Our last day traveling! By this time we are done with our audio book just in time for my Bluetooth to glitch out. We are also so over each other and this tiny little car with the 2 smelly dogs, one with coffee spilled on her back. And just because I know my audience is intelligent enough to surmise how that happened I will not be explaining. I think 6-8 hours driving per day is a perfect tolerance level for 9 year old kiddos.
After the previous day's events at the prison, we were all on top of it with the refueling of the car. I don't know how many times those kids reminded me to get gas. So off we went in search of a gas station.
Now you would think this would be an easy task right? After all, Reno is a major city with a host of commerce. The first gas station that we arrived at I went to pump the gas and I see a sign, "Cash Only". As stated previously, my last bit of cash was in the form of a plastic toy cap gun the boy had purchased. (And I might add that I was in possession of said gun because it only took him 15 minutes to drive me crazy with the popping noise). Frustrated, I open the car door, beat back the dogs, get in and drive further down the road.
On a three lane road I played traffic ping pong the game. The traffic ping pong game is where you are in the farthest left lane when you see a station on the right. So you start working your way over, no one will let you in and by the time you get to the right lane you've passed the gas station. Switch directions, repeat, bang head on steering wheel for relief or mutter expletives under your breath so your kids don't find out that secretly you're a potty mouth. I opted for 2, but either are acceptable.
Finally the stars aligned and I landed on the right side with a gas station on the right side! Rejoice! I beat the dogs back, get out of the car, go to pump the gas and it won't take a card without a pin. Here's the best part, I don't have a pin for my card. So I am unable to gas up at this station either. I open the car door, beat back the dogs, get in and drive even further.
I'm not sure when I became aware of our surroundings. I was concentrating so hard on the gas station signs that I hadn't noticed the turned over shopping carts in the gutters or the run down buildings. I could see that we were getting into a sketchy part of Reno. But just ahead there was a Seven 11 and I knew they would take cards without a pin. So I get out of the car, the dogs don't care anymore, pumped my gas and we were ready to hit the road.
Since Ed's company is paying for this I needed my receipt, which I had to go inside to get. I cracked the window's and turned on the remote AC and trudged in to get my receipt. In the middle of the parking lot there is a man with his sweat pants down to his mid-thigh wearing a G-String. But wait, it gets so much worse! (Thank you Karen and Georgia). He is bear hugging this woman who clearly wants to get away from him.
For a split second I really wanted to intervene, but then I looked over at my car with my two kids sitting there. It went through my head, if something happens to me who will take care of them? We are in the middle of Reno, Ed is a state away, Mom and Dad are 3 states away, and we are in this sketchy neighborhood. So I do feel like a giant coward that I didn't jump in and help this woman, however I do think going inside to get help was the smarter choice. As I went to alert the clerk I see that he is already outside trying to defuse the situation. He was breaking up the two ?lovers?, but still no pants man wasn't taking no for an answer. So our Seven 11 clerk calls the cops.
Meanwhile I'm standing inside watching my car with my children in it. I start out the door when the manager comes bolting out. I tell him I just needed my receipt, my kids are in that car over there and I just want to get out of here. He quickly prints my receipt and I tear out of there back to the car.
Once inside I lock all the doors and attempt to leave. However blocking one drive way is a tanker refilling the gas. The other drive way is being blocked by a brown SUV that no pants man had arrived in. The driver of the brown SUV seemed less than happy that the police were on the way. I gathered this by his screaming at no pants man about the need to get out of there. Then there was the several false starts when he would start to drive away without no pants man, but no pants man would beg him not to because he didn't want to leave his ?girlfriend?. As it escalated before our eyes, the brown SUV finally had enough and started out of the drive way. No pants man ran and jumped onto the side runner, grabbed onto the roof rack and SUV surfed it on outta there.
This was just the beginning of our day. After that we scored ourselves some Starbucks and got the hell outta Reno, which we have absolutely no intention of ever visiting again.
Next stop, Donner Memorial State Park.
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