Reno - the biggest little city in the world
Posted on Jul 5th, 2009 at 12:40 pm by Emily
Happy fourth of July to everyone! The team is happy to be staying put today to celebrate the holiday and enjoy Reno.
(An apology in advance for the lack of photos with this post - we got a little lazy on our day off! More photos to come)
We are all A LOT road weary at this stage of the trip and although the weather is beautiful, it is nice to get out of the sun and wind for a change. I’ve invested in 4 different types of chapsticks - all of which occupy a pocket in different jackets, pants pockets etc. It is obvious that some lip balms work better than others when you are out in the elements for so long each day. The real lesson I’ve learned however is that all lip balms catch bugs and keep them stuck to your lips equally. UGG.
It is nice to have the Truckee River not far from where we are staying as well as the National Automobile Museum. Saturday the team scattered for time to explore, time to rest, time to give Babbs a much needed bath, time to work on the Spyker and time to work on our route into San Francisco. It is hard to believe next week is our final week and we have only one state line left to cross. A bittersweet ending is approaching a remarkable journey.
A special thank you to Ted’s Uncle Dave and Aunt Esther Frey from Marin County. Dave and Esther spent a great deal of the day on Saturday with us (and their pile of maps!) helping to plan a less congested and more scenic route into the bay area. We are grateful to them for their local advice and the shared excitement in what we are doing! Esther has also been instramental in everything San Francisco related and we are glad to have both her and Dave involved in this part of the journey with us!
Saturday evening brought a welcome reprieve from the downtown Reno casinos as we were welcomed into the home of John Ton & Glee Willis. John and Glee have a fantastic view from their back deck and we were greeted with quite possibly one of the best meals we have had in a very long time! It was wonderful to be in a real home for the holiday and celebrate with such a delightful family. John is an incredibly talented artist and created the Alice Ramsey mural on the side of a building at Sierra & Liberty Streets, downtown Reno. http://john-ton.com/current-full-three.html
Emily & Christie will have the chance to visit the mural with Babbs & John on Monday. The team enjoyed fun conversation, food and fireworks festivities over Reno with John, Glee, Chuck McGinn and Debbie Hinman. Debbie recently wrote an article about Alice Ramsey and the Centennial Drive in ‘FootPrints’ the newsletter for the Historic Reno Preservation Society. A very well written article, it was fun to meet Debbie and talk with her about the history in Reno. Check out: http://historicreno.org/
During dinner we paid tribute to Ted Griffis one of our trusty and always smiling film crew. We are incredibly sad to see Ted depart us on Sunday and will miss him tremendously. Ted has been a key component in the drive and the film and although departing us he will still be working on the film for many months to come. Thank you Ted for your professionalism, your upbeat attitude, and your fun loving nature! You, your smile and our morning chats will be missed - but we’ll be calling you and keeping you in the loop as if you were still with us. Our thoughts are with you, Nicole and family..
Some highlights yet to look forward to in Reno - the Alice Ramsey Centennial Car Show at Baldini’s Casino on Sunday July 5th. Come down and see Babbs after a bath, meet the team and check out all the cars on display. Monday we are looking forward to seeing John’s mural as well as the On the Road with Alice Ramsey exhibit opening at the National Automobile Museum. The reception and presentation with be from 6:30-9pm and you may learn more by visiting the Museum’s website at http://www.automuseum.org/exhibits.html or by emailing info@automuseum.org or by calling 775.333.9300
We hope to see many of you at Baldini’s or the Museum this weekend - enjoy the 4th!
Glad to hear you are enjoying your time off. Nice to hear that Babbs will be the center of attention at several venues. She probably enjoyed her bath and will sparkle proudly as admirers gather around her. Nice job, everyone! Hope you had time for a nap and can head off Tuesday totally refreshed.
Still wish I could be there with you, bugs and all.
Terry Huston on July 5th, 2009 at 1:16 pm #
Love seeing all your great photos! Just showed them to my husband and he said it must be so great, like riding a bike across the country (he is a cycling fanatic), with the open air and going slowly enough to enjoy it all. The photos really show that spirit and joy of being so free and going along through open country, with sun, wind, and bugs! Glad the weather has been so cooperative too. The best news by far is that the Maxwell is performing so consistently and so strongly for you now. It’s certainly in the groove and a bit like a marathon runner, where the very start of the journey is a bit difficult to get into full gear, but after a short while, a stride kicks in and it feels and looks as graceful as a gazelle across an open savanah. I know the Maxwell had a tough time at the start, but now is going gazelle-like all across America. What an amazing journey you are completing! I look forward to seeing you all when you come into our Golden State.
Thanks again for keeping up the blog, as that must be an additional item on a very long list of to dos in order to keep it all going, which you have all done so well!
I hope little Kaisa is enjoying this wild adventure as much as her mother, brothers and grandparents! I bet it is built into the Anderson DNA just as surely as it was built into the Huyler-Ramsey DNA.
Keep me posted on the new route you’ve selected for your entrance into California! I look forward to another adventure with you all before your final destination in San Francisco.
Kathleen Gamper on July 5th, 2009 at 1:47 pm #
Some friends and I would be interested in following and supporting the tour from Placerville to Folsom on Tuesday…some in vintage vehicles. Any idea when you hope to arrive in Placerville and/or depart for Folsom? Any recommendations for a great spot to join the fun?
Jan Charpier on July 5th, 2009 at 2:23 pm #
Congrats on your successes! I’ve been out of touch for the last week and missed my daily fix on your adventure. Glad to hear you are doing so well, and that the end is in sight. But I fear I will go into withdrawl when you finally reach San Fran and the blog ends. How about turning around and heading back east?
Phil on July 5th, 2009 at 4:46 pm #
What an honor to host the entourage on the 4th of July! Words just don’t quite do justice to the thrill of being so close to such an exciting nostalgic event. Come on back if you need to do a few loads of laundry! Plenty of salad left, too! With Affection, — John Ton
John Ton on July 6th, 2009 at 1:13 pm #
Great that you were able to tie in with the Reno automobile museum and get an interview on the local radio station there; and while that car show was also a good tie-in, too bad there was no way to tie into the biggest car extravanga in Reno: Hot August Nights.
It would have been quite a hoot to have Babs make the journey up-and-down Virginia Street on one of those “cruise nights” in August. I wish you’d consider leaving the car in San Francisco, after arrival there, and taking it back to Reno for HAN. You’d get so much more publicity.
Moreover, you could ask for contributions to defray expenses incurred, and probably get a few thousand Federal Reserve Notes, maybe even some with a picture of Ben Franklin on them. That’s how it goes in Reno during HAN. In 2006, when I took a break from the collector car auction to go get lunch at a Taco Bell, I got there just as some tourist had left a $60 tip.
Terry Parkhurst on July 6th, 2009 at 10:28 pm #