Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to you. I figured I should take this day off of work to add a new update to my blog. On Friday, I went to Orangevale, CA to visit my Uncle Lanny for his birthday. The weather was nice and we had a nice barbecue dinner on his new backyard deck.

On Saturday, Lanny, Fred (in town from Iowa), and I, headed to Reno to see the Sacramento Rivercats play the Reno Aces. Reno is the Triple-A Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was also promotional night in Reno as they were giving away bobble heads of Archie, their mascot, to the first 2500 fans. I was excited to see the new ballpark - now in its third year.

The forecast called for a 30% chance of rain so we all figured the trip wouldn't be much of a problem. On our way to Reno, it started to rain a little and then it started to snow. The snow was light and when we finally made it to Reno, it seemed the worst of the weather was behind us. Before we arrived at the ballpark, Fred suggested we should stop at Tahoe Burger for some grub. It is a fast-casual restaurant, so they make they make the food to order. The burgers were good and I was surprised to see sweet potato fries on their menu as well.

After we ate, it was on to the ballpark. We saw the some sunlight in the distance so it looked like things would clear up in time for the game. Fred was driving and was looking for the parking lot for the ballpark. We spot what appeared to be a parking lot and Fred rolls down his window to pay the guy at the gate for parking. It turned out to not be a parking lot for the game, but it was a homeless shelter. Fred came this close to mistakenly paying a homeless guy to park in the lot. He turned around out of the lot and eventually we found the correct parking spot.

The rain had still not stopped. We waited 45 minutes in the rain though and finally the gates opened at 6pm. We got our coveted (Ha!) Archie bobble heads and decided that it'd be better just to head back to Lanny's place in Orangevale and not stick around. Fred and I took a quick walk around the ballpark since we had never been there and then we left.

The Tarp was on the field.

We knew if the game was going to be played that it definitely would not start at 7:05pm as scheduled. It was on our way back to Orangevale that the adventure really began. The snow was starting to come down more as we made our way into Truckee and we were hoping we could make it through before chains became required. The snow kept on falling though, more and more.


Video shot with phone...snow still not too bad...

Eventually, chains became a requirement. We did not have chains for this small Hyundai though that Fred had rented. We were stuck. We ended up buying chains.... for $80. $50 for the chains and $30 to put them on. Even after we bought the chains, we were stuck as they were not letting anybody go through. The guy we purchased the chains from said they were not letting people through yet due to accidents ahead.

Fuck.... we're stuck.

Fred had some peanuts so he started eating them. Lanny called his girlfriend, Brenda, and told her that we were stuck and that he was afraid Fred would start eating his knee next. Fred mentioned the peanuts were making him thirsty so Lanny asked Brenda to bring us beer too. Of course, that would never happen. It was a good 2 hours before we finally started moving again...

About 10 miles later, signs informed us that the chains could be removed. Not wanting to spend more money, Fred tried to remove them himself. Lanny tried to help. No success. One of the chains ended up wrapped around the axle which made matters worse. Fred drove us a couple more miles to an exit where we found some guys underneath an overpass. I guess these guys just wait underneath the overpass for it to snow then sell their chains and services to people like us. They ended up helping us remove the chains for $20.

Leaving Reno around 6:30pm, We finally got back to Orangevale around 11:30pm.... so it took about 3 hours longer thanks to the snow.

On the plus side, the game in Reno had been postponed so we didn't miss anything there. It was the first game to ever be postponed in Reno too.... it figures.

It has been a crazy year weather-wise... snow on May 28th? Really?