Yep, I’m in Reno Nevada now. The forecast for the Tetons was not very good. Rain, snow and wind would have not been much fun, so I changed plans and rode the bus all the way to Reno, Nevada yesterday. It was a long ride, with no heat on the journey from Laramie to Salt Lake City, leaving an hour late at 4:30 AM. As the sun was rising I saw the Tetons forecast and updated my plans. This journey turned from tolerable to quite interesting due to meeting fellow passengers Jim (below) and Willie. Jim is a fellow traveller. A serious hiker, walker and long distance biker, who travels with a trailer. We shared stories and Jim had many to share. He seems to mostly work to enable his travels, which he has been doing for many years. Great guy, as was Willie who was not a traveller, but had much to share himself and also greatly improved the journey.

After a frantic change involving a quick ticket change at Salt Lake City onto a west-bound bus I settled in for another long ride. It was on this segment that I met Kevin. We had a lot to talk about. Kevin is a deep thinker. We covered all sorts of things from international events, militarism, meditation to race relations and religion. He’s the kind of guy who really makes you think and who’s presence is such that I felt more apt to reflect and develop my thoughts rather than reflexively retell already formed opinions, ideas and stories. Thanks, Kevin.

I don’t have much to say about Reno. It’s kind of a dull town, with folks staring into slot machine screens in nearly empty casinos. The hotel rooms are super cheap, though. It’s hard to get a meal at 10:30 at night, too, though I did end up meeting Jim on my search for food. He was fairly drunk, apparently homeless, initially quite hostile and made good conversation over the dinner I bought us. He had this classic green Schwin Collegiate bike with original matching handlebar tape in great condition.  I didn’t get to hear him play guitar since the was two strings short last night. Our meeting started out with me muttering “How’s it going?” and him retorting “What the fuck do you care?” Well I just couldn’t pass that up. I told him of my travels and how incredibly well so many people had treated me. He softened and opened. We ate and talked. We met some other local street folks and parted.

This afternoon I take the bus up the hill to Truckee, re-assemble my bike and ride to a hostel on the north side of Lake Tahoe. It’s only 13 miles, but for of those miles have a steady 7% grade. The weather will be chilly, but I will have a warm bed waiting.