These past 2 days delay in updating the blog are blamed on my addiction and fascination with Dancing with the Stars. Yes, I've just outed myself, I love DWTS! I'm obsessed with watching Ricki Lake, JR Martinez and David Arquette dance it out for the prestigious Mirror Ball Trophy. I'm not sure that I can go on watching every Monday and Tuesday night without Carson Kressley (I can't believe he was voted off the show - Nooooooo!)
Dead in the Desert:
The days have been quite productive for Steve with his sales calls, and I have been busy at the trailer working on my course, walking dogs, cooking food, helping with the bookkeeping, and being distracted by the internet. Very relaxing. Each day, we take our daily drive into the desert to look for a good place to let the dogs run a bit and enjoy our desert surroundings. Over the past two days, we have gone mountain bike riding in the Sierra Mountain hills (just 10-15 minutes from our RV Park). We found 2 locations where we can ride our bikes along dirt tracks in the rustic desert and we are both loving it! It's been a great way to get some exercise for us, Loki and Klio. The dogs are super excited because the desert is very different from the forests they are used to hiking at home - new smells, new animals, and lots of prickly tumbleweeds to avoid. Our current mountain biking trail leads towards an area where there are cows/bulls roaming around (in the distance). The dogs are intrigued by them, and yesterday ran towards one. I, on the other hand, was yelling my head off for them to come back as I have no idea what a huge bull in the middle of the desert will do to two city-slicker dogs running full tilt towards him.
Needless to say, I have discovered, over the past 2 days, that I have bovinophobia (a fear of cows). I guess I've always known that. I've never liked petting zoos and I don't feel a special kinship to cows, but being close to them, on strange property, in a foreign country, while riding my bicycle with 2 little dogs and a husband who thinks danger is fun, has made me realize that I'm actually scared of cows.
Okay, perhaps that was a bit of a rant......but......onto the "dead" part of the story.......a couple of days ago, when Loki and Klio found the Jack Rabbits and had a ball running through the dry bushes, they also found a dead and very dry/crusty carcass of a coyote. It appears that he ran head-first into a shotgun round. I was sad. So, being even more cautious in these surroundings than we are at home when "bear-aware," we have been discussing what kinds of snakes, scorpions, coyotes, wild horses and now, cows we may discover in our hikes and bikes. So - today Loki ran ahead of our bikes and seemed particularly interested in something at the top of the hill we were riding, and I had a sinking feeling. Yup - dead cow.
Was it another shotgun mishap? Thirst? Exposure? Mountain Lion? Mad Cow? We don't know, but it was another crusty, dead, scavenged and freaky discovery. I guess some adventures are a little unfortunate, so we'll have to make sure we are all well hydrated and alert. Not to worry Joyce and Jan - we're careful! Honest!
But Not in the Casino:
Anyway, now that we've spent just over one week in Reno, we are definitely getting a feel for this place and the lay of the land. For those who have never been to Reno, and for those who were here approx 25+ years ago......let's just say that the city is fairly depressed (and not just fiscally depressed, but clinically too). It certainly isn't Las Vegas. Actually, it looks as though Reno is the "kid" that Nevada didn't have the money to send to university. Quite run-down in many parts of the city with houses and businesses either on the market or boarded up (or both), most parts of the town haven't managed to find the right cocktail of antidepressants to stay alive and are looking pretty tired and weary.
Some of the hotels do seem to be quite busy (where it counts) inside the casinos and restaurants. But, the glam of yesteryear is definitely missing. For example, two of the largest hotels here, Circus Circus and the Peppermill haven't even bothered to spend the time or money to fix their burnt out lights on the "Reno Strip." Welcome to "Circu Circu"! And the hotels with lights intact haven't changed their look since the 50's. Seriously. Biggest little city in the world.....I'm not so sure!
All the same, it's not really fair of me to rip Reno apart as I completely admit that my reference point is the ostentatious swank of Las Vegas - and comparing these two sister cities is as fair as a death row pardon two minutes too late (thanks, Alanis).
So, for the good things - the people here seem really nice and down-to-earth, the RV Park we found is super clean with a hot tub, pool & great dog-walk nearby, the streets aren't full of drunk 21 year olds staggering around in hoochi-mama outfits, and there aren't any canvassers handing out strip club & escort service flyers to Steve and I as we walk hand-in-hand down the street (obviously not looking for girls, girls, girls at our door in 20 minutes). So, I recommend Reno to those looking for a bit of tame fun, smaller crowds, and much quieter casinos with lower volume woooooop woooooooop, brrring brrring, buzz buzz, ding ding ding. That is.....unless, you're the one sitting in front of the slot machine that's going crazy and ding-a-linging more money onto your casino voucher. Turn that machine's volume up! Wahoo!
Speaking of which, tonight Steve and I went downtown to the Silver Legacy casino. We had the buffet dinner (pretty good - I managed to slip an extra "all you can eat" dessert brownie into my purse) then hit the slot machines for the second time this trip. As always, I was completely prepared to lose all of my $10 budget for the night as I seem to be one of those "gamblers" who manage to lose it all every time :( But even fools get lucky sometimes!
And, Steve's luck, you ask....well, truthfully, he came home with some money too! He was downtown this afternoon making sales calls, and luckily was walking with his head down - he found 4 bits! So, we're both making money. Yay!
As you can all see, we're having fun and enjoying Reno! Miss you all - and hope things are great with you. Please feel free to email at will - I love keeping in touch with you (makes me feel like we haven't been away so long - 8 days - ha!)
Take care,
xoxo Sue and Steve
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