10-13 September

Winnemucca Nevada

We have a good excuse for being so lax with our blog. The past couple of days we've been visiting with Paul's cousin Michael, his wife Courtney and their family in Roseville just outside Sacramento. We had a great time meeting some of Mike and Courtney's family and friends, but we still managed some 'tourist time' in Old Sacramento, a restored part of the old town. Not much of Old Sacramento is original, but it shows what the city would have looked like in the late 19^th, early 20^th century, when the railway was king.

Tonight we are settled in our favorite US cheapie motel – Motel6. The northern Nevada desert surrounds us for hundreds of kms. Contrasts on this trip so far have been spectacular. A couple of days ago we were wandering by the beach and pottering around old Monterey harbour front. Earlier today we drove through the Sierra Nevada mountains, stopping off at the small town of Truckee before heading off into the desert just beyond Reno. The Interstate improved significantly once we crossed the Nevada State line; speed limits of 120km/hr made the day fly! The nothingness of the deserts is reminiscent of our travels through western Queensland. Petrol (Gas) stations are few and far between, as are motels. We have more hard miles ahead tomorrow as we head through Utah towards Yellowstone National Park. This part of the trip was an after thought. Apparently the long haul to Chicago along I-80 through Wyoming and Nebraska is deadly boring, so we've elected to take a small 1000km detour!