Report from Laramie

We made it to Laramie about 7 p.m. Mountain time, the second leg of a journey that started about 5 p.m. in Reno. We spent Thursday night at Circus Circus, where we were able to treat Hannah's friend Christina and her mom at the buffet (I know, I know) and I landed four of six chickens in the pot at the Midway (and won three stuffed animals, including a lion all for me).

On Friday morning, I awoke early and took one last walk in downtown Reno, going south along Sierra Street, around Wingfield Park and the river and up Virginia, by all the old haunts. Downtown changed a lot during 10 years, mainly with the movie theater and the open space at First and Sierra. On the way back to the room, I played video poker for five minutes, and the second I was $1.50 up I cashed out -- leaving Reno a winner.

Anyway, it took us a long time to dislodge ourselves from the house -- we had a lot of little stuff we need to take with us even after the moving van left Wednesday -- but by 5 p.m. we were on the road to Elko. We got in about 9 p.m.; the Days Inn backed up to the railroad tracks, so there was a lot of open space in which to air out the dogs. We left a little before 8 Saturday morning and headed to Laramie through Wendover and Salt Lake City. On the drive, we pass around and through mountains, mesas and buttes, but the most fun is driving through Wendover, with its casinos on the Nevada side and -- not much on the Utah side, save Mountain Daylight Time. We tried to have lunch in Evanston, Wyo., but the town had suffered some kind of serious fast-food breakdown: The Sonic wouldn't take our order, and Wendy's was out of potatoes, soda and Frosties (so what, I ask, is the point)?

Rachel and I are traveling in the Accord. We got into Laramie early (Jennifer's in the Odyssey, and she stopped to run the dogs and see a fort with Hannah and Olivia), so we took a pleasant walk downtown. The Episcopal cathedral is across the street from the Travelodge. We stopped here for lunch on the way to Reno in 1996; I detect few changes, but we haven't gone by the university yet. Maybe tomorrow.

I started in on "Soon I Will Be Invincible," the book the newspaper gave me as a going-away present. I note the supervillain, Dr. Impossible, once he gets his super powers, takes a bus to Reno to start his evil laboratory. If only I had thought of that ...