New Inn Mate and Cool Dog, Wednesday, 6/25/14 and Thursday, 6/26/14

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

We had more beautiful weather today, but the cottonwood trees have started blooming.  These trees are everywhere and they shed a white cotton-like substance that looks like snow floating down.  We keep the doors open at all the attractions, and the cotton floats right inside making a mess to clean up. 

Cindy worked in Nevada City and Chuck drove the train today—but not for long as it broke down on the tracks again.  Since there were train passengers stranded without their vehicles, Chuck shuttled them as necessary in the state owned Suburban.  He got off work about 3:00 p.m. and went to check out the Virginia City cemetery after which he went home and took a nap.  Cindy stayed pretty busy selling museum tickets and had to issue a few refunds because of the train breakdown.                                 

We had a new inn mate, Elise, move into the Bonanza Inn last night.  We met her and her parents, but our fellow inn mates did not meet her until today.  Her parents told us this morning that today is Elise’s 23^rd birthday so we took all the inn mates and Duel out to eat pizza tonight in Ennis.  Elise seemed appreciative, if a bit overwhelmed, by all the attention. 

Elise is from Wibaux, Montana which is on the eastern border of Montana near North Dakota.  There were 13 kids in her graduating class, and she said there is not much to do in Wibaux.  Her hobbies are reading, crocheting, and watching movies.  She has a younger brother who is 21 years old.    Elise recently graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota with a degree in English Literature and a minor in classical studies.   She is the new collections intern here for the rest of the summer which means, like Daniel, she will not be getting paid for her work.   

Chuck stopped at a self-service car wash on the way home and washed the bugs and cottonwood goop off the car, and then we called it an early evening. 

Duel, Elise, Daniel

 

 

Thursday, June 26, 2014

 Though it was beautiful weather in the morning, by early afternoon it had turned cold and wet again.  Chuck worked at the gold panning operation and about fell asleep from lack of customers. 

Cindy worked in downtown Virginia City at the Gypsy Arcade and she had lots of people stroll through today.  When she heard barking she went outside and saw a little dog riding on the back of a motorcycle.  He was too cute dressed in a leather vest and sunglasses so she had to take a picture.  She also took a picture of a man (and his support team) who is competing in the Trans Am Bike Race.   Anthony Dryer is his name, and he began the race in Astoria, Oregon on June 7^th.  The finish line is in Yorktown, Virginia, and he expects it to take him 54 days total to arrive there.  The route covers 4233 miles through ten states.  The route goes through specific towns which are known for their hospitality, and thousands of cyclists pedal through these cities each year.  (That explains the hundreds of bicyclists we’ve seen here in the last few days.)  There are no entry fees to enter the race and no prize money is awarded.  You win by taking what you can from the experience, and Anthony is taking his time and enjoying all that America has to offer from coast to coast.     

We got home at 6:15 p.m. and Daniel was making baked spaghetti for everyone so Chuck made garlic bread and Cindy made a salad to share.  After eating, we taught our new inn mate, Elise, to play Shanghai.  Elise told us that she worked on cleaning one of the building exhibits in Virginia City today and she encountered lots of spiders. 

Anthony Dryer and Support Team