Trip: Reno Portion

Interesting guy in the room next to mine here in Reno rebuilds high-end English cars. He just rebuilt and sold a '36 Cord and has started on another. His main thing seems to be refurbishing antique English shoot. He and some friends took the Cord out before he sold it and shot their limit in pheasant. It seems he also has a collection of well refinished hand guns that are very nice. He showed me a beautifully finished, large bore revolver and the nicest automatic I have ever handled. He lived for a number of years around Los Cabos and had learned things about the locals that  I did not know and many that I did. Enjoyed his company.

Found a good place to get into hot water in Carson City. Stayed in the outside pool long enough to get my first sunburn in a long time. Great bathing and swimming. Good water. Guess the place has been here since around 1890. The main pool has been grandfathered in so that it does not have to follow all the modern treating laws. Fresh water is coming in all day and the pool is completely refilled each night. Makes for great water quality. The smaller outdoor hot tub is subject to modern treatment and so a bit stale. Should I be lucky enough to return I'll take one of the private rooms. The tubs are handsome and the water is fresh and hot. The rooms do duty as private dressing rooms and an escape from the sun. Women using the facilities great outnumber the men. I suspect that the woman who runs the place enjoys the ladies as much as I. Part of the day women bring children and the private facilities provide an escape from them too.

I enjoyed talking and listening a lot at the spa. Met a young brother and sister there who came from a small lumber town with a good size paper mill. Both have suffered from something similar to ADD. They told me that they weren't the only ones from that tiny town to so suffer.
Talk with an intelligent and interesting Norwegian woman who had traveled a bit. We had both been to some of the same places. She also traveled in  cultural immersion ways similar to mine. She loves the States and enjoys Mexico. Here she found the inability or reluctance to carry on a political conversation surprising at first, but figures with things so good here we have little reason to discuss our politics. I remember that early in my travels I was surprised at how easily the people discussed politics intelligently and in depth.

Back in Reno in the bar of a nice Thai restaurant I met a couple who had found each other recently. They have been doing some yachting and were just about to leave for Aruba via Florida. The woman was from Las Vegas and had recently recovered from thyroid cancer. Her doctor said that it is particularly prevalent in LV. Her doctor is from Santa Barbara and has 'rights' at the Sansum Clinic there and also has offices in Las Vegas!

I'm about ready to begin my drive home. I'll take a couple of days to do it.

I do love the hot mineral water and interesting conversation.

Fear, But

I had a couple of little series of episodes related to my circulatory system and my brain.
One series occurred in Montevideo and the other in Cuenca, Ecuador. I haven't been away from the house overnight since that Uruguay/Ecuador trip.


I plan to take a little trip now.


As I wrote the above I heard the voice of the radio announcer say, "... a blood clot reached his lung and he subsequently died in the hospital ..." A scar shows up on x-rays of my lungs as a result of a similar experience. I didn't die, but that's a different episode.


The trip I plan will be taking a drive in my little Suzuki. From JT I'll head toward Las Vegas, Nevada and then on toward Reno. I may find a place to get into hot water between Vegas and Reno. From Reno I'll probably cross the Sierra to Sacramento, California. From Sacramento I may take a look around the UC campus at Davis and then head back to Joshua Tree from there.


My plans and trips tend to change along the way. Any 'episodes' and I may check into the nearest hospital. Wrong; there are a wide variety of episodes available. I can imagine one in which a lovely lady takes me by the hand and leads us to a a great hot water spa not far from the Danube.


I'll probably leave my passport at home, but I do plan to take a cell phone with me. It's not my first, but I'm so inexperienced that it might as well be. Just bought it today. They said it was simple, but I haven't found the training wheels yet. My # on the instrument is 760-401-3758. Feel free to call. That is you can give it a try; I promise no results.


The day after tomorrow is a Sunday, but I might begin the great overnight adventure then anyway.