We have arrived in Los Gatos, safe and sound, as of 6:00 pm Saturday 7/7/07. This is my first opportunity to get online since we left Indy as we only have a desktop system. Getting here involved a personal Odyssey including a long run after dark along Highway 50 in Nevada. As the linked article notes, AAA called this stretch of highway "The Loneliest Road in America" and let me tell you, it's true, especially after dark! Just imagine over 200 miles of rural highway with a town at either end and only one small town in the middle. There are no street-lights and it's pitch black otherwise. The only thing that kept me from thinking we were driving into a horror movie was the presence of other cars on the road. Combine the darkness with unfamiliar terrain and fatigue as this whole route took longer than we were told it would take.
What precipitated this trek you might ask? We were following our plan of taking I-80 straight across and this went well at first. We stopped in Des Moines at the Motel 6 Wednesday night. About all I can say about that leg of the trip is that Illinois had the cleanest highway rest stop I've ever seen, probably because it was staffed. The next day took us across Iowa and Nebraska before stopping in Laramie, Wyoming for the night. Iowa was a lot like Indiana and Illinois but flatter and its rest stops had free wi-fi. Nebraska was a long empty drive with a few, Old-Westy style attractions advertised but the most interesting thing was the Great Platte River Road Arch. This thing is a bit startling when you see it straddling the highway. Otherwise, we were glad to be out of Nebraska. There was a blatant change in terrain when we entered Wyoming, going through Medicine Bow National Forest. Cheyenne was a bit depressing as the area along I-80 was quite run down. Laramie, however, was great! We had dinner at a local place called the Altitude and I had a delicious steak sandwich. There were many interesting looking attractions advertised and the state is beautiful, so we plan to go back sometime.
The next day we drove through Utah and Nebraska. Salt Lake City is HUGE and its tangle of interstate ramps puts Indy's "Spaghetti Bowl" to shame. The Great Salt Lake and the Salt Flats are visually impressive and yet frightening when you think about traveling across them without modern technology. Another thing that struck me about the western states is the large number of mobile homes and single and double-wide manufactured homes. Add to that the large distances between homes and towns and the vast open areas and there was no question we were someplace different. Nevada was marked by the sudden appearance of casinos.
We were doing fine along I-80 until we reached Carlin and were flagged off the interstate due to a wildfire. So we broke out the AAA maps and realized that we could cut down 278 to Highway 50 at Eureka and then take 50 west to Reno and get back on I-80. The locals said it would take about three hours and it was 4:00 pm local time, so I thought "no problem." Heh heh heh, apparently the locals drive a whole lot faster than I do. We reached Fallon, NV at about 11:00 pm local time and I was bone tired. We found out that Fallon was hosting a rodeo and most of their hotels were full. We lucked into a free room at the Super 8 and got some sleep after over 900 miles of driving.
The next day brought us through Reno, back to I-80 through Lake Tahoe which was the only place on our route that outdid Wyoming for sheer natural beauty. The terrain was so eye-catching I was having trouble driving as I needed to watch the curves of the Highway as it ran up and down the mountains but my eye kept being drawn to the landscape we were driving though. As we headed towards Sacramento, things got less interesting except for the large amount of traffic. Then the land changed yet again as we moved into the Bay area and down into Oakland and through the largest conglomeration of highway ramps I've ever seen. We pushed on and finally arrived in Los Gatos where we took a room at the Los Gatos Lodge. We'll be here until the 12th when our apartment will finally be available.
Yesterday morning we woke up and went out for breakfast, which we had at Baker's Square. While eating I was looking out the window at a great view of pine covered mountains. We did a little exploring after that, to the extent that my back would allow. (The moving aggravated an old lower back sprain and I've been gimping around since Tuesday.) The street layouts are much more irregular than what I'm used to in Indiana, where most streets follow a basic grid pattern. Here, there are many more twists and turns. Downtown Los Gatos has a strong feel of artist community like Nashville, IN combined with the small town feel of Shelbyville, IN all mixed with the upscale style that north Indianapolis/Carmel/Fishers, IN tries to project. There's actually a Lamborghini dealership here but just down the street are little antique shops and candy stores next to international restaurants and pizza and burger places.
We still feel like we're on vacation rather than actually living here. Maybe once we get our apartment and get settled in, we'll feel different.
In any case, our adventure isn't over yet. We've still got a whole new city to explore and we'll be keeping this blog updated as we do, so don't go away!
I need to let the hotel have their computer back now, so take care everyone and we'll talk to you later!
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