There's No Place Like Home...There's No Place Like Home

Sunday, June 20th was to be our last day on the road. It was also Father’s Day. At one point in the evening we jokingly told Dad “You get us for Father’s Day!!” He laughed but we know he was totally alright with that idea.

We left Minden by about ten in the morning; after eating our last Holiday Inn Express breakfast of biscuits and sausage and eggs. Josh made a friend at breakfast! Toto and I went down after beautifying ourselves, and low and behold Josh is sitting with some guy who looks to be about Toto’s age. They weren’t really talking though. We went over and put our stuff down (we had both taken our laptops down to breakfast with the intention of blogging/facebooking on the free internet of the hotel), and the gentleman looked up and seemed surprised. “I thought he was alone,” he said to me. “Nope,” I replied, “but I’m sure he’d love to get rid of Toto and me.” Then Toto sat down and he asked me “Are there more of you?” (it was only a four person table). He seemed a little relieved when I told him no, there were not more of us, or more precisely, the rest of us were at home. We chatted awhile while we were all eating, and we discovered that he had been active duty and National Guard for 22 years! He gave Josh lots of advice, and to the untrained ear of a civilian, it sounded like really good advice. Hopefully Josh will take it to heart.

After our little conversation at the hotel, we got everything (including JT) packed up and ready to go. We knew it was our last day on the road, so we weren’t quite as meticulous in the organization of the car, but Toto still wanted to be able to see out the back window, so we decided we could accommodate her on that.

We started the day off on an interesting note. I was in the backseat, but I was still in control of the iPod. The very first thing I played was the song that is Josh’s ring tone on my phone, and I dedicated it to him. Then Weird Al’s “White and Nerdy” came blasting out of the speakers. Toto didn’t get it. She complained a little bit about the ghetto music until Josh told her to listen to the lyrics. Then she understood. Josh threw the hood on his sweatshirt up over his head and started dancing like a white and nerdy wannabe gangster, it was quite entertaining.



Then I wrote the blog about the day before, which if you are reading this, you probably already read. And you know it is my best work yet, but I can’t guarantee that the one you are reading now is going to top that one, I mean, we didn’t really do much on Sunday.

Toto wanted to make a few stops along the drive home, the first of which was Lake Tahoe. We were only ten minutes south of there where we stayed, so we drove on up. Then we discovered that it cost seven dollars to get into the park. Toto didn’t want to pay it because all she wanted to do was show us the lake for five minutes and get back in the car and drive on. So she looked at us questioningly, and Josh told her his opinion: “Let’s just go. I want to get home.” She looked back at the guy in the toll booth and asked him nicely (yes Toto was nice to someone) “We’re driving home to Oregon today, and I just wanted to show the kids the lake, it’s been 30 years since I was here. Is there any way…?” He let us in without paying, he gave us ten minutes and told us to stay in the car. So she drove in, waited till she couldn’t see his little booth, then parked and we went out and looked at the water. The sand on the shore of Lake Tahoe is not nice when it gets in between your feet and the soles of your sandals, let me just tell you that right now, but it was gorgeous! Someone told us that it was agate sand, but it wasn’t really sand. It was more like really little pebbles everywhere. Some were tan, some were sparkly, some were grayish, it was nice.



The next stop wasn’t really going to be a stop. Toto wanted to drive us through Virginia City, which was what she described as a ghost town. Yeah, so not a ghost town. I mean it was hoppin'. It’s about a mile long, and lined with shops and restaurants and things in a western style. It was really cute. I remarked to Toto that it was a good thing we were only driving through because it looked like an awesome place that you could spend all day in. Then I saw them. Cute boys in cowboy gear. Like Campbell’s soup says, "M'm! M'm! Good!" and they were. I think I got whiplash from yanking my neck back to look behind the car as we went past them. It was a blessedly wonderful moment. We got to the other side of town and Toto pulled over so I could get a soda out of the cooler. Then we decided we were hungry. There were restaurants up by the cute cowboys. Josh just rolled his eyes and grumbled about getting home but Toto and I overruled him. We found somewhere to park, and then we walked around a bit. We found where the cute guys went: they went into the gunfight place. It’s a show they do three times a day. We just barely missed the first one (at noon) and Josh wanted no part of sticking around until the next one (at 1:30). So we peaked in between the boards for a minute, and then went on out merry little way. Across the street Josh found a shirt he just needed, a black t-shirt that said Sons of Anarchy Virginia City on it with the logo of the biker gang. I don’t know if you have ever watched this show or not, but you should. It’s on FX in the fall, and it is good. Josh got into it a couple years back, and Dad and I have since become addicted to it. Speaking of which, I think he and I are overdue for an episode or a marathon. Check it out at http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/. The shirt was hanging in a shop that didn’t sell them, but was a western picture place. The gal asked us if we’d like one, and we asked how much it was. It was going to end up around $25 after tax, so we decided to go ahead. It turned out great! I look like a floozy, but I think that’s part of the point.



About three stores down from the picture place was a western clothing supply store. After trying on a bunch of boots, Josh and I each got a pair, and I got a pretty sweet hat too. I found it entertaining that I tried on every hat I could in Nashville, but I had to get to Nevada to find one that I liked enough to buy. We ate lunch at a place called The Palace, where Josh got the biggest burger in the western states (I don’t think it was bigger than the Hub Cap Burger). I finally got some pulled pork that had been cooked in the BBQ sauce so I felt better. Mom ate the same thing I had but pulled chicken instead of pork. It was good food. Then we headed down the street in search of the place with the SOA shirts. We found it and Josh got a sweatshirt, I got a long sleeved tee and we bought Dad a t-shirt. All in all, we were in Virginia city for about two hours. Josh complained that this was precious time that we could have been driving and therefore two hours closer to home, but deep down he loved the western picture and the SOA sweat shirt. So he didn’t complain too much.



We stopped in Reno for gas, and then Toto drove us down the main strip. It was neat. But we didn’t get out as we didn’t want a verbal lashing from Josh.



Then we drove. And drove. And drove. And drove. And drove. And drove. And drove. And still, we drove. I took pictures of all the state line signs along the trip, except Colorado which we passed without even noticing, but I informed Toto and Josh that we wouldn’t juts take a picture of the Welcome to Oregon sign, we would get out and be dorks. I hadn’t planned on hugging the sign, but when I saw it I couldn’t help myself.



Then we drove some more. And some more. And a little more. We got Taco Bell (or Tango Bravo as Josh has been calling it) in Klamath Falls and then we kept on trekking North. Toto decided she wanted me to start reading the entire blog to her out loud after we ate out food. I read until we arrived in Eugene about 10:30pm and took I-5 North. We passed the turn off for Corvallis at about 11 and pulled in the driveway at 12:28am June 21, 2010. How on earth we made it from Eugene to Gresham in two hours, I have no idea. But we were glad to be home.

Now since the day the blog is about isn’t over until we go to bed, I still have more to talk about. Josh’s friends Austin, Mike and Sarah all got to the house about three minutes after we did. So we let the guys unload the car while I gave Dad his father’s day presents since it was sort of still Dad’s day (he got a new book and new grill racks for the BBQ).



Then Toto and I divvied up the souvenirs to Dad and made a pile for the munchkin. Then we discovered that he had not been reading the blogs while we were gone. He claims to have read a few, but until he reads this one and then tells me he knows what happened in all of them, I don’t think I will believe him.

It wasn’t a terribly exciting day, but it was busy enough, what with the driving and all.

For those of you who have become avid followers of this blog, don’t worry. This is not the last posting. I will post an epilogue in a day or two.