Off to Reno today. It will be a long day, to and from the same day. I like these one day trips, even though they make for a long day. No packing. No wheeling a carry-on through the terminal. After arriving at airport, a business associate and I will rent a car and drive to Carson City, meet with the Health Dept., and drive back to Reno and fly out. I'd like to have time to visit Bob and Donna, but not this time.

It's funny. I detest Las Vegas, but I like Reno. I think it's because Las Vegas tries to be what it's not; New York, a tropical paradise, Egyptian pyramid. Reno is smaller, and just tries to be itself. So even though I don't condone gambling, and don't even like to gamble, I don't mind being in an authentic city.

Being in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains also counts for something in my book. I'm partly a product of those mountains, vacationing in them as a boy with my family, and backpacking in them as a young man. I learned to fish in those mountains. I learned to love mountains in those mountains. I never see them without thinking of my roots.