Roadtrip Redux

Most surprising thing about our road trip to Utah? No, it was not that our kids beat the record in whining and asking for toys. Ready for this? 500 miles without a single Starbucks! I know, it's hard to believe. Frankly there is very little between the casinos of Reno and the casinos of Bendover (there was a car show there, which is how we got the photo at the left). Thank goodness for the truck stops, particularly the one with the casino inside and the truckers chapel in a truck in the back. This place will always hold a special and dark place in our hearts due to my husband leaving his cellphone there and my son throwing a major tantrum forcing me to eat lunch with him outside in the hot sun.


Most of the scenery involved billboards and the occasional refreshing sightings of green among the browns. You can't beat the billboards in southern Utah, which switch between adult bookstores and messages about Jesus, but there were a few that caught my eye.



Lock your Love in Lovelock



Business and Battle Mountain is just Common Sense

(guess it's better than the "Armpit of America")


Another lovely aspect of the "Middle of Nowhere," Nevada is they like to arbitrarily switch the speed limit from 75 to 65mph. Of course around towns or construction sites, we knew to pay attention. But really, stationing cops in a 10 mile section, who "just want to make sure you weren't fatigued and missed the sign" before handing you a hefty ticket is just so uncool. Even with the gas prices, ticket, and our lovely $39/night motel it was still a lot cheaper than 4 plane tickets. Actually, the room was just fine, just no room service or casino as it's right outside of NV in King's Beach. Only catch is you can't check in between 10 - 11pm and you need to haul ass across the street for late check-ins.

Quick summary:

Day 1 - 5 hours from Menlo Park to North Lake Tahoe - leaving about 3 hours later than planned.Day 2 - 12 hours from NV to SLC, Utah - a trip that would be 8 hours driving straight though. Only had to buy a handful of toys and snacks. Kid one slept for about an hour, kid 2 four hours.

Days 3-7 (fun fun, photos to come)

Day 8 - 10 hours from SLC to King's beach, plus 30 minutes to a restaurant 5 minutes away due to road closure.

Day 9 - 4 hours from N. Lake Tahoe to Sunnyvale, no East Bay traffic!

Only two trips to McDonald's the whole week, a true miracle.