Day 2 in Wyoming was just a continuation of delightful traveling from Rock Springs, on down highway 80. There continued to be new and exciting rock formations interspersed with grazing cows. For all the boot shops and references to cowboys, Wyoming can be quite refined.
WE LOVE WYOMING. This has been (aside from highway 1) our favorite stretch to ride. Rock formations flank highway 80, making scenery watching of greater interest than getting from point A to point B. Also in Wyoming's favor is that it isn't as mind meltingly hot as California, Nevada, and Utah. Still, we were in a rush. We stayed in Rock Springs for little other reason than we were too tired to make it to Lincoln.
I'll be frank, we rushed through Utah. When we left Elko in the morning, we had nothing but visions of Park City dancing in our head—home to the 2002 Winter Olympics and at an elevation that it must provide some respite from the summer heat. Little did we think of the salt flats between us and Park City. Like the Fellowship of the Ring on their way to Mt. Doom (except a nice Mt. Doom with trees and flowers and ski lifts) we faced overwhelming trials. Lacking air conditioning, we rolled down our windows and were treated to what I can only imagine a chicken must experience in a convection oven. Fortunately, growing up in a family that did not believe in air conditioning, I knew the drill. We had bought a spray bottle during our stay at Walmart and now I let the convection heat evaporate misted water from our skin. It's like sweating but ten times more effective.
Elko is the center of a current gold rush. Billboards specifically target miners, wether they promote shops, hotels, or casinos. Most any establishment has "gold," "bonanza," "mine," or some other term associated with gold wealth. We had hoped to get a tour of one of the active mines, but, alas, we were there on a day where there were no tours.
Oh, I know. I know. You are so jealous. And yes, Winnemucca was everything I could have hoped and dreamed of. Its our first day back on the road, and our first order of business was to play Johnny Cash's rendition of "I've Been Everywhere" on loop. For those not in the know, the song begins:
We had to loop back to Grass Valley to pick up a few last items we had left with friends. With a few lessons learned, we laid out the back of the van in a more thoughtful way with rugs, a mattress on the floor, plastic storage drawers as dressers, and a cooler, easily accessible in the back. I guess the means we are ready for the first leg of our real trip...
I know some people might baulk if I were to say that we were "trapped" in Los Angeles. Maybe I'll say that we were detained? There was a small matter of a broken break light and air conditioner that led us to entrust our beloved Dodgy to one of the few mechanics in LA that would even touch a car from the 80s. Good man that he was, finding replacement parts for an '86 van is no small feat and what we had anticipated as a stay of a few days in LA turned out to be two weeks. In the end, while there was still more work to do on the air conditioning, we liberated the van from the shop so that we could continue our trip...with the windows down.
Ah, Santa Barbara! Sure, I could say we visited for the cute downtown but who would we be kidding? It was all for the pinot noir. Though our wine tasting travails were limited, they were quite fruitful. It was for this reason, and this alone, that we had packed two coolers. One is for ice and food. The other is for wine.
Next, we mozied down the 1 to Big Sur. Aside from almost getting bit by a rattlesnake, it was a laid back ride that was all about the scenery. Here, we had our first go at sleeping in the van at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park Campground. While Big Sur isn't quite the place to roll in without a reservation, it helps to arrive on a week week day and be friendly.
For our first night on the road, we celebrated by not sleeping in the car. Instead, we indulged in a hotel by the sea. There were sea lions, arcade games, and mimosas. It was perfect.