Written: 2002 October 14

I was at a family reunion in southern Idaho around 20th of September 2002. It got down below freezing at night which is a bit colder than I was prepared for, so I left shortly after the reunion to come back home to San Jose, California.

The drive across the Salt Flats and most of Nevada is rather boring after having done it a few times. When I got to highway US-95 about half way between Reno and Lovelock I decided to head south on a route I have never traveled. It was interesting. I camped overnight and got a bath at Walker Lake. Walker Lake is somewhat like Salt Lake in that there is no outlet, but it is not yet so salty. (I swam in the lake, but forgot to notice if it tasted salty! I guess that comes from diving in the ocean, after a while, you really don't notice that the water is salty.)

South of Walker Lake is a fair sized town of Hawthorne. On the Nevada map is shows "Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant". Whatever it is, there are many miles of what looks like Idaho Potato Cellars. Could it be where most of our nuclear weapons are stored? There are lots of railroad tracks going around the Potato Cellars. Further south and east is Tonopah, as I remember that is where the Stealth Fighter planes were tested. For a place where almost nobody lives there are sure a lot of high power electrical lines in the desert. ???

South from Tonopah, is an interesting old town: Goldfield, about 180 miles north of Las Vegas. It is the most interesting old boom town I have seen. On the Nevada map it says: "Completed in 1908 the Goldfield Hotel (now closed) was one of the most luxurious hotels between San Francisco and Kansas City." It still stands. I would guess the population of Goldfield now is less than a hundred, at its peak it had over 80,000 people.

The 180 miles from Goldfield to Las Vegas is pretty desolate, the road goes past, but not through, the Nevada Test Site. It does go through Beatty, where big road signs advertise the Brothels. One said "New Ladies have Arrived!" Prostitution is illegal in Clark county where Las Vegas is at, so that business goes north to Beatty. In case you're wondering: No, I didn't spend the night in Beatty. I should have at least bought gas there to support the local economy but I didn't think about it till I was far down the road.

After I reached Las Vegas, I went out to Lake Mead and spent two nights there. The lake is lower than I have ever seen it. But, the water was just perfect swimming temperature, I would guess about 80 degree. While I was there I got a phone call for a friend reminding me that in two days I had agreed to be taking a group through the Computer History Museum. Otherwise, I would probably still be splashing in the water there.

I made a very hurried trip back to San Jose, but the wind was so strong that about 2 PM I stopped, near Boron, California; and waited till dark when the wind let up. I got home about noon and at 2:30 PM was telling people about old computers.