Planes, Trains & Automobiles

If you live in California, Oregon, or Washington but are not an especially frequent flyer it still pays to be enrolled in two airline mileage programs to capture the benefit of the trips you do take.

Membership in more than these two mileage programs means that you are scattering your miles among too many programs so you'll probably never earn a free ticket and the miles will ultimately expire.

The two airline programs I suggest people belong to are Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and United Airlines Mileage Plus.

Right after I got back from Reno three weeks ago my old laptop failed me. Specifically, the "on" button kind of collapsed into the case. I couldn't turn the darn thing on.

I went to a local computer store and they in essence said, "Your laptop is dead. You should buy a new one".

But thankfully, they also gave me the name and number of Eric Reimer, owner of Affordable Computer Solutions, and told me he was the only one in the Chico area who specialized in fixing laptops.

Good thing I called him.

Eric called me right back and came over to my house to pick up the ailing machine. Then he called the next day to tell me what the problem was, brought it back, and then showed me a really easy work-around to avoid buying an expensive part. For this excellent service he charged a remarkably reasonable fee.

I am going to buy a new laptop later this year or early next year when Windows 7 is standard. When I do I'll get a recommendation from Eric as to which laptop to buy, and then pay him to do the data transfer from my old machine to the new one.

When your laptop gets sick or just needs some professional attention, get in touch with Dr. Eric. You can reach him at (530) 570-8975.

I've been in Reno many times over the past 45 years, for fun (as a child, young adult, and middle-aged adult), and for work when I was with Amtrak or AAA. Reno's downtown area has been on a largely downhill slide since the late 70s but there are signs of progress mixed with the stubborn presence of blight.

LOOKING WEST FROM THE CENTER STREET BRIDGE ON THE TRUCKEE RIVER

I'll begin with a brief childhood memory, followed by a look at the more promising parts of the present, and close out with an eulogy for a lost hotel.

In my last post I gave a leg-by-leg account of my team's experience running the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (RTO). This post takes a look at Eric Lerude, the fellow who conceived and brought to life the event.

But first a warning.

Be careful what new challenges you tackle as they may cause a major course-adjustment in your life.

Eric Lerude ran Oregon's Hood to Coast Relay for the first time in 2003, and since then you could say he's never stopped running.

ERIC LERUDE, RENO-TAHOE ODYSSEY EVENT DIRECTOR

For runners or non-runners who've never done a relay event like the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (RTO) that I just wrote about, here's a an explanation followed by a chronology of my team's experience this past weekend. The chronology will turn the abstract into the real.

A course of up to about 200 miles is divided into 36 separate legs of varied distances and difficulty. No two segments are identical.

Teams of 12 runners compete, with each runner responsible for three separate legs. For instance, the first runner runs legs 1, 13, and 25. Runner 2 has legs 2, 14, and 26, and so on.

How long would it take you to run 178 miles?

Could you do it faster with some friends, each of whom ran one portion then tagged another runner to continue the challenge?

How about if you had a team of 12 runners in which each runner ran three separate segments?

In this past weekend's Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (29-30 May 2009), my 12-person team named DNR ("Do not Resuscitate") completed the course in 22 hours 52 minutes and 1 second for a per mile pace of 7 minutes 43 seconds.

Expressed in a different way, we left downtown Reno on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and returned 178 miles (286 km) later on Saturday at 12:22 p.m. In the meantime we ran through Truckee, along the entire west and south shores of Lake Tahoe, and through Carson City, and Virginia City.

We ran day, night, and day again to get from Reno back to Reno. New relay legends were created ("fish tacos' [don't ask], Roseann's mad dash to start Leg 34) and old ones were recycled (Van 1's victory Bloody Marys at the Bucket of Blood Saloon, "You look pretty"). Time expanded and contracted in the weird way it does when people do an awful lot in a relatively short period of time.

Congratulations to my team for a terrific finish! And a big "thank you" to Eric Lerude, event director, and his team of associates and volunteers for putting on another great relay run.

DNR AFTER FINISHING AT RENO'S IDLEWILD PARK
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, 30 MAY '09
(l to r) Greg, Megan, Sean, Paul, Lisa, Chuck, Carla, Tom, Brian, John, Chris, Roseann

This is the first of four posts inspired by this past weekend's Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (RTO). The second post will be about "big relays" like this. The third will be a look at the creation of the RTO. And the fourth will be about the continuing evolution of downtown Reno.

A number of people have written me since I wrote the post about the Feather River Canyon detour of Amtrak's California Zephyr last year, asking me to let them know when I hear about the next such detour.

I'm sorry not to be able yet to report a repeat of that detour but Amtrak announced today that the California Zephyr (trains 5 and 6) between Denver and Salt Lake City will detour via southern Wyoming on numerous occasions in July, August, and September.

One of the ways that many airlines and all of the on-line travel agencies fail to serve customers is by presenting airfare choices for round-trips as an either/or proposition.

Choice 1: I want the lowest fare and I'll give you my first born if necessary to get it.

Choice 2: I need the full fare in case I need to change or cancel the trip altogether.

Usually you make your choice when typing in your flight criteria as in the example below.

If you select the "Refundable" check-box you'll get full fare prices for both your outbound flight and return flight. Leave it unchecked and you'll see the lowest prices with the usual restriction of non-refundability, and changes only for payment of a fee, a huge fee.

Phileo McAlexander, a very good friend dating from my Seattle days (1985-1990), is "looking forward" soon to being able to glow in the dark. Well, that's a silly take on a serious subject. In fact, she is going to be undertaking a big dose of radiation today in order to clear out a cancerous thyroid.

Yesterday driving back from Eugene after the marathon I made a long-planned stopover in order to have lunch at the Palace Café in Ashland, Ore.

If you're a regular Planes, Trains & Automobiles reader than you may recall the post I wrote last month about Ashland's Railroad District, an area of the city close to the tourist epicenter but largely ignored by visitors.