3500 Miles: Day Six continued

Ok, so Day Six brought us to Winnemucca, Nevada. This wasn't someplace we particularly longed to stay, but it was another couple of hours to Reno, with nothing in between, and it was getting close to dinner time. We tried the same trick that worked so well in Rock Springs, getting off and looking for a decent hotel, but Winnemucca is apparently a big draw, and everywhere we went was booked. We started calling out of the AAA book and got nowhere. Finally, we found a motel off the main road that hadn't filled up yet.

Winnemucca: apparently popular.

One of the highlights of Day Five was the nice, indoor pool. The Day Six motel had an outdoor pool, so we thought we'd give it a try. Poolside, sitting in a beach chair, drinking a beer, just chilling, was a genuine bonafide cowboy, hat, boots and drawl and all. He seemed friendly enough. But we soon realized why he was sitting with a beer instead of swimming. Winnemucca had bugs. All kinds of bugs, in the pool, near the pool. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it was bad enough to not want to go swimming. Not like the tent park in National Lampoon's Vacation -- there weren't any dead mammals floating in it, but we decided to go get dinner and a movie instead.

Here's something about trucks with trailers: backing up is difficult. We discovered this on Day One, then avoided backing up until Day Six. At our little motel, we needed to park on the street. We spent about 20 minutes trying to back the truck up so the car wasn't angled out into the road before finally deciding to just drive around the block and pull in again. So when we headed out for dinner, we were on foot.

We walked past some chains, considered walking a distance for Mexican, realized we had entered a not-so-friendly part of Winnemucca, and turned back. Then we found the Flyin' Pig Bar-B-Q. I think this is a small chain. Maybe not. It was definitely quirky. By quirky, I mean dirty and good. I had an awesome pulled pork sandwich. M-N had ribs. The baked beans were great, too. We knew we weren't in MA anymore when our waitress lit up a cigarette over by another table.

There was a little 2-screen movie theater nearby. We decided to see "The Break-Up" with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. We had maybe half an hour to kill before it started, post-Flyin' Pig, so we hit a casino. One important lesson we learned about Nevada: it's never hard to find a casino. In the 2 blocks between the Pig and the theater, we had options.

The one we picked was large, with actual tables to play at, not just machines. That's another lesson: machine-based gambling is huge. You no longer need social interaction to have a bad gambling habit. M-N wanted to play the slots, and play she did. I only had $20 to spend, so I stuck to video poker. I learned it's very easy to lose all your money very quickly. I thought that I might fare better at a machine than at a table seeing as I had so little money and might be better able get up and walk away without fearing the social conventions of an actual dealer and other players. But no, I just blew threw my $20 in a few minutes and was done.

Then the movie. The movie was ok. Jason Bateman was very funny (reminding me how great "Arrested Development" was). Jon Favreau was good, too. Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston spent an awful lot of the movie having actual, angry arguments, which was strange. They weren't like "When Harry Met Sally" silly arguments. They were actual shouting matches. I think the writers were trying to convey authenticity and drama, aiming for a comedy with substance. That didn't work. Particularly not with Vince Vaughn, who pretty much does wacky comedy or all-intensity.

It was an unexpected end to a long day.

Next up: To California! But wait, there are more casinos! How long can we leave the cat in the truck while we gamble? More mountains! See the spot where the Donner Party ate each other!