To: OnTheRoad

From: Richard Dean <richdean@clark.net>

Subject: homeward-bound

greetings my friends...

i began my trip back east today, heading back along I-80. after so many weeks away from home, its time to make good time. tonight i'm in winnemucca, nevada -- which of course means i am basically staying in a casino. unlike my last trip, i lost 80 bucks tonight. i blame my parents for not teaching me poker (or any other card games) and thus my reliance on the slots.

anyway, the drive across california and northern nevada was pretty uneventful. I listened once again to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" on the tape deck. But for most of the drive, I just tooled on in silence. My week in the Bay Area was way more productive than I had expected -- meetings with CNet and Wired Digital went so well that I actually have some freelance work to do :-) The prospect of working for either one has provided a much needed ego patting. At the same time, moving west presents a new set of personal dilemnas which unfortunately aren't much solved by the miles (in any sense of the word...). For every happy thought about SF, there's a competing sad one....

well, enough of that. Today outside Truckee, I saw a forest fire. Just a small one, but from the highway you could see the planes attacking it from all sides. Like a video game, or images from the gulf war, these huge chemical planes swooped down in at crazy angles, pulling up and flying off to refill themselves. The resulting smoke filled the valleys for miles and miles, obscuring what I can only imagine are beautiful views. not a good picture day :)

the space east of reno falls silent startlingly fast. once minute its glitz and high rises, then next its mountains and barren land. it was starting to get near sunset and like i mentioned before, it takes a *long* time for the sun to go down out here. the closest i can rememeber were summer we spent on the cape (well, marshfield actually, but to a marylander its all the same...). the shadows get so long they seem to be slowly lying down. i met someone in DC who once told me that the colors of the sunsets there are due to air pollution. out here the colors on the ground are as wonderful as those in the sky. the desert is very vibrant at dusk.

on a more commercial note, i stopped at the jelly belly factory for a tour -- its right across the street from the Budweiser plant that I stopped at before. The smell of candy and beer compete in a very odd way.

well, i must sleep now -- plus my powerbook's battery only has 20 minutes left and i'm too lazy to go get the adapter :-)

see you later...

rich