The Gilligan's Island theme song keeps going through my head,"A three hour tour..."

The trip ended up being about 10 hours there and 10 hours back.

I've had people say that I-5 from Sacramento to LA is the dullest trip in the universe. To them, I suggest driving I-80 through Nevada. In the day. Absolutely mind numbingly boring. Every single town has either a West or an East attached to it. So as you're zooming by at 75-80 mph, you're driving by East Bumfuck, Bumfuck, and West Bumfuck.

You have to schedule your pee stops because in some places the towns are an hour apart.

Some of the names of these places are so weird, too. There's Deeth Starr Valley. Russell asked, "Is that like Death Valley?" I said, "No, that's Deeth (Teeth). Death Valley is in California." Next to Deeth Starr Valley is Welcome Valley and in the same neighborhood is Ruby Valley, which, of course, I view as very important. ;)

I kind of had to make up what's interesting in this ride. One thing is that there were several areas of geothermal energy and plants complete with turbines that took advantage of it. I think the most telling sign said,"Danger Scalding Water." I kept having visions of some stupid bit of cattle coming in to take a drink and burning off its lips or something. It's just kind of creepy in some ways on a day when it's 76 degrees to see steam all over the landscape on the side of the road.

The next thing that was kind of weird was all the salt. Like everywhere.

You say, but that's the Bonneville Salt Flats -- there were pools of salt water all over the place for miles and miles and miles, but there were also miles and miles of dried salt beds far into Nevada where there was little growing and far from the reaches of the salt flats proper. Of course, in the midst of absolute nothing, where nothing grows in the intense salty environment is this crazy tree. From a distance, I asked Mike,"What the hell *is* that? A cell phone tower gone bad?" As we're driving by it, Mike says,"No, it's a fruit tree and there is actual 'fruit' on the ground." I say,"Weird."

We stopped in Wendover on the first night because we were tired and got a hotel. What's odd is that apparently there was some kind of big hoohah over whether or not Wendover was in Utah or Nevada and where one draws the line. Because in West Wendover there are brothels and casinos, which offend the overly Christian who live in Utah. Utah apparently wanted to wash its hands of Wendover.

"HANDOVER WENDOVER. An historic meeting took place last week to decide the fate of Wendover, UTAH. The town sits on the Utah border, directly opposite West Wendover, NEVADA, and according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the two burgs are about to merge. If all the "i's" are dotted and "t's" crossed, Wendover, Utah, will cease to exist because the two-state compact will cede the Utah portion to Nevada. Consideration must be given to schools, parks, social services and transportation -- as well as municipal debt. If it comes off, it will be the first time in modern American history that a state boundary will change to stitch one city to another state, says a spokesman for the process." from State Net

Personally, Wendover and West Wendover were just exits with places we could pee or eat, so the casinos and brothels had little impact on us. Nevada has fewer taxes than Utah, so I guess I'd rather be a Nevadan than a Utahan. Not to mention that Utahan is hard to say.

There are apparently three or four prisons on the route, too. Several signs warn against stopping because it's a prison zone. I'm thinking, if I'm driving 75-80 mph on up and some guy in an orange jumpsuit is hitching on the side of the road, the chances are, I'd blink and miss him along with half the places on this route.

My final comment regarding the driving part of the trip: The going joke between Mike and me: "I'll pay you $20 if you find a Catholic Church in this town (Salt Lake City)." Never have I seen so many Mormon Churches. How do you identify a Mormon church? It'd be the steepled building with no crucifix.