Let's start with my rental car, a brand new Chevy Aveo. I hop in the car at the airport, head for the freeway, and find myself thinking "Wow, this car has NO get up and go." Twenty seconds later (and I am already on the freeway at this point) I realize the car will not go over 30 miles an hour. Will. Not. Go. I am fiddling with the gear shifter, examining the parking brake, searching madly for warning lights on the dashboard, all while crawling down an unfamiliar freeway at 30 miles an hour.
After the longest half mile of my life, I pull off the freeway and into a parking lot. I do the only thing I know how to do at this point, which is turn the car off and back on and hope that it works right. Which it did! I drive around on side streets for a few minutes hoping I don't have to explain to a Nevada State Trooper why I am driving 50 in a 25 mph zone, and then make my way back to the freeway.
Arrive at the hotel. Phew. I check in (along with every college baseball team in the western United States) and head up to my room to drop my suitcase. My room was upgraded to a suite and I have seating for 10, a dining room table, a full size bar and a bathroom that is bigger than my apartment. That'll do for the night.
I head to the Reno Temple (the purpose of my trip) and enjoy a session. As I am leaving the temple, the real fun begins. Reno was hit with a major power outage. Let me tell you some of the things that don't work in a power outage - traffic lights, my GPS, debit cards and gas pumps. All the things I was kind of counting on for the evening! After an eternity of four-way stops at every intersection, a gas station with bars on the windows, and a scenic tour of the homeless population of downtown Reno, I arrive back at the hotel. I will not be going out again tonight!
As I sort of suspected, the majority of the slot machines at the hotel were still working. Who needs traffic lights when your city generators can keep Wheel of Fortune slots running? I couldn't get a sandwich at Port of Subs, but I could have played poker all night long.
Which I did not choose to do. I went back to my room, locked the door and watched a movie in my suite. It was wonderful. I got up early the next morning. I still couldn't use my credit card to get gas, as all the networks were down from the night before. But I didn't care. My only concern at this point was that I not miss my flight! I was ready to leave Reno far, far behind.
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