Yes I am still here. I didn't have many overnights in April or May and also took 3 weeks vacation in between, so there hasn't been anything to really blog about. I just received my line award for next month and despite entering virtually all of the same parameters as last month, I ended up with all 4-day trips when I prefer to have locals (one-day trips). I cannot make any sense of the bidding software. Anyway, here I am in Reno, the biggest little city in the world... or so I'm told. We are put up in the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino.
I have been here probably six times before, but never for any significant length of time since they were standups. This was my first real overnight. When I got on the hotel shuttle, a Southwest crew joined us. I thought one of the pilots looked very familiar and sure enough it was my sim partner from Atlanta almost two years ago. As vast as the world of aviation is, it is still a relatively small community. At a wedding reception of 200 guests, how many are commercial pilots? One? Zero? It was good to catch up for a bit before checking in.
The rooms are pretty nice, though it does sort of smell like it used to be a smoking room during the 80s until they decided to change hotel policy. The following morning, I bypassed the slot machines on the ground floor and walked downtown. There was some kind of old car show going on. I was expecting downtown Reno to be dead on a Saturday morning, but it turned out to be quite bustling. I had to wait about 15 minutes to get McDonald's. While the cars were a nice touch, I mostly came to see the sign.
It was a mostly older crowd checking out the old cars, which I guess makes sense. There was a live band playing music from the 50s and 60s nearby. A news van was broadcasting old radio spots from the 70s, including a Honda one that was created by a company I used to work for before I quit my job to go fly planes. I personally logged the tape and digitized it for the company's archives, so it was kind of trippy to hear it being broadcast. "Follow the leeeeeeeader, he's on a Hondaaaaaaaaa!"
I can think of a lot of folks who would have really enjoyed the old car show. Alas, I am not much of a car guy. While I keep trying to tell people that the Hyundai Elantra is the gentleman's car, it seems to fall on deaf ears. Plus, I have now been to Cuba, so old cars are old hat. Har! After perusing the cars for a bit, I walked the two miles back to the hotel to get changed and ready to fly. There will be a lot of overnights next month, so probably a lot of blogging as well. Brace yourself.
