Return to Reno

Wouldn’t you know it! We are leaving Las Vegas and the sun is shining. Yes, it is still a tad chilly, but that isn’t expected to last for long. They are predicting temperatures in the 60’s next weekend. We won’t know whether the weather person is accurate or not as we won’t be here!

We are on our way back to Reno and expect to pick up a few caches along the route. We can no longer just drive somewhere. We usually find caches no matter what route we take and Hwy 95 is no exception. It is about an 8 hour drive normally, but we anticipate a couple of more hours just for caches. Most of those will be between Las Vegas and Tonopah as we have pretty much covered the area between Tonopah and Reno. Don’t worry, if there are caches to be found, we will find them.

We stopped for two caches near Nellis Air Force Base and the Indian Springs Air force Auxiliary Field. We walked across the desert for the two caches and at one point Mike (to quote Cynthia) “crawled under a fence on his belly like a reptile”. We were on the wrong side of the fence and the cache was just 30 feet over there. We didn’t have time to go all the way back and around. The exciting part, though, was watching the jets from the nearby base. Amazing what they can do! Three of them were practicing and we were oohing and aahing over their maneuvers. How do they make some of those moves?

A little further along we tried to find a cache near a Mercury test site. The area was fenced with signs everywhere that said “closed area”. We decided to change our plans and not go where we weren’t wanted. The surrounding area is where they plan to truck to and bury everyone’s hazardess waste (near Yucca mountain). The next cache was at the “Nevada Test Site” historical marker--just down the road. This is were they conduct tests (both “defensive and peaceful”) of nuclear explosives. Are we glowing yet? We did find the cache here as it was on the historical marker and we didn’t have to get any closer to the actual test site.

Another cache we found was the Chain Gang cache. I stayed in the car while Larry, Cynthia & Mike did a little work on the chain gang. They even looked like a chain as they walked up the slope. About then a Highway Parol Officer stopped. He was very nice. He was from LV and had been called to Reno because of the storm. He was on his way home and made a u-turn and stopped to check on us. He didn’t want to have to come back all the way from Las Vegas if there was a problem. We talked about the storm problems in Fernley and the snowfall in the Sierras. We also explained geocaching to him--we had a nice friendly chat.

a good thing we made this quick little rest stop or we would not have had our laugh for the day. It’s amazing what you will find in the desert (am I repeating myself?). “The little house out back” cache along Hwy 95 is a small wooden out house and inside is a plastic toilet. All the goodies were related to the theme and stuffed in the toilet. Clever cache and we certainly enjoyed the fun.

By lunchtime we had found 26 caches. It seems strange that we would find more caches along the highway than we did in Las Vegas. We have several explanations but no one knows for sure. We did not find a lot of the caches we were seeking. Were they missing? Were we unfamiliar with the way they hide things? Did we let the bitter cold wind and rain interfere with our searching? I’m sure there are other reasons but we will never know for sure. Anyway, back to lunch. We ate at Rita’s Cafe in the Stagecoach Casino in Beatty, NV. We prefer not to eat in casinos, but we didn’t have too many choices in Beatty.

“These mountains forgot to shave”, according to Larry. We were gaining altitude as we headed into Goldfield and at a certain altitude, the Joshua trees began to appear. We passed through some hills that were covered with the Joshua trees and it really did look like stubble. At this same location we first started running into snow. We were obviously heading into cooler temperatures, but at least we didn’t have the wind! The surrounding hills did look pretty with the snow. Goldfield, by the way, is an old mining town. People still live here, but the buildings are pretty dilapidated. If you ever visit, you will see lots of wooden and brick structures that are in the state of disrepair. It’s a shame. You will also see old mining equipment around just getting rustier and rustier. I’m sure this was an important town in its hey day!

On to Tonopah! Once we reach Tonopah we have a straight shot to Reno without any caches. We have already found most of them. The ones that may be left are too far off our route and by then, we will be tired and ready to get to Cynthia & Mike’s house!

It was 4:00 when we left Tonopah. Here we are: ending the way we started it! We are heading westerly and staring into the sun. This time it was the setting sun, but the effect is the same--we were blinded! Eventually, we should turn north and it couldn’t be too soon for us! That also means it is getting colder. It was 27º at one point and continued its downward trend!

We are through caching for this trip. We found 161 caches since leaving Reno on Thursday. From now on we are concentrating on reaching our destination. Today it is Reno. Tomorrow will be Roseville. Let’s hope I-80 through the Sierras is open! We have 4X4 and chains so we are ready for anything. It was a fun trip, but time to get home and deal with the aftermath of the storm.

By the way, it was 22º when we arrived in Reno!