Travel Observations - Day 1

Just some observations from the road to Salt Lake City....

1. Interstate 80 is pretty much under construction from north of Auburn, California all the way to Elko, Nevada. Each of the closures went with a similar pattern. They would start by dropping the speed limit from 75 to 65 mph, then to 55 mph a quarter mile later. They then close one lane, and a few miles later they re-open the lane and close the original lane that was open. Very strange
2. On I-80 near Truckee, the DOT workers did a less-than-stellar job of clearly putting a cone path on the road. As a result, we ended up taking the off-ramp instead of continuing on the freeway. After doubling-back, we were back on our way. At least we weren't the only one.
3. The majority of Nevada is scenic in a rustic way. Nothing but open space between Reno and Elko, really. I cannot imagine what it was like to cross this state before the highway system, let alone before cars.
4. No matter how it works in your mind, all the stuff you thought would fit in the car will not fit in the car. Hopefully we will have a better idea when we leave to make our next assignment.
5. There are at least 5 "Business Loop" I-80 freeways in the state of Nevada. Which I find interesting because there is also a Business Loop I-80 freeway in Sacramento as well. Maybe I don't understand how business loops work.
6. Our Garmin GPS receiver is a lot smarter than I thought it was. When calculating our approximate arrival time in Salt Lake City, it took into account the fact that we would be changing time zones when we crossed into Utah.

Hopefully will have some more observations when we arrive in North Platte tomorrow.