To Reno...

From Golden Gate National Recreation Area, I drove north about fifteen minutes, up and down several winding roads, and into John MuirWoods. Why visit the west coast and not see the famed redwood trees? It was mind blowing. Coming from New Jersey, the Pine Barrens especially, I’m stuck with the notion that pines are scraggly, unattractive, gnarly things that only reach forty feet in height. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Pine Barrens and I love our Pitch Pines, but it is totally mind boggling to see a tree that tall, and that straight, and that big around…it’s kind of breathtaking. And on the way there, passing mountainsides covered in Lodge Pole Pine…even their little pine trees are huge. And straight. 

By now it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon Pacific Time and I’d been awake for fifteen hours, on the west coast for a scant five, and had lived the hours of 9-12 twice. That may not be exactly correct, but you get the idea. It was time to start heading east (strange since it was away from the ocean) to Reno, Nevada.

Before I left, my Dad told me that there was nothing in California that reminded him of the New Jersey. I agree totally with that. I headed east on I-80, across the Napa Valley (with a stop at an In-N-Out Burger that did not blow my mind) and into the Sierra Nevada mountains. I hadn’t considered that I’d have to traverse mountains when heading to Reno (mostly because I just didn’t think) and my Little Kia was up to the task. The mountains were covered in Lodge Pole Pines and, as I got higher in elevation, snow. In June. At one point just west of Donner Pass, I noticed that the temperature was 36 degrees. I had not been prepared to travel to this interview via the Oregon Trail…but I made it, nobody died of cholera, nobody had to shoot rabbits with square, 8-bit bullets, and I did not have to ford any rivers. Coming out of the snow covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the high desert, sage brush having, Nevada side was another shock. The ecosystems, and their abrupt change, were something I won’t forget. By the time I had eaten dinner, showered, and crawled into bed it was a 23 hour long day…and it was still only 11 pm, and I was able to get a full eight hours of sleep and still be up early.