Day 8 - Reno to Las Vegas

458 Miles

Up early as usual and on the road by 7:00am.  Temperature was in the low fifties which translated to "pretty cool"  at 85 mph.  Not to matter though.  I gotta tell you there are few mornings better than "flying" along the desert floor singing along with Chuck Berry on 'Johnny B. Good" at the top of your voice.  I call it Music By Lane from a bit by comedian Gallagher.  He posited that the music should match the speed being traveled; Lawrence Welk is okay for the on-ramp to the freeway, but if you're in the left hand lane you better be J. Giles'ing it.

About 135 miles out of Reno on U.S. 95 ('B' above) there is a very large and inviting reservoir called Walker Lake.  It's just north of Hawthorne, NV.  If I lived in Reno I'd have to consider getting myself another boat.  One hundred and thirty-five miles is nothing considering I used to regularly haul a bass boat over 300 miles from Salt Lake City to Lake Powell in southern Utah.  Reno is the closest semi-large city, with Bishop, CA about 119 miles away over a steep mountain pass and Las Vegas over 300 miles away.  I have to believe, even though there is a large military presence in the area with a large Army depot and the Navy Top Gun School, this lake just can't get that much pressure.

In any event, no real picture opportunities as I rode through the later 99° desert afternoon to ensconce myself in the Downtown Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas about 5:00pm.  Nothing much happened but I'm told I can't tell you that anyway.

 A semi-treat on the trip down was:

And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonopah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the backroads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me weed, whites and wine
And you show me a sign
And I'll be willin' to be movin'
        Little Feat "Willin'" 1971

Little known fact: The slide part on the record was played by the ubiquitous Ry Cooder because George Lowell had hurt his hand.

And if you don't know who Ry Cooder is you obviously are not very "deep" into guitar players.  According to Rolling Stone's 2003 listing of the 100 Greatest Guitar Players, Ry was #8.