Destinations - San Antonio's River Walk and a margarita recipe

I'm finally getting around to writing a post about a trip to Texas taken back in May.  As was the case in '09, this was a trip to meet up with the Glass family, whom my partner Keith has known since his Dallas boyhood.  The '09 trip was to Austin, but this one was primarily to San Antonio, where the youngest Glass, Robby (son of Keith's childhood friend Rob), was graduating from St. Mary's law school.

Keith and I stayed in downtown San Antonio at the Omni La Mansion del Rio.  This hotel backs up to the River Walk - more about that later - but in fact bears a connection with our visit to the city: the hotel was adapted in the 1960s from what was the original St. Mary's School of Law.  It's an attractive downtown hotel with a strong Spanish/Southwest feel to it.
 

San Antonio is a huge city and its outer suburban areas are as unmemorable as any other American city, but the downtown core is outstanding.  Perhaps because of some great art deco architecture and the fact that the San Antonio River winds through it, I kept thinking of Chicago.

The Alamo, a justly famous place in Texan, American, and Mexican history was just a few short blocks away from the hotel. As I'd read before, it is a surprisingly small building considering its fame. Time did not allow for us to do this landmark justice.

 

Most of what we saw was on our morning powerwalks largely along the River Walk both south and north from the core downtown where most visitors stay.

 

Go north and you will reach the San Antonio Art Museum (located in a former Lone Star Brewery) and the former Pearl Brewery complex with shops and restaurants.  (A place I'd really like to go back to is a Mexican restaurant called La Gloria just above the River Walk and on the Pearl Brewery property.)  There are numerous locations where you can cross the river.

 

If you don't want to walk, an effortless and cool way to explore the north end of the River Walk is use the water taxi that runs as far north as the Pearl Brewery complex with many stops.  You can buy single ride tickets, or 1 or 3 day passes.

 

Go south and you'll pass by the King William neighborhood, the Guenther House Restaurant (at the historic and very much still active Pioneer Flour Mill owned by the C.H. Guenther & Son Co.), and further along the Blue Star Brewery and Blue Star Contemporary Art Center.

 

Every single one of these I've mentioned deserves a longer exploration.  The King William neighborhood is noteworthy.  It was originally settled by Germans (as in C.H. Guenther) and named for King Wilhelm I of Prussia.  (Wilhelm became anglicized into William.)

 

Most visitors to San Antonio probably don't leave the downtown area of the River Walk, and that's a shame considering how much else there is to see, but understandable.  Downtown offers a wealth of history and architecture, not to mention restaurants and bars of all sorts.

 

Shilo's German Delicatessen

 

Which brings me to the margarita part of the post.

 

The Omni La Mansion del Rio is renowned for its housemade margaritas.  (No mixes, please.)  The picture below is of Keith conducting research on these famous margaritas on the outside bar of Las Canarias Restaurant at the hotel overlooking the River Walk.

 

 

The following evening after we returned to the hotel, we stopped at the small, poolside bar and chatted up the young bartender as she concocted our drinks.  While she didn't provide the amounts of each component, she told us what went in while we watched.  For safety's sake, the pool bar margarita went into a plastic cup instead of a festive cocktail glass, but it tasted just as good.

 

Here's the margarita recipe inspired by the hotel, which I developed after I got home.  This makes drinks for 2 persons.  The ingredients are expensive so you might not care to make this your everyday margarita!

 

good standard tequila such as Sauza: 1.5 oz

better quality reposado tequila: 1.5 oz

fresh squeezed lime juice: 1.5 oz

Cointreau: 1 oz

Grand Marnier: 1 oz

agave nectar: 1/2 teaspoon

 

I found that this makes a fairly sweet margarita and if you, like I, prefer your margarita a little more on the tart, limey side, then you might reduce the agave nectar by half and increase the lime juice by 1/3.  (In the recipe for 2 drinks above, this adjusted dosage would be a 1/4 teaspoon of agave nectar, and 2 oz of lime juice.)  Play around with the measurements and see what you think.

 

A final libation-related note about San Antonio.  Though not originally from San Antonio (the original is in Fort Worth, Tex.), Flying Saucer is a Texas-sized emporium of good beer.  Around 200 - yes, 200 - beers at any one time are on tap.  Robby Glass, the newly minted law school graduate, took Keith and me to the incredibly popular San Antonio outpost while we were there.  (This is not located in the downtown area.)

 

They have their own loyalty program ("UFO Club") that rewards regular customers who try lots of different beers.  Flying Saucer hasn't currently been spotted anywhere near California, but UFO sightings have been reported from Texas to the Carolinas across the southern midwest and upper south.

Amtrak Service and Fares - # 17 - Passenger type discounts

Here and there during the fares part of this series, I've included an example or two of applying a passenger type discount.

In this chapter I'll go through the various discounts systematically.

To start with, let me briefly repeat a point I've made numerous times.

Passenger type discounts only apply to the coach fare, also known as the rail fare.

When passengers occupy upgraded accommodations such as business class, first class, or sleeping accommodations, the passenger type discount is applied to the underlying rail fare, but the extra charge for accommodations is almost never discounted by passenger type.

I wrote almost in the last sentence.  Some years ago I saw a AAA member discount for sleeping accommodations.  And there probably have been a few other isolated instances over the years where a passenger type discount was permitted during a promotional period, but these are the rare exceptions to an otherwise ironclad rule.

Another limitation is that none of the passenger type discounts currently apply for weekday travel on Acela Express.  This is Amtrak's solid gold service for business travelers so all passengers regardless of age or affiliation pay the full adult fare.  Amtrak does offer discounts for government travelers and high-volume corporate travelers, however.

In this post I will cover the most commonly used passenger type discounts.

Children, ages 2 through 15.  Discount: 50%.  Two children per adult passenger are entitled to the discount.  (If one adult were traveling with three children, the third child would have to pay the adult fare.)  Children traveling alone do not receive the discount.  Children under 2 not occupying a seat travel free.

Seniors, age 62 and above.  Discount: 15%.

AAA members, adults and children receive a 10% discount.  This is the one instance where there is a double discount.  Children of AAA members pay 50% of the already discounted AAA adult fare.  There is no AAA senior fare, so AAA members who are 62 or above do better using the senior discount.  One important restriction that applies for the AAA discount but not for the senior or regular children's discount is that reservations and ticketing must be done at least 3 days prior to departure.  A AAA member making reservations less than three days prior to departure would pay the regular adult fare.

Military, adult and children is identical to the AAA discount but without the 3-day advance reservation restriction.

Various other less common membership discounts also apply.  See the page at Amtrak.com that covers passenger type discounts.

Let's look at how Amtrak applies the discounts.  In the first example, which we'll play with in several different ways, two passengers are traveling one-way from Portland, Ore. (PDX) to Whitefish, Mont. (WFH).  We'll look at the results that Amtrak.com would serve up.

The lowest available fare for coach travel is the BOF1, at $115 one-way, sold in YB inventory.

Two regular adults: (2 x $115 = $230)

Here's the same example, but in this case it is one adult and one child: (1 x $115 + $57.50 = $172.50)

Now it's one senior and one adult: (1 x $97.75 + $115 = $212.75)

 

And now it's two AAA adults: (2 x $103.50 = $207)

One AAA adult and one AAA child: (1 x $103.50 + $51.75 = $155.25)

Let's look at one final example that shows the passenger type discount and how it does not apply to sleeping accommodations. 

In this last example we'll imagine that a senior is taking a grandchild from Sacramento (SAC) to Glenwood Springs, Colo. (GSC) and occupying a roomette.  Do you remember how in Chapter 16 you learned that when passengers are in sleepers, they always pay the lowest rail fare, regardless of whether the applicable coach inventory (YD) is available?

In this example, Amtrak applies the lowest rail fare (DOF1, $120 one-way per person, full fare), discounts it by the applicable passengers type(s), and then adds the accommodation charge.  In this instance, the lowest level charge available for the roomette is the EC inventory at $226 one-way.

Here's what it looks like from the consumer perspective at Amtrak.com:

The total of $388 is broken down as follows:

Note: the full fare DOF1 coach rail fare is the underlying fare per person before the passenger type discounts are applied.

Senior discount of 15% = $102   ($120 less $18)
Children's discount of 50% = $60   ($120 less $60)
Accommodation charge for EC inventory = $226   (not discounted by passenger type)

Total = $388  ($102 + $60 + $226)


Amtrak Service and Fares - navigational links
Backward to # 16 - Fares, sleeping accommodations
Introduction

Destinations - East River Ferry (New York)

This is the last post inspired by the trip that Keith and I took to New York at the end of June/beginning of July.

Originally I was going to title it with something involving Brooklyn, but the more I thought of that, the more I was inclined to focus on the East River Ferry since we really saw so little of Brooklyn.

On the same day that we went to the High Line park, we met a friend for lunch in Chelsea (at a fun, inexpensive, delicious, Cuban restaurant called Coppelia), and from there we set out to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn.

The walk was pleasant, but quite crowded, and at times the views were blocked entirely by plywood sheeting on either side of the walkway due to a large-scale renovation taking place.

Here's a view of Keith (Brooklyn in the background) in an unobstructed part of the walk.  (His Cubs cab earned him friendly jibes from several folks in New York.)

Below you see another view of Brooklyn taken from the bridge.  Brooklyn very much has its own skyline and this photo does not do it justice.

Once we landed in Brooklyn we walked around a little bit of the area referred to as "DUMBO" - "down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass".  (Read here to find out how it got its nickname.)  Note that the Manhattan Bridge is not the same as the Brooklyn Bridge.

The two bridges come to earth in Brooklyn close to each other (like spokes in a wheel) but the landing spot of the Manhattan Bridge in Manhattan is considerably north of where the Brooklyn Bridge is anchored.  The DUMBO area is a mostly former industrial zone similar to the area around Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco or Jack London Square in Oakland consisting of brick industrial warehouses being redeveloped for residential, offices, and retail.

Keith had heard somewhere about a great place for chocolate called Jacques Torres in DUMBO, which we sought and found.  For me the weather was too hot and muggy for anything other than an iced coffee and a phenomenal chocolate chip cookie.  Keith would not be deterred by the weather, and ordered a hot chocolate, which he declared the best he had ever had.

Now fueled by caffeine and sugar, we walked away from DUMBO toward a dock and a park I'd spotted from the Brooklyn Bridge.  The dock turned out be where the East River Ferry lands near downtown Brooklyn.  If it's on water and it moves people (meant for residents that is, not for tourists) then I want to ride it.  This would be way more fun than taking a subway or simply walking back across the bridge.

The ferry operates every 20-30 minutes daily and actually begins and ends on Manhattan: on the lower east side at Wall Street/Pier 11 and then at East 34th Street/Midown.  The rest of the stops are on the East River in Brooklyn and Long Island City (Queens).  A summer season extension also operates from Pier 11 to Governors Island.  What's more, a free Midtown shuttle bus connects from the East 34th Street terminal and covers a big chunk of Midtown.

From the ferry dock looking north - Brookly Bridge
in the foreground, Manhattan Bridge behind it

The fare - hold on, this is going to be expensive - was a whopping....four dollars per person.  A bargain for what would turn out to be a wonderful ride.

Even if you don't care to visit Brooklyn, you can ride between Wall Street and Midtown on the water and get some great views of the Manhattan skyline and the entire East River.  And even on a hot humid day like the day we rode it, the fast moving ferry makes for a pleasant, breezy ride.

Here are some photos taken while on the quick ride from the Brooklyn Bridge Park/DUMBO terminal to East 34th Street/Midtown.



Vroom!  Looking south toward the Brooklyn Bridge
at lower Manhattan.  Freedom Towers rising to the right.



Approaching the Williamsburg Bridge



The United Nations.  East 34th Street/Midtown
terminal is slightly to the left (south) from the U.N.

Destinations - a quick look at Staten Island (New York)

On the second full day of our trip to New York, Keith and I rendezvoused with an old college friend of his, Karen, and her husband Michael.  (Karen and Michael live near Philadelphia.)  We met them at the Staten Island ferry terminal, at the southernmost end of Manhattan.

At one time a nominal fare of 25¢ applied on the ferry, but no longer.  Perhaps it became more expensive to collect that small amount, than the revenue it actually generated.  At any rate it's one of the best free rides you can enjoy anywhere as you sail across New York harbor.  Though on the map Staten Island looks like it ought to be part of New Jersey, in fact the large island with 470,000 residents is part of New York state and one of the five boroughs of New York City.

You head south from Manhattan to Staten Island with Ellis Island and Liberty Island (home of the Statue of Liberty) to the west, and the much larger but less known Governors Island to the east.  (Google Map of route.)

These photos aren't good, but they are of Ellis and Liberty islands along the way.

Karen had thoughtfully arranged for her friend Marian, who lives on Staten Island, to pick us up at the ferry terminal and provide a tour of the island.  Marian proved to be an excellent ambassador for the island.

Here are some of the things we saw.

A short distance from the ferry terminal is Staten Island's own memorial to the 9/11 attacks.  (Many Staten Islanders were among the victims, including a large number of firefighters and police officers.)

The memorial looks north across the harbor toward Manhattan, with the new Freedom Towers visible.

Between the 9/11 memorial and the ferry terminal is the stadium for Staten Island's very own minor league baseball team, the Staten Island Yankees.  The photo below shows the back side of the stadium, with the crown like structure on the left in the distance being part of the ferry terminal.

From there Marian drove us to the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden.  Snug Harbor was originally built as a retirement home for sailors in the first half of the 19th century.  By the 1970s it was no longer viable for its original purpose and (severely telescoping the story) it became what it is today: a cultural center and garden.  (For a better, yet still concise treatment of its history, take a look at this page from the New York City Parks Department.)

Below are a few photos from our stroll around Snug Harbor.

Chinese Scholar's Garden

Tuscan Garden

Michael, Marian, and Karen seeking refuge from the heat

in a shady arboreal tunnel

As Marian was taking us back to the ferry terminal, she stopped by the Alice Austen House on the north side of Staten Island.  Alice Austen is a now famous photographer who lived between 1866 and 1952.  Marian explained that she was a renowned photographer, who really was discovered only near the end of her life.  Doing research for this post and reading about her life, I discovered what a singular individual she was.  The Alice Austen House could easily be an all-day destination on a future visit to New York.

Below is a picture I took looking across the lawn of the Alice Austen House toward the Verrazano Narrows bridge that connects Staten Island with Queens.  Runners who have run the New York Marathon are well-acquainted with this bridge, as the race begins on the Staten Island side of the bridge as it loops through all five boroughts (Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan) to finish in Central Park.

Time to return to Manhattan.  Thanks for the fine tour of your island, Marian.  You left us wanting to come back.  Tell the borough president that!

As we headed back to Manhattan on the ferry, the not quite yet finished Freedom Towers of the World Trade Center come into view.

Destinations - The High Line park (New York)

As I mentioned in my first post about the trip to New York, the trip was all about Keith.  I pretty much let him set the agenda once he knew where the heck we were going.

With one exception.

I'd heard about the High Line park, and knew it was something I wanted to see and figured Keith would, too.  We weren't disappointed.

What's the High Line?  It was an elevated rail freight line on Manhattan's West Side that was completed in 1934 in order to remove a busy and dangerous street level line.  But as trucking supplanted this type of rail freight traffic, and as Manhattan grew less industrial, the High Line was abandoned in 1980.

As trains ceased using the High Line, nature asserted itself on this man-made structure, and plants took over the right-of-way.  To telescope the story (which you can read in far more detail here) neighborhood residents initiated and the City then joined their efforts to successfully pursue reuse of the High Line as a park, instead of demolishing the structure as some advocated.  The first section of the High Line opened to the public in June 2009.

The result?  The High Line is now a big draw for residents and visitors alike.

What can you do?  Walk, sit, take in close-up views of the adjacent buildings, adjoining neighborhoods, and more distant vistas.  Eat.  (Among a number of vendors, Oakland's renowned Blue Bottle Coffee has a seasonal operation on the High Line.)  Take in the art.

The High Line is a popular place, so if it's a nice day going early is wise in order to avoid crowds.  Normal operation is daily from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., but you should check ahead of time to be sure.

The High Line website is rich with detail including images both of the contemporary High Line and its history.

Here are some more photos of the High Line.

Approaching the High Line, westbound on West 14th Street.  Note how the structure goes into the building on the left.  This was how it was built in the 1930s to directly serve businesses.

Looking south on the High Line and near the "end of the line".  The building under construction on the right will be the High Line park headquarters, and immediately to its right will be the new location of the Whitney Museum of American Art.  The High Line originally continued south of here, but the southernmost section was torn down in the 1960s.

Though it's hard to tell from this picture, a hip and trendy hotel (The Standard) straddles and towers over the High Line.  Believe me, this place has incredible views!

A river runs between. Hard to tell from this perspective, but the skyline in the distance (looking west) is that of Jersey City on the other side of the Hudson. 

Most of the High Line's food stands are found undercover under the building on the left.  Many sidings that lead from the main part of the High Line to adjacent buildings remain.  The High Line is a window into early and mid-20th century industry in an intensely urban setting.

Looking east, here is a snap of Keith against the backdrop of Gansevoort Street from the southern most point on the High Line. Note the 19th century brick buildings behind Keith.

  

Billboard advertising an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Empire State Building off in the distance.

Good advice from a billboard.

You might not expect it but you'll see plenty of the same plants on the High Line that you'd see here in a western garden.  But with a different skyline.

This is where the High Line ends now at West 34th Street at the West Side Rail Yards.  The goal of the High Line organization is to acquire the remaining structure that crosses the West Side Rail Yards as far as West 30th Street, and incorporate it into the High Line park.  In this picture what you are looking at is a remaining and abandoned spur to a business.  It is not part of the existing park or of the West Side Rail Yards.  Its overgrown state is how the entire High Line looked prior to its rebirth.  By the way, the High Line was not a "market solution".  It took a community and city government working together to revitalize a privately built structure that no longer served any purpose.  Many adjacent private property owners subsequently benefitted from the creation of the High Line park.

Destinations - New York, June 2012

Two weeks ago my partner Keith and I headed east for four nights in New York.

The occasion for the trip was to celebrate Keith's 60th birthday.  Back in March, he'd read a review of the show "End of the Rainbow".  It had gotten rave reviews especially for the actress, Tracie Bennett, who played the role of Judy Garland trying to stage a comeback in London in 1968.  I said nothing, but took note of this, and proceeded to assemble the trip without his being aware of it.  (I jokingly told him were going to go to Klamath Falls, and by the time I told him where we really were going, he actually thought that Klamath Falls was our destination.)

New York in June won't win the award for being the most climate-friendly destination, but other than that the trip came off perfectly. (The good thing about going to New York in the summer is that it makes Chico's summer heat seem almost tolerable since it's seldom muggy here.)

I'll follow this post with three more posts about Staten Island, the High Line park, and our visit to Brooklyn, but here are a few items to fill out this post.




Running in Central Park

Our hotel was just six short blocks from Central Park so we ran or powerwalked everyday on the loop that runs in the middle of the park from north to south, up one side and down the other.  (We entered the park where the red arrow is at the bottom of the map at left.)

The distance was a little over six miles - slightly less than the full loop in Chico's lower Bidwell Park.  But tougher.

In part it was the heat and humidity, even fairly early in the morning, but it was more than that; the hills were substantial and frequent.  Know that if you go for a run in Central Park it is not flat at all.

We saw runners and cyclists galore.  On weekends cars are banned altogether from the streets within the park.  During the week we were told that they are allowed in the park until 10:00 a.m., but on Monday we saw only a few (mostly taxis) and on Tuesday virtually none except park service vehicles.

While I never saw a sign indicating it was a requirement, it seemed customary that most runners ran counter-clockwise on the loop.

A run in Central Park is a Big Treat.  And while this is the nation's biggest city, many of the runners know each other and shout out greetings just like anywhere else.

The park is huge, beautiful, with great views of the city coming into view whenever there is a break in the trees.  What's more, it's spotless.  New York banned smoking in its parks and it clearly is enforced in Central Park.  I saw exactly one cigarette butt in four days of running, and no defacement (graffiti).

What a treasure this park is, and I've barely scratched the surface as a runner.  I can't wait to come back to run in the spring or autumn when the weather is milder.

For more info about running in Central Park see this from the park's website.


The 9/11 Memorial

The site of our nation's worst modern tragedy is still in many ways a vast construction site, but the memorial itself is complete.  No pictures to show here, but please take a look at the 9/11 Memorial website for photos and information about visiting.

In the footprint of each of the twin towers is a fountain, where water flows down all four sides from ground level, to then flow out through a smaller square at the bottom of the fountain.  It is an effective and solemn tribute to those who lost their lives that awful day.  The names of the victims are inscribed on the railing that surrounds each of the fountains.


"End of the Rainbow"

This was the catalyst that sparked our trip, and it did not disappoint.  In fact, it was outstanding.  Tracie Bennett, the actress who played Judy Garland, couldn't have been better.  Astoundingly, this was her Broadway debut!  She is a British actress, and played the role in London where the show was first produced.

Judy Garland prints in lobby of the Park Central Hotel

Ben Brantley's New York Times review from 2 April 2012 summed up the show magnificently, and this line from it is perfect: "After watching Tracie Bennett's electrifying interpretation of Garland in the intense production that opened on Monday night at the Belasco Theater, you feel exhilirated and exhausted, equally ready to dance down the street and crawl under a rock".

The Belasco Theater was just the right venue for this show.  You could imagine you were in the Talk of the Town nightclub where Garland performed, as the Belasco Theater is quite intimate.  The show's website currently is selling tickets through early January 2013.  If you're headed to New York between now and then, don't miss it.  (And good news: if you can't go to New York, an article reports the show with Tracie Bennett will come to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in 2013.)

Running - Reno-Tahoe Odyssey 2012

In my account of last year's Reno-Tahoe Odyssey (RTO), I opened with the observation about how smooth the lead-up to the event was for our team, called "DNR".  No injuries or last minute emergency drops.  I'd love to be able to write that this year was a repeat of last year, but that would be false.

We've never had a team carry over intact from one year to another.  (You could knock me over with a feather if that ever were to happen.)  Prior to sending in our registration, we replaced two runners from 2011 with DNR alumni from previous years.  That's to be expected.

But after our team's registration went in, things got interesting.  We lost three runners due to pregnancy, injury, or schedule conflicts, and replaced them with three more alumni.  Then after a two month injury that showed no signs of healing, I decided I had to replace myself in Van 2.  Then less than two weeks before the relay, Jessica Souder, an excellent runner and 4-time RTO/DNR veteran in Van 1 had to drop out.

Paul Smith, my co-captain, and I decided we wouldn't fill Jessica's position, and Van 1 would backfill the missing legs by having some runners run an extra leg.  (We've done this a number of times over the years for both vans when it would have been too late to find replacement runners .)  I also thought it might now be possible for me to run a couple of Van 1's shorter and easier legs if need be, even though I was injured.

All of this was before we stepped up to the starting line.

Trish, Tiffany, and Erin at Wingfield Park prior to the start

(Photo courtesy Reno Gazette-Journal)

I've never run with Van 1, but I was the one who was at the start to run Leg 1 of the 2012 RTO.  Eric Lerude, the man who created the Reno-Tahoe Odyssey who has become a good personal friend, high-fived me prior to our team's 1:30 p.m. start with five other teams.  (See below)

(Photo courtesy Reno Gazette-Journal)

In addition to our team's "staffing issues", we had to deal with a challenge that every other team faced: heat.  Most years the temperature has been pretty mild at the start, and last year it was unusually cool, changing to downright cold in the Sierras.

Not so in 2012.  The thermometer was in the low 90s when we began at 1:30.

Leg 1's 4.8 miles are westbound mostly along the Truckee River bikepath or on quiet suburban streets.  But it was slow going for me being injured and hot.  I loved the places where there was shade.  As I neared the hand-off point, I saw that the runner who had paced the 1:30 group with Nevada DOT's "Chain Gang" team was down and getting assistance.  (I hope he recovered quickly.)  Boy, was I happy to see Trish from Van 1 waiting for the tag and before I knew it she was off blazing a much faster trail for DNR than I had done.

Van 1: Sean Murphy, Erin Gulbrandsen, Trish Frisella
Tiffany McBroom, Paul Smith (photo by Erin Gulbrandsen)

Van 2 assembled at the hotel and then made its way to the Boca hand-off, the first place where Van 1 goes off duty after the first six legs, and hands the relay wristband to a Van 2 runner.  Van 2 then runs its first legs, 7 through 12.

I drove up to the Boca hand-off in my own car, since I was not going to be running with Van 2, but I wanted to see the first hand-off.

Unbeknownst to Van 2 and me, Van 1 was going through its final personnel changes.  Sean Murphy, a 3-time RTO veteran ran Leg 3 and suffered an Achilles heel meltdown.  He finished the leg, but at the cost of not being able to run any more.  On the positive side, Van 1 gained the addition of a full-time driver, a luxury that most vans lack.

Van 2: Sarah Montez, Laurel Hammang, Bryan Bear,

Lisa Duke, Chris Miller, John Maretti (and me in front)

Erin Gulbrandsen ran Leg 6 into the Boca hand-off, passing the wristband to Sarah Montez who took off like a shot on this tough leg.  Van 2 being fully staffed at six runners, proceeded to finish off its first set of legs before handing off again to Van 1 at Homewood along the west shore of Lake Tahoe.

Van 1 now with four runners and a driver tackled its second set of legs.  Erin ran leg 13, Tricia Leg 14, and then Paul ran legs 15 and 16 and Tiffany ran 17 and 18.  Whew!

Sarah, the only person in Van 2 running all three of her legs in the correct order (7, 19, 31) was tagged at the hand-off in South Lake Tahoe near Stateline and did a great job on the super-tough Kingsbury Grade, Leg 19.

Meanwhile Van 1 headed straight to the next van-to-van hand-off at the Walmart in Carson City to get some rest before getting the call from Van 2.

Not DNR's Van 1, but another team's Van 1 crashed out

Walmart in Carson City (photo by Laurel Hammang)

My experience of RTO was considerably different from years passed.  Due to injury I had to replace myself, but then due to other folks having to drop out I decided to help out as much as I could.

I went back to Reno to sleep at the hotel, but set the alarm for 3 a.m. and then headed down to Carson City to run another leg for Van 1, Leg 25, the first one out of the Walmart parking lot.  Happily, this was cool and dark (around 5 in the morning) and short.  3 miles later I tagged Trish.

From that point on my understanding is that Erin and Tiffany divided up the leg that Sean couldn't run.  Erin ran the straight-up killer Leg 30 into the last van-to-van hand-off in Virginia City to tag Sarah for the last time.

It was Van 2's third and final time in charge while Van 1 celebrated with Bloody Marys at the Bucket of Blood Saloon in Virginia City.

Sarah ran the tough couple of miles out of Virginia City to tag John at Lousetown Road, where he continued up to the Geiger Grade summit and then down to tag Chris, who ran the long Leg 33 grind down Geiger Grade.  Chris tagged Laurel at the bottom of the grade, who then ran a long leg 34 through suburban southern Reno.  I ran the first half of Leg 35 through business parks and then passed the wristband to Bryan who finished Leg 35 and did the last hand-off of the relay to Lisa, our stalwart anchor who ran through the attractive older part of south Reno to finish at Idylwild Park, where Van 1 was waiting to rendezvous with Van 2 to run the last hundred yards to the official finish and then the ceremonial finish.

Done!

After all of the personnel changes and the hot weather challenge, the remarkable thing is just how well DNR did.  (RTO 2012 results.)

The final time was 22 hours 31 minutes 14 seconds (shortly after 12 noon on Saturday), for a 41 minute improvement over 2011 (23:12:13).  Overall out of the 247 teams that finished, DNR came in # 11.  Out of the 100 mixed (coed) teams, DNR finished # 4!

Paul Smith, as always, did a terrific job on Leg 4 the toughest in the relay, coming in fourth of all teams at 57:28.  (This is not Paul's fastest.  He ran it last year in 54:10, but this year's heat took its toll even on Paul.)  Chris Miller, ran the other timed individual leg, # 33, the "Geiger Grinder", in 45:28, thirtieth overall.  Nice going, fellows!

What DNR did this year was the essence of relay running.  Working together, being flexible, and, if need be, making it up as the event unfolds.  Sure, it's nice to have everything go smoothly like it did last year, but that's not always the case.  This year there were lots of curveballs before we even got to the starting line, and then another one that was thrown after the relay began.  DNR took it in stride.  What a great team!

Related links:
Reno-Tahoe Odyssey website
Reno Gazette-Journal article (more links there to other RTO articles and photo galleries)
"The Daily Double" - Sean Murphy's account of his attempt to run two BQs in one day

Here follows a selection of pictures from along the way.

"The Flying Monkeys", Van 1, at Boca

Chico's other RTO team

Lisa and Laurel waiting for Sarah

Van 1's Tiffany, Trish, and Sean hanging out while Erin

is out on the road (photo by Paul Smith)

Sarah hands off to Laurel, Leg 7 to 8

Erin, probably running Leg 30

(photo by Paul Smith)

Night moves: John to Bryan, Leg 11 to 12

(photo by Sarah Montez)

Two too fast: Erin hands off to Sarah in Virginia City
Van 1 is done!

Sarah tags John: Leg 31 to 32

John starts Chris on Leg 33, the long Geiger Grade descent

Last hand-off: Bryan to Lisa, Leg 35 to 36 - Go Lisa!

Van 1's prerogative:

Bloody Marys at the Bucket of Blood Saloon

(photo by Paul Smith)

Last of all, here is a memory that Van 2 can take to the bank.

John and I were driving down Geiger Grade in my car while Chris was running Leg 33 and the rest of Van 2 was in the van.  John spotted a home made sign attached to a reflective paddle sign by the side of the road in a pull-out.  He realized it was a Burma Shave-style series of signs and it started with "DNR".  This could not be an accident.  The series read: "DNR - U - Look - Pretty - Run!"  I could attempt to explain the significance of this, but suffice to say that it is a private joke in Van 2 that dates back to the first running of the RTO in 2005.

John and I were mystified as to who might be responsible.

We considered Van 1.  Not likely.  When could they possibly have done it?  The Flying Monkeys?  (This is the other Chico-based team captained by the irrepressible Ed Hudson.)  Within reason, but we didn't think they knew about the joke.  John's wife Cathy or my partner Keith? - nope, they were on the road to Reno from Chico.  We called Lisa in the van to let her know about this, and she's the one who cracked the mystery.  She assigned guilt to Roseann, who was in Van 2 for the last three years.  She was one of the runners who had to drop out this year due to injury, she lives nearby in Reno, and this is exactly the sort of thing she would do.

Nice going, Roseann.  If it hadn't been for Lisa, we might never have known.  And thanks for stopping by at the 34 to 35 hand-off! 

Here is the first  photo that shows the entire Burma Shave series, followed by a close-up of each sign.