Day 1

Arrived in Reno to a nice start. Bob's wife Nancy has just retired from her job with the Museum and her friends and colleagues had a lovely lunch - which I willingly gatecrashed. Most enjoyable and I was made feel very welcome, but I stayed off the booze as I knew tha Bob wanted me out on the road practising on the new bike. We did a great ride up to Virginia City - 6,500 feet up -the old mining (mostly silver) boomtown  capital of Nevada.
The main street -apart from the vehicles and tourist trappings - still looks like a scene from a shootout in a cowboy movie.



I met this guy who drives a tourist train who told me the anecdotes about the "bucket blood" and "suicide" saloons.

At its peak, Virginia City had a population of over 10,000 residents and was called the richest city in America. Most of the miners who came to the city were Cornish, Irish or Chinese. Virginia City is considered the "birthplace" of Mark Twain the pen name of the journalist Samuel Clemens, then a reporter on the local newspaper. Today the population is about 800.

For some more insights on Virginia City by Bob

The trip back through Carson City was a different story. It was very hot, nearing 90 degrees. first we were stopped by two state policemen showing us a photo of a dangerous escaped convict who had just broken out ( in his white striped prison uniform) and warning us to be careful! Which we were not in another respect - we joined a four lane highway on the way back - and i was not ready for it! speed, wind and big trucks - very scary!! but we made it back - great first day.

Total distance to date 90 miles