I haven’t gambled in a casino in a zillion years. I’ve had meals on cross-country drives, but the only Tesla superchargers in Reno were in the Atlantis Casino in Reno, so we hung out there for the forty-five minutes it took to get our three year old car to the next stop, Lovelock, Nevada, made famous for the correctional institution that housed OJ Simpson.
We started our 2400 mile trip with some trepidation, having not ventured out of our house for more than short trips to Sacramento and Monterey in the last three years. We were aware of “range anxiety”, that nagging fear that you’ll run out of juice in some lonely out-of-the-way back road inhabited by local crooks and ne’er-do-wells. Not a problem. We were comfortable in Lovelock, Elko, and for the night in Wendover, on the Utah-Nevada border.
We soon relieved ourselves of any anxiety about running out of electricity, set the steering to “Autosteer”, sat back, turned on “Classical Essentials” on Spotify, and set ourselves enjoying the magnificent skies over western Nevada.
Montana bills itself as “Big Sky Country”, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Nevada.
Five miles east of Utah
On day 2 we stopped for lunch in Green River, dining in a nearby park while the local Green River Tesla supercharger gave us enough charge to get all the way to Glenwood Springs, our destination.
We meet people along the way. “I love your shirt,” I said, “May I take your photograph?”
We’re not in Kansas anymore…or maybe we are in more ways than we had anticipated.
And “I love your hair”, I said to this young lady at the Glenwood Springs supercharger, on her way to visit family in Iowa. “Can I take your photograph?”
So, why Glenwood Springs? Jadyne hadn’t seen her brother for almost two years, and because his immune system is compromised, he wasn’t able to come here.. So we went there.
Sean and Greg
But we didn’t just stop to see them. They live in beautiful No Name, Colorado, in the Glenwood Canyon, near a wonderful tourist attraction, Hanging Lake, accessible with a reservation, $12, and a one mile hike covering 1000’ in elevation. Is it worth it? You be the judge.
One of Hanging Lake’s friendlier residents.
We intended to drive to Marble, but nearby wildfires obscured the skies, so we ended up in Redstone, where we had vacationed forty-two years ago, when we announced Jadyne’s third pregnancy to my parents, who met us there for a week or so. Nearby is Hays falls, photographed below.
Hays Falls
And then we meet people that demand to be photographed. Lunch one day.
After three days, that time when fish and company begin to smell, we headed back to California, once again passing through the beauty that is Nevada.
And workmen outside of Lovelock.
And as far as buying electricity instead of gas. We spent $74 at superchargers for the first 1100 miles. A car getting 30 mpg paying $3.50 a gallon would have spent $130. We met some lovely people at the Superchargers. We spent an additional 2-3 hours charging, most of those times during meals and overnights. An inconvenience? I’m ready to go again.
So what did I miss? I had intended to visit Shooter’s Grill in Rifle, Colorado, made famous by Lauren Boebert, the most inept, unprincipled, ignorant, traitorous person ever elected to Congress.*
*Which says a lot in the company of Louis Gohmert, who wants the moon’s orbit altered or Marjorie Taylor Greene, who doesn’t believe in evolution, that “so-called science.”
Lauren’s the one in front. So proud to be an American.