Spring is here...

...or what counts as Spring in the Great Basin.  Weather wise this is the most unsettled, temperamental season, turning a placid 80 degree Wednesday into a dank, gloomy Friday-through-Monday.  And the coming of April signals my semi-annual trip to Elko.

Twice each year I have the privilege of playing with the Ruby Mountain Symphony - each November and April.  These are both, traditionally, the worst travel months in these parts.  Oh, sure, December through February you have a good shot at driving through snow and ice.  But the aspiring traveler usually forsees these tempests and can either reschedule around them or adequately prepare themselves for winter travel.  November and April, on the other hand...you just never know what you're going to get or just how bad it will be.  I've been quite fortunate, most trips, to have unexpectedly mild weather (although two or three times the skies unleashed a white apocalypse).

But that's not the point.  Elko is a nice town; most people see the freeway, a gas station, and maybe the Burger King when they drive through.  Take a few moments to drive the neighborhoods, however, and you'll find the charming hub of Northeastern Nevada that bespeaks the blustery economy.

It's unfortunate that I only get to spend one night; traveling to Elko means one dinner and one breakfast.  There are a number of great eateries - some I've tried, some I've been wanting to for years - but if I only have one dinner, it has to be Basque food.

People always seemed to consider it sacrilege when I would say that the Nevada Dinner House was my long-standing favorite.  I can't help it.  The Star Hotel has excellent food, but between the "Big Three" (as nobody called them, as far as I know), NDH was #1, Biltoki  #2, and Star #3.  Alas! the NDH is now closed, so Biltoki has been my go-to for the past couple of trips.  In my opinion none of them compare to the Santa Fe in Reno, but it's still good food AND I'll end up bringing a lot of it back home with me for the next night. To me it would be sacrilege to go to Elko without giving in to Basque delishousness.

For Sunday morning breakfast it's Toki Ona; recently reopened, their Spanish omelet is about the best eggy food I've had anywhere.  Between my innards and the little voices in my head, I don't have much choice where to go or what to have early on the Sunday morn of another Elko vacationette, but their judgement is sound.

But aside from giving me a brief respite in Elko, the purpose of the trip is playing with the RMS (one of the few opportunities I have anymore to play my very nice, very expensive doublebass). The group has usually contained quite a few students at the University of Nevada; I got my start with the group as an undergrad myself. And we used to have some epic after-after parties at the Stockmen's Hotel.  Most of that crowd are long gone now, but a few still make the rounds up there from time to time.  The after-after gatherings aren't nearly so epic anymore (I can't even remember the last time security had to knock on our doors), but we still usually have a good time. Plus I get to take the ol' bass out and stretch my hands on the fingerboard (even if it means mostly show tunes and film score redactions), and that's a good (read: necessary) thing.

As an added bonus I can stop at Mr. B's in Imlay and add to my collection of bad truck stop music!  That "AM Gold" CD is getting awfully lonely.

On the way back home, I'm sure, Spring will do what Spring always does - give me a stiff headwind to ruin my gas mileage, pit my windshield with relentless sand, and cause truck drivers to careen down the highway with reckless abandon.  But it's worth it; for me, Elko's the place to be in April...and November.