We left Wyoming right on schedule Monday morning, January 1st. The night before, everyone was asleep before midnight, so no rituals for us.

We almost didn't make it out of the long driveway at the ranch; so much snow had drifted in that we had to jockey fore and aft with 4-wheel low engaged, and we finally plowed through just as Clark was headed for his tractor to pull us free.


A small town in mid-Wyoming we passed through in the morning.

It was a long drive to Reno, and we stopped every few hours to stretch, snack, or walk the Mdog. Passing through Wyoming, we had to stop several times as herds of antelope and deer crossed the road in front of us, or threatened to. We also saw a big mountain goat ram in the road - a rare sight according to Mona.


Mona cruises along as a big moon rises over the mountains on approach to Salt Lake City.

Wendover, Nevada is about at the mid-point of the trip, and after eight or so hours on the road, you feel like you should be about done for the day. But wait, there's more! About eight hours more! We took turns snoozing a little while underway, and eventually arrived in reno, about 1:30am (2:30am on our internal Mountain Time clocks). Becky's place was a welcome sight, and I wasted no time getting the sofabed folded out for Mdog and me. We fell asleep while Mona and Becky were still chatting away.


Wendover, Nevada, is on the state line with Utah at the edge of the salt flats. A big neon cowboy dominates the skyline there at night.