Who's Up for a Road Trip?

Set your coordinates for a surprising direction.

Howdy! It’s Joey with more Fun Fact Friyay. Pull out your maps for this one. Or don’t, since I’m about to tell you the fact.

Photo by Jake Blucker on Unsplash

Reno, Nevada, is east of Los Angeles, California.

I’m writing today’s newsletter while sitting in the Los Angeles airport. The interactions happening around me could not be more on brand for this city.

For example, the woman two seats next to me is having a conversation about her dog with the couple across from me, who also have a dog sitting with them. The dog is a Yorkshire Terrier, which the couple proudly announced they purchased from a breeder.

The woman in my row fawned over how well-behaved this dog was. She arrived about two minutes after the dog was yapping at everyone and anything; he’s been trying to get down on the floor and explore the world since I sat down.

This is a reminder to adopt, don’t shop. Both of these sweethearts were adopted and there are many other pups that need loving homes.

Precious babies who warm my heart every day.

I used to live in Los Angeles. For part of that stay, I was in Santa Monica. I had friends who lived literally blocks from the beach. I was a mile or so inland, but I still played flag football every week on Venice Beach.

Today, the thought of running around for hours on a beach made my knee joints tighten up just now. Apologies if the same thing happened to you.

The point is that Los Angeles is almost in the Pacific Ocean. So, it’s kind of wild that it’s east of a city in northern Nevada, which is fully surrounded by other states, including California to the west.

But here we are. Reno’s GPS coordinates are 39° 31' 51.2220'' N and 119° 48' 53.8992'' W. Los Angeles’s coordinates are 34° 3' 8.0460'' N and 118° 14' 37.2588'' W.

Since coordinates probably mean nothing to most of us, here’s a simpler way of putting it: Reno sits about 86 miles west of Los Angeles.

Reno also has the fun nickname of the “Biggest Little City in the World” since it offers a lot to do in a relatively small space. For instance, you can enjoy the National Automobile Museum, a lil’ downhill skiing at Mt. Rose, and a show at the Magique Theatre all in one day.

A road trip between the two cities would take you about seven and a half hours, but you’d see some cool desert in between, I guess. Approximately two hours of the trip would just be getting out of the valley north of LA.

By the way, the woman next to me is now watching videos on her phone at full volume. The last one sounded like an old Looney Tunes cartoon with falling anvils and outlandish explosions.

I’ve never used Substack's poll feature but now seems like a good time to try it out. Feel free to chime in below, and thanks for reading!