𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗙🍩🍩𝗟: Nevada and California, December 2000

Dec. 31, 2000 - Breakfast was served while traveling through northern Nevada. The remainder of the trip was pretty uneventful until I hooked up with Tim and Julie in Reno.

We walked to the motel where I left my things behind, then we moseyed about and ate lunch at a taqueria downtown called Tacos De Acapulco. Definitely a place to return to if I ever come through Reno again.

I checked out some liquor stores and found Tequila Corralejo Reposado going for $42 a fifth. I got a liter in Juárez for $23 last July. The Irish whiskey selection was limited but I did find Bushmills 10 year single malt going for $30. I decided to hold out for a better value in either Las Vegas or El Paso.

We rested for awhile back at the motel. Tim and Jules introduced me to a Gallo of Sonoma cabernet, and I introduced Tim to Bushmills 25 year Millennium malt.

We ventured one last time with no real plans in mind and wandered about the innards of the casinos, braving the crowds of mindless gamblers. We take refuge at the keno tables in Harrah’s where Jules and I got some whiskey and beer on the house while Timber went on looking about.

We settled down for dinner at Planet Hollywood, something I sure wasn’t planning on, but the food was not too shabby. I scored well with an eggplant Parmesan sandwich with pasta in red sauce. The naked plastic facsimile of a frozen Sylvester Stallone from Demolition Man dangling above didn’t distract from my appetite. I noted the mens toilet stalls at the Planet were designed for serious privacy. Fully enclosed and spacious I could simultaneously shoot up smack, receive head, and hide a family of illegal aliens with no one being 'privy' to my actions.

After some more wandering about including a hideous stint in a loud, vacuous karaoke bar we stumbled across the El Cortez Lounge, a true oasis of imbibery and camaraderie on the fringe of the downtown casino area.

We stuck around the El Cortez, doing Bud Lights and well poured Jamesons. Jules and Tim shot some pool while I sat back and relished the familiar environment. We finished the evening back at the motel with more wine while we watched the New Year's fireworks shooting off from the various downtown casinos, much like what Vegas was doing down south.

Jan. 1, 2001 - We three scored some breakfast before leaving Reno, then drove south to cross over the Sierra Nevadas through picturesque Carson Pass. We arrived in Sonora mid-afternoon and settled down for the evening at home with dinner and a movie.

Jan. 3 - On my last full day in Sonora I went downtown to roam about. It’s a one-road downtown with only a few empty shops. The bad problem is the one road is a state highway, befouling the air with exhaust.

I hit a couple of bars and found one place, the Office Lounge which had Powers Irish whiskey, so I was as happy as a clam. Then I hit a coffee/pastry shop called the Pie Tin, where I knocked back a cappuccino and a mocha and scarfed some steamed eggs rolled in tortilla with salsa.

The air quality in town was doing a number on my sinuses, so I bolted up the hill for a sometimes-grueling one-hour walk back to Tim and Jules house. Upward inclines and high, mountain air didn't mix with flatlander scum such as myself.