Laura’s Journal: San Francisco to Reno

Posted on by snukes

A transcription of the photographed journal pages can be found below! Also, photographs of real things.

A handwritten journal page, with a heading in purple ink and the remainder of the page in black ink.
A handwritten journal page in black ink. A sticker in the upper right corner shows the logo for Connected K9, the profile silhouette of a dog looking to the right with a stylized flower in the background.
Matt sits at a small table on a sidewalk in front of a row of red brick shops. Gracie the dachshund is between his feet. Laura squats down and pets Gracie. There are two cups of coffee on the table.
One last coffee from around the corner.
Laura and Dustin sit together inside a room with tables in the background. They lean together, each holding up a drink. Dustin's is in a glass goblet, black coffee topped with half an inch of irish cream. Laura's is a mug with dribbles of chocolate running down the outside. Both appear pleased with their beverages.
While they loaded up the truck, Dustin and I hit a couple last San Fran landmarks. On orders from both my father and my cousin Judy, we stopped in at the Buena Vista Cafe for Irish Cream Coffees. Well, Dustin had a coffee. I had a perfectly respectable hot chocolate.
A photo taken through the front windshield of the car as it drives uphill on a two-lane highway. In the distance, mountains are barely visible through what appears to be fog but is actually blowing snow. Dark clouds hover above the mountains, but blue sky is visible in the nearer distance.
The start of the snow. By the time it really got going, there was not point in taking photos anymore, because… white.
Closeup photo of a black dog lying on the floor looking up at the camera. His ears are ENORMOUS, sticking straight up like a giant bat. His expression has a definite hopeful cast.
This is my friend Dingus. His soulful eyes wish to know if you have any bacon to spare, maybe?

Transcription:

Tuesday, May 10, 2022
OUT OF SAN FRANCISCO TO RENO

We got Matt out of San Francisco! It was close – he suffered a few moments of Leavers’ Remorse over the last couple days of our stay, but by Tuesday afternoon, we were on the move, on a short-day’s drive to Fallon, NV, just past Reno.

As we came over Donner Pass, it blizzarded. No light, cute, late-spring snow, this, but proper white-out, can’t see the lane lines, about-to-drive-off-a-cliff blizzard. And then we started coming down the mountain and it was over.

In Fallon, we were hosted by Friend Becca Alejandra Bishop, who was a favorite house-helper from back in the B&B days. She and her new husband, Kyle, were both top-notch hosts, and their two pups, Dingus (hahaha!) and Loki were completely delightful. Even Matt’s pup, Gracie, who is about 100x smaller, seemed to think they were okay. Kyle has been a dog trainer for the military for years, so we talked travel and dog psychology over our take-out Chinese.

Speaking of military, did you know Fallon, NV, is the location of TOPGUN? Right, like Tom Cruise TOPGUN. Yes, it did used to be in Miramar, but it relocated to Fallon in 1996. Jets filled the air when we woke up in the morning. I’d be lying if I said the TOPGUN movie sound track music wasn’t playing in my head all day.

From here, we’ll spend a night in Salina, UT, before splitting up. Matt heads to Vail to meet up with some buddies at a conference, and we’re going to spend a few days in Arches NP.

Leave a comment