The Northern Route, NV
On the way back from California, we drove up through Reno, Elko, that route. The last time we took that route was five years ago, on our way down to Bob and my CA Open House. My sister and her husband caravan-ed with us and because of our experiences...they hate the drive more than we do!
On the way down in '05:
our little two car caravan almost caused a major pile up in a construction area
my sister collided with a white truck in Elko and if she didn't pay the ticket
before we left the state, she could have been arrested,
and then on top of all that, we were right outside Sparks at dusk and my brother in law pulled out of a gas station onto the street. Their car went up and down...they had drove over an invisible median (We were glad they went first, cause we would have hit it if they hadn't!)
Sufficeth to say...not the best first impression of Nevada.
So here it is 5 years since we've driven the route...not even meaning to, we took the exact same exit in Sparks. At first we didn't realize it, since we entered the gas station from another street, but upon exit-ing, we saw the median, non-marked as before, and decided to go out the way we came :) No flat tire! Phase one complete
We passed Elko quickly and didn't look back. Phase two down
We got to Bella's (which I remember passing 5 years ago and talking about the name Ella...) and entered the Orange cone state :) In the five years since we have been on those roads, not much has changed. I mentioned we almost caused a pile up, that's not exactly true. A flagger decided to see if a semi-truck could stop on a dime...and so he slammed and swerved as did four or five other cars behind him, then my sister slammed and swerved...only Bob and I didn't know because her brake lights didn't work!!!!!! So I noticed the other cars and swerved. We avoided hitting them by mere centimeters. Way too close!
So this time, instead of a flippant flagger, there was a sign that said "flagger ahead." Warning is good. As we turned the bend we noticed, not a flagger but a stop light that had been installed with a sign that read "expect delays up to 30 minutes possible." Thankfully it didn't take half an hour...we got through the one lane wide construction zone and continued on our way only to encounter 2 more identical areas down the road. WE had some Spanish chocolate in the car and broke it out to better cope with the frustrating circumstances. (Thanks, Rach, you saved us!)
So despite the lack of advances in construction, medians, etc, not to mention the monotonous scenery, we had a mostly uneventful trip compared to the first and realize how much we love to FLY over this area. So here's to having wings next trip to California.
On the way down in '05:
our little two car caravan almost caused a major pile up in a construction area
my sister collided with a white truck in Elko and if she didn't pay the ticket
before we left the state, she could have been arrested,
and then on top of all that, we were right outside Sparks at dusk and my brother in law pulled out of a gas station onto the street. Their car went up and down...they had drove over an invisible median (We were glad they went first, cause we would have hit it if they hadn't!)
Sufficeth to say...not the best first impression of Nevada.
So here it is 5 years since we've driven the route...not even meaning to, we took the exact same exit in Sparks. At first we didn't realize it, since we entered the gas station from another street, but upon exit-ing, we saw the median, non-marked as before, and decided to go out the way we came :) No flat tire! Phase one complete
We passed Elko quickly and didn't look back. Phase two down
We got to Bella's (which I remember passing 5 years ago and talking about the name Ella...) and entered the Orange cone state :) In the five years since we have been on those roads, not much has changed. I mentioned we almost caused a pile up, that's not exactly true. A flagger decided to see if a semi-truck could stop on a dime...and so he slammed and swerved as did four or five other cars behind him, then my sister slammed and swerved...only Bob and I didn't know because her brake lights didn't work!!!!!! So I noticed the other cars and swerved. We avoided hitting them by mere centimeters. Way too close!
So this time, instead of a flippant flagger, there was a sign that said "flagger ahead." Warning is good. As we turned the bend we noticed, not a flagger but a stop light that had been installed with a sign that read "expect delays up to 30 minutes possible." Thankfully it didn't take half an hour...we got through the one lane wide construction zone and continued on our way only to encounter 2 more identical areas down the road. WE had some Spanish chocolate in the car and broke it out to better cope with the frustrating circumstances. (Thanks, Rach, you saved us!)
So despite the lack of advances in construction, medians, etc, not to mention the monotonous scenery, we had a mostly uneventful trip compared to the first and realize how much we love to FLY over this area. So here's to having wings next trip to California.
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