NEVADA!

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We're In Elko, Nevada!

The internet connection in our hotel room wouldn't work, so I'm typing this from the lobby. Today was a little shorter in terms of mileage, but seemed much longer according to the aches and pains in our bodies! (I've got body parts aching that I didn't even know I had!) We couldn't wait to get out of the car and go for a walk when we got here. It was still light out (8:00 p.m. PST) and the temperature was a comfortable 75 degrees. We've had about 30 seconds of rain during our entire trip! Where yesterday was all about farms and cows, today was all about large ranches, grasslands, rocks and snow-capped mountains. The mountains were beautiful. The grasslands got a little old. I thought I saw a herd of bison, but Payton quickly pointed out that they were really some sort of weird, clumpy, trees.

We thought we would be wise travelers this morning, so we decided to check our oil when we filled the car up with gas. We did fine figuring out how to open the hood, but not so well on figuring out where the oil level checker thing was. I reached for something toward the front of the engine while Payton reached for something toward the back. Fortunately, a nice man was using the adjacent gas pump and must have seen a look of total confusion on our faces and came to our rescue. He checked the oil and even added a quart for us. We paid close attention so we'll know just how to check it tomorrow a.m.!

We ate lunch at the M & P Truck Stop today. For those of you from New Martinsville, it was like a Mexican "Choo Choos"! We figured the food would be good because there were a lot of local cars parked there. We were right! I had the best grilled chicken and avacado sandwiches I ever tasted. Wait.....that was the ONLY grilled chicken and avacado sandwhich I've ever tasted!

The most excitement of the day was probably trying to negotiate through the center of Salt Lake City in rush hour traffic (with Payton behind the wheel)! Imagine 5 or 6 lanes of traffic (it was too hectic for me to count) and everyone driving bumper to bumper, about 75 miles an hour. We have affectionately named the GPS system, "Betty", because we decided her voice sounds like a "Betty". Anyway, "Betty" was yelling all kinds of voice commands at us: "Go LEFT! Go RIGHT! Go LEFT then RIGHT! We were thankful to get through the city in one piece. (By the way, "Betty" has been a wonderful blessing. I HIGHLY recommend using a GPS system.)

Well, it's after midnight EST and even though it's only 9:30 here, the bed is calling my name. I'll try to post again once we make it to California tomorrow. Thanks for checking in, and thanks for your prayers! Debbie and Payton