…we keep it locked away
CritterCon 12
Trip Day One 1: In Which The Starship “Bus” Goes Where No Blue Raccoon Has Gone Before
Saturday, August 10th, 8:30 PM
Well, our first day of travel went well. True to his word, Brownie woke me up at 6:30 so we could get going by 7:00. The two of us ate a couple of donuts, drank some milk and then climbed on board the Bus and left our home behind. We were ready for adventure!
And by golly, when Grandpa says adventure, he means it! I had Sweetie (the Bus’ nickname) reconfigure the cab to be bigger and look like a starship bridge, in honor of those major Trekkies, Daisy & Max.
I was in the Captain’s chair and Brownie was my First Officer and Helmsman. Since the bus drives herself most of the time, we were free to scan for life forms and blast asteroids and tell Romulans that they were dummies, and other heroic spaceman stuff. About an hour into our 5 year mission, Cupcake came in and decided we needed a Science Officer. She took her seat and was soon telling us all sorts of science stuff about spatial anomalies and planetary scans. Throughout all of this, the Bus also acted as our computer, telling us all sorts of things about nebulas and gravity waves and stuff.
Around 8:30 am, Sasha stuck her head in and said “It’s time for breakfas…HOLY CRAP, THIS IS TOTES COOL!” and then we had a Navigator. Well, at least until Admiral Grandma told us we’d all better come eat some damned breakfast.
We stopped for breakfast outside South Lake Tahoe and, as usual, the kitchen staff did a first class job. Then, after our NHT all got into human bodies, we went and for a short hike along the lake shore. We saw and spoke with some ducks, who were stopping there for a few days before heading to Bear Lake in SoCal. I have always enjoyed talking to migratory waterfowl, because they are so well traveled and interesting.
After our hike, we drove a few miles to the World Famous Slot Machine Museum. Now, this is not the only slot machine museum in the world, or even in northern Nevada, but it was close to our route and has around 5,000 slot machines to look at. The oldest was from 1897 and it still worked just fine. There were poker machines, too. We wandered around for about half an hour and the noise and lights kept the kids from getting too bored. Cupcake made sure that Grace bought t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc, not that there was much chance of her forgetting.
When we were all on board the Enterprise…err, the Bus…I was given the next leg of our route, which told me to go to Gardenerville, Nevada, then take 395 south to the small village of Lee Vining. Being a proper starship Captain, I gave the coordinates to our Helmsman and Navigator, then had my Yeoman (Jeeves) bring me a bittersweet chocolate milkshake. By now, I had a full bridge crew, having been joined by Chief Engineer Luke and Communications Officer Misty. Admiral Grandma would pop in from time to time, just to keep us on our toes.
We had just finished an epic space battle with a bunch of Romulans when Admiral Grandma said our orders would be changed and we were turning off the highway to go to Bodie, one of the great ghost towns of the West. We made our adjustments and started out into the boondocks.
Amazingly, I was the only person on the bus who had ever been to Bodie State Historical Park (which is in California, not too far from the Nevada border), which is an interesting place. It is not kept preserved except by the climate, so if you went to Bodie in the 70’s, as I did, it looks a bit different in 2019. Not hugely different, but not the same. I highly advise going there if you can.
We got there along with about 20 other tourists and then wandered around, looking at buildings, many of which still had furnishings and such inside. The general store still has products on the shelves. We read various informative signs and talked to other tourists. Brownie was a bit sad that the ghost town didn’t have any ghosts, something Cupcake found very funny. Sibling squabbling ensued.
It was starting to get pretty warm out, so we climbed back into the Bus and headed east along a series of dirt or gravel roads, our destination being Hawthorne, Nevada. To while away the time, we blasted our way through an asteroid field and evaded a Giant Space Dragon. It was all quite thrilling.
Once we hit Hawthorne, we got on Route 95 heading east, then south. After about an hour, most of the bridge crew elected to go eat some lunch, leaving me and Lt. Brownie alone to blast space junk and tell aliens to bugger off. Jeeves brought us some yummy sandwiches and milk, which all space dudes need.
About 4:00 we got to Warm Springs, where we would be turning off to Route 375, the Extraterrestrial Highway, heading south toward Rachel. Just so you know, Warm Springs is not a town. It’s just an intersection with a name. And Route 375? Well, that heads down toward the ever popular Area 51, which is not full of aliens or alien tech, trust me.
With lunch in our tummies, Brownie and I decided that a nap was in order after a day of patrolling space. Thus, the next hour is a blank to both of us, although we were informed that most of the rest of the crew also napped. That part of the desert is pretty damned boring anyway.
So now we are spending the night in Rachel, Nevada, such as it is. We ate burgers at the Little A’Le’Inn and, of course, loaded up on chotzkes. In just a few minutes, games will be played and ice cream eaten before we all hit the sack. Tomorrow, we continue our trip, hopefully into some more interesting places.
Destination Sign When We Started: Whoville
Destination Sign When We Stopped: Neo Tokyo
QM Radio Station: F-23, the sounds of the 23rd Century
The Dociverse Blog 