We initially decided to go to Reno because Salt Lake City was too far from Yosemite to drive in one shot. Towing the trailer we top out around 65 mph, plus the pups need a stop every 3 or 4 hours.  Reno isn’t much to see in the daylight, much like Vegas, the nightime lights make it look a lot nicer.

Reno hotels are cheap, so we ended up booking a room at Harrahs (dog friendly) and putting the truck and trailer in their overflow lot 4 blocks away, which turned out to be a blighted area filled with boarded up hotels and vacant lots.  The latter made it hard to sleep and we were constantly making the trek to check on our stuff.  Thinking it would be a nice change, I booked 3 nights, making the reservation before we actually got there. Had I waited, I would have discovered that one night was more than enough!

After being in Yosemite for a week, it was a huge treat to have reliable cell service, wifi and even cable tv (a first since the trip started).  However, I have been trying to shake a chest cold and the heavy smoke in all the indoor areas was not helpful 😕.  It did pay off to play at the casinos, Joel had his best ever winnings at the blackjack tables and I didn’t put too much into the slot machines.

We spent our days bike riding and had a scary encounter while riding along a quiet residential street. As usual, Belle and Lulu were in their doggie trailer behind Joel’s bike when a pit bull appeared out of nowhere growling and running straight for the dogs. Luckily, we had a slight downhill advantage, I was yelling “peddle faster” as Joel and I were both racing as fast as we could go. The pit bull couldn’t keep up and gave up after a few minutes, but it sure got our hearts racing! We were pretty happy when it was time to head out for Salt Lake City, bye Reno!