Mary Panttaja

We stayed over in a campground in Wells, Nevada last night (clean, efficient and functional if noisy and inelegant), at the base of the Ruby Mountains, which are one my favorite places that I’ve never really explored yet. Still on the list, but we need a week to stay here and wander.

Passing through Elko yesterday, we looked up and there was His Holiness the Dalai Lama on an enormous billboard, his hands clasped together in namaste. You couldn’t help but grin. It was just two years ago that we drove through Wells and noticed a newspaper headline that promoted that he was speaking that day in Sun Valley. We dashed up to see him. And it’s just one year since I went with Cynthia (Jim was under his travel restriction) to his teaching in NYC. Quite a surprise to keep discovering him out here in the desert.

We found a great bicycle ride last night. A 4% grade on the road up into the Ruby Mountains that went on and on, though we were running out of light. It is quite hazy and overcast here due to the heavy layer of smoke that has settled in from some fire—the moon was a soft orange when it broke through early this morning.

With the wifi at the campground and the new SlingBox at home, we are listening to the dramatic news from the Tour de France while we wake up with our coffee. It’s really early, but all is cozy here.

PS. Jim figured out that maybe I could power my MacBook Pro with a DC to AC converted plugged into the car; and sure enough, it won’t charge, but I got an extra 90 minutes on a essentially dead battery yesterday. That was very cool; at least I can work while we drive and preserve battery.