Day 107 - The End of the Road

Morning of the final day. I left early, wanting to be on my way as soon as possible at this point. Also, my host is in nursing school, and had to be at the hospital very early in the morning. She dropped me off at a nearby truck stop, where I hoped to catch a quick ride across the mountains and into the warmer central valley. No luck with the quick hop, though. I had a trucker let me know that a lot of people were waiting out the day, as the wind was gusting through the pass. After a few hours at the truck stop and freezing in the wind, I walked out to the on ramp and tried my luck with the cars. A good idea, too. I suddenly realized that while there were plenty of trucks around, very few were actually getting onto the freeway heading west.

My first ride took me across town, he was a cool guy with some personal hitching experience. Short ride, though. It was probably one of the best spots to get dropped off in Reno, and had an IHOP where I tried some eggnog pancakes, but even so it was hours before I actually got a ride.

My second ride was a cute girl on her way to the stables with a load of hay in her pickup. She couldn't take me very far, just a few exits, but at this point I'd take anything. So I did :)

Third ride got me almost as far as Truckee. Awesome guy, out here for the skiing. Super grateful to him for the lift, too, as the place I'd been dropped off really didn't have much traffic. Though it was the shortest wait so far...interesting.

Fourth ride was a woman from Palo Alto who was up skiing for the day. It was a test run, seeing if she minded the four hours of driving to go each way. Since she didn't, her plan is to take two days off from her job owning a yoga studio and ski every single week. She has a son named Daniel as well. Who also lives in San Francisco. And who also has a birthday coming up, on the exact same day as me. He's a year younger than I, though, so we're not completely secret twins. After a car ride listening to the TED talks off of my mp3 player, she dropped me off at the BART station and I headed back home.

At this point, I should really sit down and write a profound wrap-up of my trip, explaining what I learned, what I think, and all of that jazz. And someday I may do just that. But truth be told, I'm not in that much of a hurry to do so. It's been an awesome trip. I'm incredibly glad that I did it, and wish I could have spent even more time at it. It's something I'd love to explain. But it's not something I feel a burning desire to summarize on paper. So if you want to know my thoughts, ask. Because it'll be a long time till you ever see me write it up on here :)

Trip Stats:

Total Distance: 237 miles
Total Time: 10 hours
Google Estimated: 3:56 hrs
# of Rides: 4
Total Cost: $8