Destination: Reno

Ooooookay! Finally made it to Reno! Unfortunately the drive was relatively uneventful... got pulled over once, stayed in one crappy hotel, hit one animal, saw one crazy man, saw one herd of wild horses and a porcupine! Okay, let's start at getting pulled over...


I wasn't even speeding! And I get pulled over a LOT for speeding haha.  I was just minding my own business when this cop pulls me over across 5 lanes of traffic, over what!? Apparently my license plate cover is illegally covering up the state name.  Okay, that would have been fine if that was all, I do have every intention of following the law.  But then he asked me where I was going. "Nevada." "What's in Nevada?" "I have an archaeology job there." "What will you be doing?" "Camping out in the wilderness." He then makes me get out of my car and meet him behind the vehicle.  He runs some sort of background check on me, then asks me to open my trunk.  Ooooookay... I get pulled over a lot, Mr. Suspicious Cop, and I've never been searched before!  He asks to see my tent and open my suitcase! Why??? I'm a little girl traveling by myself to Nevada, am I really a threat to anyone? Go waste your time on someone else! Well, he let me off with a warning at least, sheesh! On to the crappy hotel...


My mum made a road trip guide for me, with which places to stop at and goals to reach for each day.  I used this guide to determine where I would stay for the night so I didn't end up staying in some podunk town in the middle of nowhere.  Well... on the second night I reached my goal and felt good about driving for a few more hours... unfortunately even a few hours later I was still in the middle of nowhere.  Still, Little America sounded cute, and the hotel looked friendly so I pulled over in Little America, Population: 64.  (Not bad, I also stopped at one point in Buford, Population: 1 haha!) Anyway, I get to my room and discover it's outside... you know... like the Bates Motel. To make matters worse, the shower curtains were white and slightly translucent so I could see shadows on the other side.  Nuh uh! I am NOT getting murdered in the middle of nowhere behind a slightly translucent shower curtain in a bathroom in which some guy may or may not be staring at me through a hole in the wall! Needless to say, I took a shower with the curtain open. On to hitting one animal...


I love animals! A guy I know told me a story once about a raccoon who ran out in front of him when he was driving over a bridge.  He swerved off the bridge and into the water to avoid hitting the raccoon.  I loved that story! I always thought I would do the same thing for any animal. Well, there was nothing I could do to avoid this.  I was going 80 down the freeway (don't worry mum the speed limit is 75 down here) and this bird flies out in front of me.  I didn't even know I'd hit it, it didn't make a sound, it flew right under my car, I would have thought it just flew right on by.... would have.... except I looked out my rearview mirror to see a giant cloud of feathers spout out behind my car...... morbid... On to the crazy man...


After 3 days of traveling alone in a car, by myself--and the only human contact I have is when I'm saying "checking in" or "checking out--" I thought I was the one going crazy.  When I tried talking to Reshanne after 2 days of driving, she said I sounded like a person who had had no human contact for a while because I was saying things out loud that normal people don't.  I also wasn't "making proper conversation" or something like that... and I thought, if this is how I am after just 2 days, I don't even want to know how weird I'm going to be after a week of camping out in the wilderness with just Stephanie for company... let alone after a whole summer of this!!  Just as I'm pondering this possible future of mine, I see a man walking down the road with a dog.  He looked like he hadn't shaved in months.  He was so filthy and disgusting, showering was a no.  He had on a dusty backpack and so many layers of dirt-caked clothing, the only explanation was that he must have been traveling out in the wilderness for some time.  I had my window rolled down, and as I passed the man, I could tell that he was talking to his dog, his only companion on his long journey.  He was talking to him like he was a human, saying things like: "Rover, did you hear that woman back there!?! I'm telling you, Rover, people these days don't know what they're talking about!" Oh God please, pleeeaaase don't let me end up like Crazy Dog Man.  Although... Extended Stay does allow pets, so I was thinking about maybe getting a companion of my own out here. It would be nice, especially a German Shepherd, which would be a loyal friend and offer me some protection so I wouldn't feel so alone or vulnerable to desert-wackos.


Well, Im meeting my boss and camping-partner Stephanie for the first time tomorrow morning, maybe a day of paperwork, then it's off to the field for a week! I will update again when I return. Adios!