High Desert in Nevada

On the home stretch of our 2010 road trip, it was a long day of driving from San Francisco to Salt Lake City.  Having spent a week in Southern California, we made the trip up to San Fran for a couple of days, and then were in a rush to get back home to Canada.  To be honest, this leg of the trip was actually the perfect opportunity to reflect on everything we had done.

We made it to Reno in the afternoon, but from there it was nothing but open desert in front of us.  Unlike the interstate we took heading south, the highway from Reno to Salt Lake was eerily quiet.  Aside from a few trucks here and there, there was hardly anyone around.  When we stopped in the middle of nowhere so Dave could use the bathroom, the only place around was this dive of a little bar called Water Hole #1.  I waited in the car, but I've never seen Dave move so fast to leave.  I'll never really know what happened in there.

The sun set before we reached Utah, but I remember the cluster of casinos right on the Nevada border.  With it completely dark out you could start to smell the Great Salt Lake and we knew we were getting close.  It was a long day, and I drove the entire way.  What were casual conversations in the moment though, are some of the things I'll never forget about Dave.