging and we especially liked how Jim Dale read the book, giving each character a special voice. After Austin, a tiny town 100 miles from anything, we were cruising along when a cop came the other way. Walendo slowed down, but the cop turned around and pulled us over. This sucked cuz Walendo had just gotten a ticket near home a few weeks before. The cop said he was going 87. Since he didn't argue and was polite about the whole thing, the cop wrote us up for 10 mph over the speed limit, which was nice because at that level it doesn't get sent to California - or so we think/hope. As we drove into Eureka (the sign outside the town calls it "The loneliest town on the loneliest road in Nevada"), we noticed the courthouse so we wondered if we could go in and pay the ticket then. Turned out it was open, even though it was about 6pm on a Saturday, so we paid the ticket right then and there. That's when the woman said it "wouldn't go on our insurance" if it's up to 10mph over the limit. That was the fastest getting and paying for a speeding ticket on record, as far as we know.

We continued driving along (this time at more like 75mph) listening to more of Harry Potter. We got into Ely, Nevada at about 7:30 where we stopped at the local supermarket to pick up stuff for dinner. There was a tumbleweed blowing in the parking lot outside the store, presumably provided by the local Chamber of Commerce for the tourists. We continued on in twilight and then darkness, south on 93 until we got to 319 east, which turned into 56 into Cedar City. The last half hour of the way, we got stuck behind a sheriff going 55-65, so we couldn't pass. But luckily, Harry Potter kept us company. Finally we made it, checked into the Rodeway Inn, where we'd made reservations, and collapsed.

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