Road trips are a hoot. We made it across Willamette Pass (5200 ft.) a hop, skip and a jump ahead of a major snowstorm unbeknownst to us. It dropped from 60 to 34 over several hours and dumped two feet. The next day we dodged it again and made it to Reno late in the day. 

Our trip began on a sour note. Cupcake wanted to rent a Ford Fusion to see if we might want to buy one shortly. The idiots at Avis assured us we could specify the vehicle right up until Sunday when we arrived to pick it up. Not exactly. Bad info. We declined their offer of the Chevy Impala and opted to drive our tired old Prius down. Good idea. We would never have gotten all Cupcake’s suitcases into the Impala or the Fusion.

On behalf of myself and Asknod, I wish to thank the Atlantis Casino for their munificent contribution to HCVets:

Shortly thereafter, the Grand Sierra Resort, not to be upstaged, seconded the largesse and made additional contributions to the cause:

Tomorrow we begin learning everything we always wanted to know about VA law but were afraid to ask. Here’s a lovely shot of the SF harbor from our seventeenth floor balcony. I do wish to thank Ruth at Reception for the upgrade.

Coincidentally this also marks the official Summer West Coast Hepfest opening festivities for 2015. For lack of any current, local participants, fellow Vietnam Veteran Brad Golding drove 300 miles to meet with me and celebrate the meaning of cameraderie and joy of life. We plan further fishing/celebration this summer as we are much nearer to one another than we thought-both geographically and  spiritually.

The red clay club conference at the SF Hyatt Regency