I-80 (Day 3) - Nevada - (Leg 3)

Nevada was strange and beautiful in it's own way. I was digging the desert landscape. Short green shrubbery atop of sandy brown looking earth and mountains. After hours of driving with the sun beating on me I became quickly sick of it. There's a vastness there that wasn't anywhere else. All the other places I'd see a farm a cow, something to symbolize some sort of civilization - be it carnival people or farm hands were near...here it seemed that nothing stretched for 40 miles in every direction. Very cool and a little scary.

My best stop in Nevada was at the Flying J - a chain of sorts but there were slots. I'm not a gambler (I'm thinking of that awful song and that sucks - but he is a gambler in it...) but I put a dollar in the slot while waiting to pay for buffalo wing flavored snyder pretzels (these are great) and won $7. I felt with such luck I should venture into the real casino - which was through a glass door and around the corner from the gas station shop with the slots.

I wandered in and found my way to Wheel of Fortune - again I have no idea how to play so I put in a quarter and start pressing buttons. This apparently works because I'm gaining credits and am allowed to sit longer. A woman approaches me and I'm pressing button and asks "Girl, are you old enough to gamble?" I laugh at this a little but she's serious; I mean did my hello kitty t-shirt give me away? I told her "You got me. I skipped school today and drove to the middle of the desert to feed my quarter slot gambling addiction." When I handed her my ID she looked at me and it several times before saying "You just never know is all."

It's then that I surveyed the area. I saw people with vacant eyes slumped forward with packs of cigarettes or slouched backward and maneuvering their button pressing in a much more effective way than mine. All the men and women looked the same to me, like really bad strung out beaten up versions of Willie Nelson. I thought I didn't fit and cashed out ($3 dollars). I loved that the cashier was wearing an oxygen tank in the smoke filled room it added a certain charm you don't find in our smokeless cities anymore.

I had one more stop. When I exited the Flying J I saw something that I had not seen the whole trip down 80W until this point. A coffee house. An honest to gosh coffee house. It said "Bellas Espresso House." I couldn't believe it and immediately made my way there.


They made an amazing cup of coffee, an amazing sandwich, and they offered gentlemen services all under one roof. I think that's perfect. I almost asked (ok, I did ask but there were only hiring counter help...thinking what that might entail now that I'm thinking of it...) if there were any job openings because I couldn't foresee life getting better than that. I left all dreams of becoming a barista with benefits behind and continued on towards California...