Seemingly takes forever to leave -- Journal, email, house-cleaning, car-cleaning, but at last at 2pm head out the door for Wisconsin, I-80 most of the way, past the cliffs of Gold Run,
into the high country of Emigrant and
Yuba Gaps,
over Donner Summit
(originally Euer Saddle,
south of Castle Peak), and down the
Canyon -- the Transcontinental Railroad knifing through the still-heavy north-face snow.
By contrast, Truckee Meadows and environs are in the clear,
all the way
down
the Upper Canyon to
the sere and
seasonally green slopes of
suburban Reno and
Sparks ("Nevadarks?").
Beyond forelorn establishments
framed vistas,
the Lower Canyon Cliffs
fan out into
Fernley Valley, and
the Carson and
Humboldt Sinks,
where a train races
against impassive
cliffs.
Beyond stops at
Lovelock,
the agricultural desert beckons and
bewilders, as the "check engine" light comes on,
forcing a turnaround, alas,
through shadows of the
garish
night.
