Highway 50, Nevada

We at CatSynth continue our highway series following the US presidential campaign, and so we turn our attention to the neighboring state of Nevada.

It was great to see Nevada included so early this time around, it is such a different place from the traditional early states. There is of course Las Vegas and all that comes with it – and to be honest, that is a refreshing change from the folksy small-town character of the early compaign. But there is also the more desolate Nevada, the authentic high desert and Great Basin.

It is the latter that we consider today. US highway 50, which runs through the center of Nevada, has been dubbed “the loneliest road in America” and many of the small towns along this route received a fair amount of attention this past week. And several travelogues, such as as “US 50 Coast to Coast” document the character and sites, including small mining towns like Eureka and Great Basin National Park. For me, one of the attractions is simply the emptiness of the highway itself, as illustrated in the photo to the right (click to enlarge).

I have never actually driven highway 50 east past South Lake Tahoe. But the quiet, the emptiness and straight-line nature of this stretch of highway are all very appealing at the moment. I tend to gravitate towards the extremes, either quiet isolation of the desert, or the intensity of a big city. And now we're moving to the city, right into the downtown. So as things calm down and the weather warms up, a trip east along highway 50, or perhaps to the desert southwest, may be just the best thing to do.

Interestingly, highway 50 joins with US 6 in the town of Ely in eastern Nevada. US 6 is also a cross-country highway, which we also saw in Des Moines, Iowa. Similarly, I-80, which we also encountered in Iowa, crosses through Nevada westward towards our home in the Bay Area, and meets highway 50 at its western terminus in Sacramento. All things are connected.

Probably the next chance we will have at CatSynth to look in on the campaign is when it comes here to California in just a couple of weeks…

Weekend Cat Blogging and more: Getting packed

This weekend is the beginning of the big final pack-up of our home. And for Luna, things are definitely changing:

She definitely is good at watching over things, and is wise enough to stay out of the way, lest we end up with something like this:

Even though the drama has been building up for weeks and isn't over yet, we still have some time and space for humor 🙂 Seriously though, we have a long way to go before “we iz all paked.” A lot of the major stuff is already done, or waiting for the pros. But in the meantime, the devil is in the details, as it often is.

Weekend Cat Blogging #137 is being hosted by Pumpkin, along with Upsier and sher at what did you eat. Pumpkin is settling into his new home quite nicely.

The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos is being hosted by ” Mz. Mog & Kitty Cats” at Mind of Mog. The Carnival of the Cats is going to Missy, KC, Sol and Smokey this Sunday. And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Alia jacta est: the new CatSynth HQ

Well, we at CatSynth can finally say with confidence we have a new home. In just over a week, we are moving to the South of Market (SOMA) district of San Francisco. Expect to read more about our new neighborhood in coming weeks.

This will be a real “city life,” quite different from the last few years. Perhaps we will get to “live the bohemian life” like our friends Kashim, Othello and Astrid. Of course there are the many arts and music opportunities, lots of good food and drink, and friends only a few transit stops away. And I enjoy just walking down city blocks, like I often have in New York. Indeed, I have often thought about making the move to the city. And now it is happening. The experience to get there has been far more difficult and challenging than I imagined, and it's not over yet. But it is getting closer…

Detroit

In keeping with our “road geek” tour of the US presidential primaries, we at CatSynth visit the city of Detroit, Michigan:

And the winners of today's Michigan primaries are…well, it doesn't really matter. This is really just an excuse to explore a place that I think is fascinating.

One would expect “motor city” to have quite a network of freeways. Well, it's not quite Los Angeles, but in the 1950s and 1960s it was quite impressive, and can be seen on this Detroit Freeways site. I am particularly fond of this photo of the interchange between I-75 (Fisher Freeway) and the Chrysler Freeway. It has the 1960s “futuristic” look, which some of us may look back upon fondly. (Click on the photo for larger version.)

So much from that era has fallen into decay, and that is perhaps no more visible than in Detroit. Indeed, a favorite site of mine is The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit. For whatever reason, these “ruins” from the 20th century fascinate me, especially those that we in their time “modern.” I highly recommend this site!

And I would also like to visit Detroit and its ruins some day.

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Weekend Cat Blogging and more

A busy weekend here, so we present a couple more photos from our cat sitter Ronni West:

Luna has this wonderful wide-eyed expression in many of these photos. You can see another example in this recent post. We'll miss our pet sitter when we move.

Weekend Cat Blogging #136 will be hosted this weekend at Chey's Place.

The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos will be happening at the House of the Mostly Black Cats.

Carnival of the Cats is coming to Life from a Cat's Perspective on Sunday.

And a special note for Carnival of the Cats founder Laurence Simon, who lost his feline companion Frisky this week. Are thoughts go out to Laurence, Gina and Nardo.

Finally, the Friday Ark #173 is at the modulator.