---November 8th 2013---
Welcome to the Casino State
Nevada!!! The casino state. As we were still of the great flatness of the lake, we stated to see in the distance a few building. It was Wendover. Wendover is town crossed by the Utah-Nevada state line. Being a Mormon state, Utah highly forbids gambling, thus forbidding casinos. On the other hand, Nevada’s economy is mostly related to these casinos. In fact, an approximate 70% of the state economy comes from Las Vegas Strip. The rest is split between other casinos, silver mining and gold mining. And so, the city is split into two sections: the casinos, and the cheap motels. Can you guess which side belong to which state? But what makes the city so strange, is that all the casinos are all exactly on the state line, plus or minus a few inches. They are not spread through the Nevada side of town, but all directly on the town’s division.
After a small lunch, I got back on the road, but there was no car passing on the entrance, and hitchhiking right below a sign saying: “Welcome to highway 95, the loneliest road in America”, I decided to go back on the highway. It was one of those very weird wait. Within the first few minutes, a cop car flashed me.
“You know hitchhiking is illegal is fully illegal in the state of Nevada?” said the mustache and sunglasses wearing cop.
“Is that right? I’m sorry officer. Before I left, I look at all the laws regarding hitchhiking within the different state. I guess I most of mixed the one from Nevada with another one. I’m trying to visit the gorgeous landscape of the western half of the United-State, but not having enough money buy bus and train ticket, I decided to hitchhike. Plus, I get to meet the local people, thus breaking stereotype and showing me how nice the people living around here actually are.”
“Can I see your paper?” said the officer with a severe tone. I gave him my passport, and as he looked back at me, he smiled, “So you’re Canadian, eh?” he joked. “Look I know you are a good guy, but hitchhiking on the highway is illegal. Now I know you don’t have the money to take the bus, but I can tell you this. If you got on the on ramp, you shouldn’t have any problem. I mean, if another cop sees you, he night pull over, but unless he’s one of those by-the-book cop, you shouldn’t have any problem. Take care and be careful” he said giving me my passport back.
As I walked back to the on ramp, I noticed a cereal box lying in the ditch. One of the box’s sides had a few kid games on it. Knowing I was going to wait for a while, I cut that game side of the box, wrote “RENO” on the other side with my sharpie, and as I was hitchhiking, I would be playing the little game in the back of the box.
Eventually, the unimaginable happened; two cars pulled over, at the same time. I ran toward the closest one and started talking. In the car, was a family of Indian, but none of them spoke English. I tried to tell them where I was heading, but they clearly didn’t understand. I tried mimicking, but the result stayed the same. After two-three minutes of one-way communication, they just left. Not too discouraged, I turn to head toward the other car, but it had left. Not only did I manage to get two cars to pull over for me, but I managed to miss both and stay stranded on the side of the road. Now I don’t know where either car would of brought me, but at least, thanks to that odd and unique situation, I got to wait a little longer and get a ride across half of Nevada.
A night playing homeless
Since the beginning of my trip, people had told me to be careful in Nevada. Knowing I was going to cross the state during winter, they warned me that I would get extremely cold weather, and that camping wasn’t something to consider. In fact, being one of the highest states in the country, Nevada temperature can get much colder in the winter then other states. Furthermore, deserts have very dry air and ground, so when the Sun goes down, they is no water molecule to keep the heat of the day, so the temperature drops drastically. At least, also due to the lack of water in the air, when the Sun comes back up, the atmosphere regains its heat.
I for myself, being the ever Canadian who loves the cold, there was no way I was going to sleep anywhere other than outside for my first night in Nevada. I walked around town, and finally saw a police station. I rang at the door, explained my situation. I told them about my lack of money for hotel, and my lack of will to break the law, asking them if they knew a place I could sleep for free overnight. The police officer looked at me and warned me about the cold. I told him I was equipped with all the gear necessary. The reassured cop told me that the usual homeless all head for the train track. Having a huge sagebrush field, it is easy to hide, and nobody ever goes there to look for illegal campers.
I headed for the train track, and walked around the bushes to find a place big enough to squeeze myself between the thorny shrubs. Then, a thought came to my head: “I’m sleeping where the homeless usually sleep, maybe I could try a night sleeping like them. Plus, with everyone telling me how cold Nevada is, I cannot simply just sleep in my warm sleeping bag. Finally, being in the desert, there won’t be any rain, it’s perfect for camping under the stars.” And so, I unrolled my tarp, simply to protect me from the dirt (I still need to look half decent on the side of the road), I took out all my clothes, and tried to fall asleep. I slept like a rock. Well, not quite. I slept until midnight, but then the cold woke me up. I did a few jumping-jacks to gain a little bit of extra heat, and went back to sleep. It took a while, but I think I fell asleep for another hour. But after that, there was no way of keeping my body heat. My upper body was doing pretty good, my leg not so bad, but my feet where draining the heat of my body. They were starting to cause me great pain. Finally, I decided to pull the plug, of at least pull my sleeping bag and finish my night under the night sky, and my sleeping bag. Now I can say I slept like a rock.
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| Sleeping like a homeless |
The next morning, I was stuck at the entrance of town, but at least, the entrance was nice. I tried hitchhiking, but everyone would tell me they weren’t going far. Finally, someone with common sense thought I was better of hitchhiking on the other side of town (next exit), and despite not going very far, he gave me a ride. It may not sound like much, but when someone hitchhikes in town, small rides help more than you can imagine.
From there, a first car pulled over and gave me a discount at Benny’s for cheap breakfast, and not long after, another cop pulled me over. He too had a severe facial expression. After looking at my passport, and saying the usual: “Ohhh, so you are Canadian eh?” he told me, “You know, I don’t care if you hitchhike here or not. I just want to let you know it is illegal everywhere in the state. Most cops don’t care, but some to find pleasure giving you guys tickets. So look, I’m leaving at the moment, I gave you all the information you need, now it’s your decision. I don’t care for your decision, just be warned.”
I decided to use my cheap breakfast to “think over” at what to do to cross Nevada. Just after a few pancakes, I got back on the road, and as a car passed me by saying the usual “I’m not going far” with his finger, I too used my body language to tell him I didn’t care. The guy decided to stop. He was going a little way, yes; to the next exit, a few miles out of town. But that was a problem. The exit was only a mining field with a gas-station. There was heavy traffic, but only from mining trucks how couldn’t pick me up. I went to the gas station, took a cardboard box, and wrote on it “NEXT EXIT”. Eventually, an 18-wheeler coming from the gas-station pulled over. I couldn’t believe it. I hopped in, and he gave me a Subway sandwich, telling me he saw me as he got out of the highway to refuel, and thought, “He for sure isn’t just going to the next exit. Let’s buy him lunch, and if he is still there when I pass by, I’ll pick him up.” Once more, I couldn’t believe it.
Justin, the driver, was heading toward Reno, also my destination. We drove all day, stopped at a truck-stop for supper and once we got to Reno, he drove me to the door of the guy was couchsurfing at. What a nice ride. I thought it was going to take me three days to cross Nevada, but it turned out to be only one and a half, thanks to two very long rides.
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| Truckin' down Nevada |
Cowboy for a Day
Being pale brown, and without vegetation to obstruct your vision, the deserts gives room to any lake how call the desert home. The endless sky colors the water with its dark blue that contrasts the pale surrounding. So when I got to Pyramid Lake, I got surprised with an incredible sight. A pyramid shaped island stood out of the deep blue which also stood out of the pale desert. With the few clouds leaving their shade on the different mountains around, even the desert seemed vivid with color.
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| The contrasting deep blue, in the pale desert |
The guy who had brought me there told me I could sleep at his place. So, having a full afternoon to waste, we wondered around. As the Sun started to lower itself, we got to his place, but his parents blocked my entrance. They were completely against having a hitchhiker in their house; weird since their son had two hitchhiked across the USA. For me, it wasn’t too big of a problem; I still had a place to stay in Reno, and my tent if necessary. That being said, as the Sun was menacing me, it became a problem. I couldn’t find a ride to Reno, and with all the thorny shrubs, there was absolutely no place to camp. As usual, I pushed my luck, hitchhike until full darkness, and hope for the best.
Fortunately, Joe was passing by. Seeing a strange man alone in such a nowhere with his thumb out, he had to stop and see how I was. As we were driving toward Reno, he invited me over for the night. When he told me he had a farm, I told him that I’ve always wanted to go horseback riding. Immediately, he told me that if I wanted, he could bring me to his farm in the morning for a full cowboy day, and stay at his place for an extra night.
The next day, as we got out, he told me to grab a ride from one of his friends. Having lots of unexpected work, Joe told Bo to show me around. The first thing on the list was to load the horse in the trailer. Then, it was time to buy beer for the day. Once at the farm, we took the beers out, and then the horse, in that order of course. And for the rest of the day, we hopped and skipped from one place to another. I got to horseback ride for an hour, than practice the lasso. We got to a small country fair to see the horse race, and finally got went to get the horse’s hay. As the day was turning into evening, we got back to the farm for a little bit more horseback riding, and eventually, we started lassoing bulls. Well Bo was, I was still at the make the horse go where demanded, and the getting the lasso to open. It was a good day.
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| Just like a cowboy |
The next morning, Joe and his wife brought me to the state line between Nevada and California to help me get a ride better than through Reno. Before leaving me, they gave me phone number of their daughter for me to have a place to sleep once I would get to Los Angeles. I ended up not going there but it was still nice to have this contact.
PHOTOS
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| License Plate |
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| A whole lot of nothing |
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| Reno, or Las Vegas Jr. |
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| Pyramid Lake |
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| Pyramid Lake |
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