Dawn & Nia Do Reno

June 17, 2007 2:08:38 AM EDT

Hello Everyone!

It's that time again - the email travel journal - yay! I know you're all really psyched. Ha.

This trip is a little different - no oo-la-la with beaucoup des faux pas from Paris, nor exotic tales of adventure and gut-churning gastronomic experiences requiring major doses of antibiotics coming out of Cairo - nope. This time I'm going domestic! Yep, right here in the good ol' U-S of A. So trendy right now, I know. But sometimes ya just gotta go with the crowd, ya know? Plus I wanted to give my passport a break.

One of my best friends for the past 11 years - Nia - is moving to Miramar Beach, Florida - she refers to it as the Redneck Rivera. She has purchased a home - Congratulations, Nia! - and I'm driving with her to her future.

We're taking the long route. The men in the crowd will pull at their hair (or grab their bald scalps) as I chart our progress - it's zig-zaggy - you guys prefer the direct route, don't you? (is that a sexist comment?) But bear with us - we're winging it - taking our time, Road Goddesses exploring the Asphalt Trail, and most likely getting lost at every turn. Excitement will abound! Or I'll make it up - either way, it won't be dull reading!

So as usual, if you don't wish to receive the emails, I promise, my feelings will not be hurt if you ask to be removed from the email list, or if you simply delete them without reading them. And as usual, if you want to pass them on, please do, and I will add anyone to the list who wishes to be added - as you all know, I love an audience!

Last night Nia, Lawrence and his wife Anna, with their gorgeous daughter Summer and I all went out for a final Maine lobster dinner. Perry's on Union Street in San Francisco used to be our lobstah go-to place, but they no longer serve lobster - sniff, sniff - so we went to the Lobster Shack on Green where we drank beer and stuffed ourselves on lobstah and fried clams. Eventually Summer needed to go home, so she and Anna left and Lawrence, Nia and I went to Harry's - a bar that we despise - but we went because it was where the three of us first began hanging out 11 years ago - 3 blocks from Nia's (old!) apartment. We had a few cocktails, took note that the crowd hadn't become any more attractive and reminisced over our friendship.

This morning Nia and I planned to leave my place at 11:00 a.m. So at 4:53 p.m., on the dot, we found ourselves going down highway 13 out of Berkeley. We did make a plan before we left - we decided to drive for 3 hours, and that landed us in Reno, Nevada.

David? are you cringing? was that too fast? are you going to lecture me when I get home?

And now we're here - at the Reno Holiday Inn, downtown. So re the subject of this email you probably want to know what we're "doing" here the exciting little burg of Reno - well ... Nia's on her computer, I'm on mine, typing this, "Pirates of the Caribbean" is on tv and we're working our way through a bottle of red wine.

What? Were you expecting something a little racier? Hey! We're not 29 anymore ...

But stay tuned - we're hitting the national parks, the ticky-tacky tourist shops and most of the bathrooms along the way!

Until tomorrow ...

Mileage: 211 Time: 3.5 hours Destination: Salt Lake City, UT