Well I got out of Jeff around 12:30ish on Sunday, after doing the required family stuff, and having fun playing with my rapidly growing niece Hannah.
On to Kansas.....
Ok, enough about that. ;)
I made it to Hays around 7pm. The next good size town is Goodland about another 2+ hours down 70 and I decided that this was far enough for one day. Got a room there and crashed early.
Up this morning at 7 and continued on. Stopped in Limon Colorado at the best bloody truck stop west of Gaspers, Rip Griffin. Best damn breakfast I've ever had. After stopping there and refreshing myself, I continued on to Longmont, and my Uncle, Aunt, and Cuz's. My Uncle took me down to the local public library so I could snoop around and see what it's like. Right now I'm Typing this as Cuz Jen is making SUSHI!!!!!!!!! Life is good.
The only down side to the trip so far concerns my entertainment. My dear friend Robin burned me about 60 hours of books on CD from her extensive collection. After Limon, I finished my books on tape and got out the cd player. (In my car I just use a portable CD player hooked into my tape deck). Guess what? My 10 year old portable CD player, won't play CD-Rs. %*%)%)^$&($#$@&@&#&*#*%^*$^!! Phooey! Well, thanks to RadioShack and a little piece of plastic, I now have one that play CD-R's and MP3's. Now I'm set to continue this trip.
Oh, and one other thing. You all have heard the stories of kidnapped garden gnomes having pictures taken of them around the world? Heeheehee. Something is missing from the Library. Something will have pictures of it posted when I get to San Jose. *grin*
Signing off now. Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
Sushi was EXCELLENT. I even got some to take on the road with me. Started off leaving Longmont at 8am. Started north to catch 80. fairly boring drive. got into the mountains in Wyoming and ran into snow. Driving in the mountains in snow. Fun. Did see an entire town made up of nothing but mobile homes. Well, the gas station was a real building, but that was the only one I saw. Utah was interesting. Some nice scenery. Thought about stoping for the night in a little town south of the Salt lake, but saw Sea gulls and kept driving. I hate sea gulls. They are the most evil, bad tempered, demonic critters to inhabit the planet. Yes, they are worse than Brian and me put together. Anyway, I made it to the border of Utah and Nevada. Stayed at a Casino/hotel. Cheap rooms, cheap food. crappy service. But the final toll on the slots was up $15. So not too bad.
Day 3 part 1.Left this morning around 9. More frigging snow. more frigging mountain roads. Got out of the mountains and found this town Elko. Every hotel I've stopped at has looked at me like I'm nuts when I ask about internet. So I stopped at the Elko Public library to use their access. (going to snoop about their IUP and AUP policies. *grin*). it's 10:20 Pacific time. I going to try to make it to Sacramento today, so I have a nice easy drive to SJ tomorrow. Don't know, Might Stop in Reno for the night....
Let you all know.
Day 3 part 2
Didn't run into any more snow today, but don't worry; they are calling for more tomorrow. Decided to stop in Reno for the night. An old ex who was from northern California use to tell me about coming to Circus Circus in Reno with her family when she was younger. After checking my handy AAA hotel price guide, I deiced it was cheaper to stay in Reno than Sacramento. The Casinos had NOTHING to do with my decision. No, Really they didn't.
If you've never been to Nevada, Reno or Vegas, I highly recommend you go. It is an experience unlike anything I've ever seen before. I honestly have trouble describing it. The lights, the noise, The Keno channels on the TV, it's just amazing. I haven't drunk up a culture like this since Roswell. On the slots, the Double Diamonds are the best I've found, and currently I'm down $7.
I'll be getting up tomorrow and heading down to San Jose. Should make it by noonish. Then maybe in the afternoon I'll check out the Winchester house.
Later all.
Day 6,532
I frigging hate snow. I hate it I hate it I hate it. You know when I really hate it? When a frigging interstate goes through the mountains and REQUIRES you to have chains on your tires because of the bleeding blizzard that's going on. Leaving Reno and crossing into California, the mountains sucked because of this. It took me 3 hours to travel 90 miles. I'm digging out my maps and calling AAA tomorrow and see if they can plot me a way out of here that doesn't require frigging snow chains.
Well I made it. Natasha and I went to the Winchester house. Damn cool place.
Probably not going to write much about the going on's of the conference. Will pick back up when I leave.
Sorry I'm not writing much. Not much to say. Hopefully I'll be in more of a writing mood late and can expand on all of this.
Later all.
Monday
Well all, the last day of the conference is here. 4 days of sitting in rooms listening to people, asking questions, yada, yada, yada. It has been good. Picked up some good info, some nice tips, and found a lot of work for a lot of you back at the library. Very little work for me, but a lot for some of you. *grin*
This morning I had the news on. Interstate 80 (which goes through Donner, yes that Donner, Pass) got 8 inches of snow last night above 5000 feet. They are expecting up to 20 more today and tonight. After about 1/1billionth of a second I reaffirmed my decision to pick another route back. I went by the AAA office and have a plan. I'm going to take 5 down to 40 and then take that east. The bad news is that this means that I won't be able to stop back in Colorado. It might also take me a bit longer, but I should still be able to do it in the allotted time frame.
On another note, My cell has stopped working out here. Not sure if downtown San Jose is just a dead zone to Cingular, or if my phone got bumped one too many times. When I get out of here, if it's still acting up, I'll swing by a Cingular store and have them check it out. I'm betting on this just being a dead zone.
OH, one other thing, The reason you all haven't seen any pics yet is that I brought the wrong install disk. Oops... As soon as I get home, I'll get them up. Promise.
We, speaking for Margaret and Natasha, are having a good (educational) time out here. Lots of good (different) restaurants around. Tried a Thai place last night. Might go to a nearby brew pub tonight. This is a tough job.... On a serious note, This is one of the better conferences I've been to. I seriously think that a few coworkers need to go to it next year in Boston. But that's a long way off.
Leaving tomorrow morning for the return trip. I'll try and get a hotel, or find a public library tomorrow or Wednesday and send an update. Later all...
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