Monday, July 7th
First day in Nevada

We headed out of San Francisco around 10 AM, crossed the bay bridge and took
I-80 east just like we were going to Burning Man. A few hours and 213 miles
later we passed out of California and stopped in Reno, Nevada. We gassed up
in Reno and reset the trip computer in the VW.

Daisy took over driving and we continued east, but instead of going north at Wadsworth, as one would do if they were going to Burning Man, we continued east toward Salt Lake City. After about 75 miles Daisy noticed that the gas gauge was reading half full. This was considerable cause for concern as we didn't want to run out of gas in the Nevada desert while the thermometer was showing over 100 degrees. Meanwhile, the trip computer was showing that we were averaging about 25 miles per gallon. It was possible that we were leaking gas so we decided to stop for gas at the next opportunity, which was Lovelock, about 15 miles further up the road. When we gassed up, the tank only took about three and a half gallons, which was consistent with the mileage that our trip computer was showing, but hardly consistent with what the gas gauge had been showing. We decided that the gas gauge could not be trusted - at least not while the outside temperature was hovering above 100 degrees. Sure enough, the gauge was down to a half tank when we pulled into Winnemucca about 75 miles later.

We had chosen to stay in Winnemucca because it was midway between San Francisco and Salt LakeCity - our first real destination. Winnemucca is right on I-80 so you can't miss it - but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. It's a grim, dusty little town with a handful of pathetic little casinos, and a bunch of 2 star motels. We checked into one of the Best Western motels. The other Best Western motel let us use their internet terminal so we went to Priceline and booked a room for the following night at the Sheraton in Salt Lake City. After that we went to the Red Lion for an appalling meal and then called it a night.


Distance: 377 miles

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Next day in Salt Lake City