And we're off...

We left this morning roughly around 9am and headed over HWY 17 to San Jose. Then took the 680 towards Sacramento. Once through Sacramento we continued on, until we got to Truckee. Actually we stopped in Colfax for gas. Cute town with a couple shops and a little train station. 

Then we went on to Truckee, where we stopped for lunch at Smokey's. It was packed and waited awhile for our food but it was pretty good. In Truckee, you could get some good sights of the mountains, still have snow on them.

We were right along the side of the Truckee River. It was flowing pretty good. Beautiful drive - blue skies, snow on the top of the mountains, and green trees.

After Truckee, we were driving and saw this big cloud to the left of the mountains. Maybe it's a controlled fire... Nope the cloud got bigger and then as we got closer, it was a big fire!
I took a video, not sure if it will transfer.

Pretty big fire, good thing we we're able to make it through! This was on the way to Reno.

Once in Reno, we went downtown and passed right under the Reno Arch.

We then went to Harrah's Casino. We played the 1¢ slots, I ended up putting $2 in and won $32. Not bad! Mom put in maybe $2 and lost all but 4¢. Here's our winnings below.

We just stopped in Reno pretty quick and decided to get back on the road. Might as well keep driving, then we have less time to drive tomorrow. There is literally nothing from Reno to Winnemucca, where we are stopped for the night. It's the biggest town since Reno. As the speed limit is 80mph - Wohoo! Mom was driving so she was happy to drive faster than she's ever gone!

We did pass a lake, or was it just a mirage out here in the middle of the desert!?

Made it to Winnemucca, NV and checked into Town House Motel. We read the reviews and they looked promising. Check out Winnemucca here.

In our hotel, had to bust out the wine glasses and the wine! Thanks to Carol's friend who gave us the wine glasses.
The container says, "Real Women don't cry, they Wine!"












I did read that Winnemucca has a bar called Butch Cassidy's Hole in the Wall, so of course we had to go by and check it out and have a beer.

We decided that we would save some money and eat what we had in our ice chest and snacks that we brought. Apple slices, sheep cheese, chips, hummus, fruit. Then to top it off with dark chocolate and gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. Don't knock it - they are pretty tasty.

Off to bed as we've had a long day driving. Tomorrow, it's only about 4 hours to Meridian where Carol's cousins live (outside of Boise). That will be good. We can get up and eat breakfast and then head out.

Avg. temperature today 95°
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