Runny yolks and toast

My eyes opened slowly in the shade of a huge sycamore tree just 20' off the shoulder of Highway 40 outside of Elko, Nevada. The mid morning temperature was perfect and I don't remember a sleeping bag ever feeling so good.  I had driven through the night from Salt Lake City, stopping once in the desert, attempting to sleep behind the wheel only to toss and turn and nearly freeze to death.  As the sun was coming up, I had sleepily pulled off to this grassy spot, threw down my bag and was asleep in minutes.

My stomach was growling as I eased the car onto the road and headed into town.  Local cafes and truck stops have always called to me.  I rolled into the gravel parking lot of a classic that would have made CW McCall proud.  Heading in the door, I lost my first nickel gambling with one pull on an old slot machine.  I was feeling my oats and  straddled a bar stool right between two truckers.

The first cup of coffee needs no company.  Resting an elbow on the worn bar I sipped the cup and thought about what to order.  I watched as the waitress delivered eggs over easy, toast, hash browns and bacon to the guy to my right.  He grabbed a piece of toast, dipped it in the runny yolks and took a big bite.  I’d never seen that before.  I told her, “I’ll have what he’s havin’”, and I still dip my toast to this day.

This adventure happened in September of 1980.  I received a call from my dad asking if I wanted to drive a car from Olathe, Kansas to San Francisco.   I knew this was a cool thing then, but over the years it has become more impressive that I had such an opportunity! The car was a beautiful, red, 1965 Mustang.

The trip was made possible by Claude Jinks (see first blog post).  The Mustang belonged to his brother and needed to be delivered to California.  "You can take up to two weeks and any route you want and I'll pay the gas", he had told me.  He also laid out the map on the kitchen table and enjoyed giving me ideas for things to see and "what he'd probably do".  1980 TRIP MAP

Thank you Claude for that adventure.  Here I go on another but none will ever replace that trip in the Mustang.