Hot August Nights 2012 - August 5

This morning we took Penny for a long walk in the dunes before the ATVers arrived. She had so much fun racing up and down the hills. She spotted a rabbit and gave it a run for its money, but in the end, the rabbit got away. She raced back to us, ears flying. By 9:30 a few cars pulling trailers loaded with ATVs were headed into the area, so we decided it was time to get on the road.
Passing by the Bonneville Salt Flats in western Wyoming reminded us a of movie we saw years ago with Anthony Hopkins, called The Indian. It was a fun movie about an older guy from Australia who had an old Indian motorcycle. He had always dreamed of racing on the salt flats and he finally made the trek to race there. Good movie – we may have to rent it again!
We took a lunch break in Wells, Nevada next to the city park. Penny got a chance to chase tennis balls for a while so she was a happy, tired dog.

The further west we drove, the worse the weather got. Strong cross winds and rain were the order of the afternoon. I was driving so I slowed down to 55 mph after we saw one trailer flipped and smashed to pieces and the tow truck and emergency vehicles just arriving. Not too far down the road, another car had rolled and was flattened. Again, several highway patrol cars and emergency vehicles were cleaning up the mess. We aren’t in any hurry, so we plan to arrive safely!

We arrived in Winnemucca about 3:30 this afternoon and are camping in the Winners Casino parking lot. They were having their version of Reno’s “Hot August Nights” called “Fifties Fever”. It is a MUCH smaller version, but still fun to see the variety of cars.

Tobey wanted to play in a poker tournament this evening, but only two people (including him) signed up, so they cancelled it. Bummer, but he will get the chance to play poker once we get to Reno. Tonight, relaxing, reading, and maybe a movie.