Those two weeks certainly flew by quickly and now Linda has returned to MSP, flying out of Reno Sunday morning.  It will be fair to say Linda has been smitten by the travel in the bus.  We had such a dang sweet time and our plans worked out beyond our imagination.  We’ve got ideas for improvements for the next journey, but it is fair to say this uber mini RV traveling allows for so many options…enjoyably, all of them slow.

Tourist Selfies Abound

Decided to stay one more night in SF so we could see the latest iteration of Beach Blanket Babylon.  We’ve seen this iconic revue the past 4 decades and it is always incredibly entertaining and current.  If you’ve never seen it, please start.  Walked and cable car’d around the city for 10 hours and got our SF fix.

Bus Lab – Berkley Friday Morning

Cool shop in Berkley, the Bus Lab has been around servicing the VW bus community for many years.  Oil change, valve adjustment, some nice conversations about busses and we were heading over the Donner Pass on I-80 to Reno.  Bailed on Susanville – nobody left to see there.

What’s In A Name?

OK, the hotel spa could not accommodate massages for Linda and me, so I started searching Saturday morning in the Reno area for a place for both of us later that day.  After a couple of no’s, I land on Mei Li Massage and make two appointments for 1:00 PM.  Now, they had 4.5 stars, but the woman didn’t want my last name, phone number or any CC info.  Linda also was concerned that while they offer a variety of massage styles, they also offer these services on an out-call basis.  So, we decided to read the reviews and saw that the ONLY negative review was from a woman who inferred it was a place guys would rate high for the ‘happy ending’.  Moving on!  Fortunately, we got lucky (bad pun) and had wonderful massages elsewhere.  Now, while I love massage and have had them regularly for a hundred years, I do a really bad job of not calling these folks by their professional name of Massage Therapist and instead as a Masseuse (which is defined as ‘a woman who provides massage professionally’).  It bugs Linda to no end.  Sorry dear.

Sunday push to Mountain Time Zone

The upper desert from Reno to Salt Lake City is simply stunning with the landscape and sky constantly changing.  Made it to West Wendover, NV (MDT) by sundown Sunday, a border town with Wendover, UT.  400 miles covered, scooted along nicely above 60 MPH for most of the time.  Called ahead for an RV spot from Wells NV – the nearest town to Wendover with NOTHING in between.  The fellow at the RV campground had spots for $25. and when I wanted to make a reservation, he said ‘no need, we’re almost completely empty’.  Asked him how far I was from his campground mentioning that I was in Wells (again – the nearest town to Wendover on INTERSTATE 80 with basically NO SERVICES between the towns and he said, ‘hold on, I will get a map and mileage chart’.  Wait a minute…you work at a campground that caters to RV’s on the only road running east and west and you need to look this up?  Decided to search hotels (and hope of finding intelligent life in Wendover).  The Wendover Nugget (the largest casino of 7 in this border town with Utah) had rooms for $35/night, so I jumped at the opportunity to play 3-card poker one more night and call in for the Monday morning meeting at Hendlin.  Sadly, another bad choice.  One example only…walked into the ‘upscale’ steak house at 7:30 PM with my $100 winnings from playing 3-card poker J  About 8 employees are sitting in the dark and they ask if I would like something.  ‘Sure, how about dinner?’, and they tell me it was slow so they’re just sitting there but are supposed to be open until 10 PM.  ‘Do I really want to eat here or could I go next door to the main restaurant and check it out and if I didn’t want anything from over there, they could make me something…if they had to’, they suggested.

WTF?

After 4,000 miles, I have only seen ONE Split Window VW Bus so far.  This is very disappointing to me in some respects but also lets me appreciate what I’ve built even more.  Really thought I’d have seen a couple dozen by now.  But since we’re on the subject, I’d like to reach out to a specific group of individuals…the 30+ year old totally zoned out male hitchhikers in northern California that would throw up their hands in the air in absolute and utter disbelief that a VW Bus would pass them by.  As if you were entitled to an all access pass on an iconic modality.  Sorry fellows, it don’t work that way.

Rest Area Encounters

So I get out of the bus at the rest area and want to stretch and hit the can and back in the bus.  This fellow starts to approach and doesn’t say anything, but gets about 10’ from me and just stares at the bus.  His wife comes from the other side and stares at the back.  Not sure if I can go to the can, so I kinda stand there and face that direction and turn around again and wonder if I should start a conversation as he is not.  So I mention it’s a 67 VW, and he immediately interrupts me in a heavy German accent ‘I know very well what it is’.  Then he and his wife look at the sticker on the back and start laughing in German.  Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.  I felt left out as they did that a few times while looking at different parts of the bus.

The KOA at Idaho Falls, ID Bathroom Lighting

Coming back from the ½ mile jaunt to the Outback Steakhouse (I brag about what I can make on the bus, but I simply can’t make that meal on my bus).  I hit the can before I go back to the bus and a fellow is coming out, and I can see it’s dark as he exits.  He tells me the lights don’t work, even though he tried them.  I reach in and notice the lower button on this light switch is missing, so I press the area the button typically is, and voila, the lights come on.  I look over at him, glance at his IBEW vest…yes, his International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers vest…and he looks at me and says, ‘I’m not from this area’ as he walks away.