Lake Tahoe

When passing Carson City we spotted the sign to Lake Tahoe and since a friend of mine highly recommended that I should go there, we swiftly turned the car around and did.
Now here we are in a affordable and good room, best yet even. My brother is happy when he gets to see real houses and buy a pair of good ski-gloves. (Yes there is going to be snow here in a day or so but by then we will be long gone according to the plan.
It is a very nice looking place, no doubt about it. Yesterday we saw some things to take note on:
A bar that is both an after-beach and after-ski. I bet you will not find those at to many places.
While driving in the city I spotted a woman walking badly and falling over in the street. We stopped the car and checked on her. Soon her likewise intoxicated man came to the scene and the booz-couple could move on home. Later at the Laundry a whole gang of alcoholics had gathered and we found the amount of them quite high for such a community. Driving back over the Nevada border which goes right through town we also saw several casinos which to some extent might explain the situation.
The Applebee's restaurant has hired a woman on speed. Completely over the top, and in your face and HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. Hilarious in a bad way. Unfortunately she had left when we came back to eat there and we did not have a video cam to capture her ways, so I guess you would never believe it if I tried to tell you. It was indescribable.

Keep your time

We spent the night at the cinema in Lake Tahoe. We saw "In Time" directed by Unknown and starring a lot of young actors. And this is part of the problem with the film. But just part.
The concept is interesting but the makers of the film has not been able to explain  or solve several everyday events. Maybe they where to obsessed with trying to make their own Matrix? Instead they use speed to just avoid all the questions raised and mystically alluding to a "father" and painting a very sketchy messiah.
The bearing idea is not really bearing even though it is interesting. But it just leaves you with to many questions such as how did it all start and how was it implemented? It needs more work, just as the acting, that is substandard. I credit this to all the young actors. Not much to say about it except it seems like it was all done in a rush.
The sets look like they have been borrowed either from the Batman TV-series or any of the 10 different Matrix copies we have seen through the last decade.
So what was good with the movie? The idea is interesting and it also provokes some thoughts about families in the future. But still with the old view of the nucleus family. And the old boring roles: the father as the provider and the females as spenders, the mother as the caring and so on… strangely crazy-christian actually.
The film also seemed to critique Darwinism in a blunt and stupid way. I do not know where that came from but maybe some weed-head at the film studio took money from some ID-fairy-tale-lobbyist, what do I know?
All in all the film was not very well made: lacking in acting, story, sets and props. But more so it lacked a good script and some visions for the future. The ending was just such a cop-out. We had a good time though discussing how to fill all the holes… but we did not manage; there where just to many of them and to few of us.
I recommend the film to anyone who is a Sci-Fi scholar specializing in dystopias with to much time on their hands, not because you will like it but because you need to see it.

Coledale, US Highway 6, abandoned dwelling

On our way west along US Highway 6 we came upon some ruins and abandoned houses. We did a shallow exploration of them. It seemed to have been a gas station, a bar a motel or some kind of lodging with several long houses as well as some other buildings and homes. Part had been burnt to the ground. Scattered in the area was naturally black rock. And further away on the plain we could see something white, possibly a dried out lake of salt. The mountain in the background is Boundary Peak, Nevadas highest point at 13143 ft where we are headed.

Tonopah, NV

We spent the night in the somewhat scary "Clown Motel" in Tonopah with a "life-size" pre-Ronald McDonald Clown and a "without a doubt haunted" cemetery from 1911 right next to it . At least that was the information given to us by the woman who gave us the key.
My brother decided to defrost the fridge in the hotel room. During the small hours. He is funny that way. You never know what is going to happen. I might also mention the scary ghost finger that opened the shower curtain when I was in there… "haunted, proven beyond doubt" exactly how this is measured I did not have the energy to ask.

As the sun came up we looked around the main street, fittingly called "Erie Street" about four times looking for the place where the breakfast was served: the Sidewinders.
We got ourselves some bacon and eggs and what not but we got something else that we had not bargained for: the kitchen girl came out to tell me that she never made eggs sunny side up before. I then shortly explained what to look for in one sentence and then she said: "I will not be able to remember that."
Perfect.

We ate and decided to climb a mountain so when we were about to pay the kitchen girl came back and asked about the eggs again!? And then she asked us a few more questions and could not care less for the answer. A fantastic way to signal: I DO NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOU (but I do mind the tip).

The Cowboy V

Back at the bar, still have not eaten and two hours of my life passed in what felt like 20 minutes we are very hungry. Again I try to order from Marc the man behind the counter. Again I am denied service and as my brother disappears for a moment some more time passes on. The Cowboy on the other hand has another whiskey on the rocks in his glass before he even seats himself at the bar.
Now we are ready to order some food and try to do so, but the Cowboy is having none of it: he has food at his place and now we are taking both our Pick-Up trucks and drive in a cloud of dust to the Ranch.

The trailer is hot, unclean and just what you would expect from a Cowboy crib. While I go to the toilet the Cowboy downs a few mouthfuls of Canadian Whiskey. He then goes on rambling about all sorts of things and starts making us food. He asks us what we want and picks out some fine beef from the fridge. But before he had the time to start cooking this banquet he slips into sever drunkenness. He admits some more appalling details about his life before he just leaves the bacon frying on the stove tells me he needs to do some stuff and drives off in his car.

While I take over the cooking he returns, now more drunk than ever. He demands that I stop cooking since he will be doing that, as a good host. He almost falls over a couple of times before serving us refried beans and bacon. He takes no more than three bites of his own food before he states that he will now leave. He walks over to his trailer and disappears.

Now my brother is not at all relaxed in the situation so I make the dishes and turn off the stove. We write a letter to the good Cowboy and we leave the ranch. Hoping to return.

The Cowboy IV

We return the horse to its stabling and we get to ride it. Unfortunately the Cowboy is a huge man so the stir-ups are way to long so it is not my best ride. But it is a frisky animal I can tell. According to our host it also cost $20.000.
By now the Cowboy has invited us to stay at his place about a dozen times. He also asked us where we were going ten times and told us the same facts about farming at least eight times. His memory is not serving him all that good, that has come very apparent the first hour or two of our friendship. Another thing that is apparent is the man's candidness: he tells us about his jobs and his views of the world and to sum it up: he could have lived in the old west.
Being who I am I have the time of my life as the Cowboy is deciding things for my reserved brother. I love every minute of this and look forward to what will happen next. We return to the bar and on the way over there our host repeats him self a few more times.

The Cowboy III

We find the herd we are looking for, the Cowboy has about 1300 cattle in this valley which is his grazing land. It is an immense area and we both stand dumbfounded at the huge workload that the Cowboy has, although he has one friend to help him. In this herd I estimate there are about one hundred animals.
We leave the dirt road and the Cowboy steers his 4 wheel-drive into the terrain. We stop among some animals that seem quite slow and calm not in any hurry to get out of the way for a gigantic pick-up truck bearing down on them.
The Cowboy sets his dogs to work to round up the cattle but unfortunately we do not find the injured cow. So we do not get to do any roping which I was both fearing and looking forward to. We get back in the truck and set of again. This time we have some minor problem getting back on the road, mind you we have a horse on a horse cart as well. But the Cowboy is not appalled; he just shifts gear and drive right up through the ditch. On our way back he almost go off road on the left side of the road hitting a road marker while he is explaining something to us about cow-rearing. Now I start thinking that he might be drunk and as we get out of the car I understand that my brother is sure of it.