Reno is calling our names!  We exit off the freeway and I call up my grandparents who go to Reno almost once a year (they hate Vegas).  They maneuver us through the city (did I mention that we do not have GPS, minus our phones, on this road trip?  It is all Atlas, baby.  I have not used an Atlas since mine and Sean’s road trip from New Hampshire to Los Angeles – that was fun, BUT what do people do these days without GPS?  I rely on my GPS so much now it is crazy).  We finally find a parking spot that we do not have to pay for a block from the Reno strip.  As we get out, J is super irritated and I have no clue why… I mean, I can guess that maybe his butt is hurting, and that he needs to stretch, but that is all I can think of.  I am overwhelmed by the city… bright lights everywhere.  Cities like this are intimidating to me, I worry that I will lose the person I came with and will be stuck there FOR-EV-ER, although Vegas does not make me feel intimidated like Reno, weird, maybe because it is spaced out and not a cluster fuck?

We stop in the first casino, I have to use the ladies room… out of order, go figure (wait, one freakin’ bathroom in this whole hotel, are you kidding).  We head to the next hotel, use their bathroom.  I pull out $100 from the ATM to play and J hits up about a million slot machines within 10 minutes, losing everything he puts in, making him in an even worse mood – odd, he loves to gamble.  I play about two machines, lose my money, and hold off on playing any more slots (I never win on slots, I’d rather play cards).  I convince J to find a good casino to play cards at (which happens to be the first casino we were in, so we go back).  We sit down to a blackjack table with a $5 buy in.  I keep winning, I started with $80 and I went up to $120 (never betting more than $5 at a time).  J kept losing, which made him even angrier…  He lost all his money (he had $100, then another $20) and is ready to leave this table.  I bet one last bet $15, so if I lose I am back down to the $80 I started with.  I lost, we leave that table.   He then decides he would like to gamble at a $25 buy in table, I think he is crazy, but he puts $200 down and starts to play.  He is doing pretty good to start, but then more people join in and he starts to lose.  He decides to cash out before he loses all of his money (good idea).  We leave and J is feeling pissed that the casino was out to get us (wtf?!).  I then realize that he had an energy drink before going to the casino… those are BAD for J!  They always put him in a bad mood… maybe it is the sugar, maybe it is the caffeine, I am not sure, but it never fails.

We try and find our way out of Reno and on the correct freeway to B-Rad’s house, which happens to be in the middle of nowhere up in northern California and the only web map engine that has his correct directions are yahoo maps.  I look up his address on yahoo maps and we start off towards northern Cali hoping to get there by 11pm.  Once we get to the freeway that we needed to be on, J is still pissed, so I ask to drive (hoping that will relax him and he can finally stretch, etc).  As soon as I take over he is immediately in a better mood and starts to relax telling me he was sorry for being grouchy and thanking me for putting up with him (but hey, I get in bad moods too and he puts up with me… give and take).

The freeway to B-Rad’s is rather windy and ends up being mainly in the forest where there are tons of animals and deer for me to swerve around in the dark, fun.  J feels bad for having me drive this part of the drive, but I would rather swerve for deer than drive through those crazy storms in Nevada.  We get to B-Rad’s right on time… well, two minutes late – 11:02pm.

We all stay up and chat for a few hours (well, the guys did, I went to bed after an hour).  It was nice to see B-Rad and where he and his family live.