The Passenger’s locations: Reno, Nevada

When wandering through Downtown Reno, most visitors are likely to pass by the “Silver Legacy Casino” eventually and stop there under a dome. This spans a hall with bars and other gastronomy. It is also illuminated at night with a bright cloudy sky. A huge machine stands there, which belongs to the “Rum Bullions Island Bar”, and is probably supposed to symbolize a mine. This is where Erik meets Candice in the book “Rocky Mountain Railroad Odyssey“, as they get drinks at the bar and then sit down at a table with Michelle and Frank. That was an important evening in Erik’s long journey across North America, as he was to meet someone particularly important in Candice.

With every visit to Reno, it must have been three, I have ended up in this “Rum Bullions Island Bar”. Maybe because the “Silver Legacy” is a fixed point in Downtown Reno, maybe also because it was a bit uncomfortable outside in Downtown at night, and you can walk through the city because the casinos are partly connected. Reno is not Las Vegas, it’s much smaller. But it is still an interesting place. While Las Vegas in southern Nevada can boast with many superlatives, Reno is the small edition of a “casino city”. In terms of population alone, Las Vegas is four times the size of Reno. But: The city in the north of Nevada is considered to be much cheaper than Las Vegas – no matter if you want to stay there for a few days as a visitor or if you would like to move there right away. What’s more, it has also made itself: directly on the “Truckee River” there has been the “Riverwalk” for a few years now, a park where you can take a nice stroll when you’ve had enough of the casinos.

The impressive mountain scenery around Reno

The surroundings are a dream, like Lake Tahoe, which is not far away. You can be there in 45 minutes by car. I hint at it in the book: The bus connections are not the best, it works, but it takes time. If you want to go to Lake Tahoe, south of the lake of the same name, you have to change buses in Carson City. But the mountains between Nevada and California with their many green pine forests, their canyons and peaks are a refreshing alternative to the desert that surrounds Las Vegas.

While on the first visit I arrived downtown in style by Amtrak from Chicago, on the next one I ventured from Reno to Las Vegas by car. That was quite atmospheric, but you drive through very, very lonely areas on the way south. Reno belongs to Northern California, to Sacramento and San Francisco, from where the bulk of the visitors come. You can be there in three and a half hours. Just as Las Vegas is approached from the Los Angeles region. By the way, Reno also has a rail connection with the “California Zephyr” coming through here. Hard to imagine, there will be no passenger train to Las Vegas even in 2023, since Amtrak’s “Desert Wind” has been discontinued since 1997. The station lies abandoned in the old center behind a casino hotel.

The Sierras and also Reno have a lot to offer in winter, even for skiing fans: For example, it is quite possible to explore the mountain world in ski resorts like “Alpine Meadows” or the former “Squaw Valley”, which is now called “Palisades Tahoe” because the old name was a bit cliché, and at the same time take up quarters in Reno. That’s how we did it once, many years ago. If you like to gamble, as Michelle and Frank do in the book, you will, of course, find all kinds of “gambling” in Reno. Sitting at a roulette table or playing poker should hardly differ from a game in Las Vegas – you win or lose. There is only one thing you should never do: Accept the offer of a shady man who wants to lend you money to gamble. “Rocky Mountain Railroad Odyssey” knows where that leads. After all, the many pawnshops in downtown Reno bear witness to this.