tiredThere is a long-term road project at the so-called "Spaghetti Junction" of I-80 (east/west) and US-395/I-580 (north/south) that makes the junction an annoyance to be avoided except in times of very low traffic. Fortunately, for what we wanted to to, Veterans Parkway, which forms a partial beltway on the east side of the Reno/Sparks metro area, bypasses the mess.
We have been going to that particular Raley's and have eschewed the one we have in Fernley, driving some 50 miles to go there, because unlike our local store, the Galena store appeared to be maintaining good COVID measures, and they didn't give us back-talk when we wanted to put our own groceries back into our cart (without either them or us bagging them) to minimize touches and use the boxes and ice-bags we take shopping with us. While we do some shopping at Whole Foods Market, the newly-rebranded O-N-E market (it stands for "Organics – Nutrition – Education"), while attractive and easy in which to move around and shop, also has managed to get rid of quite a few of the things that we regularly purchased from them.
Assuming that other Raley's stores will not follow this same rebranding exercise, I expect that we'll have to find another store, and we can only hope that the stores carry the things we were buying at Galena. Our experience has been that each Raley's store has somewhat different product offerings, so it's more a matter of trial and error to find the things we want.
Oddly, both Winco (where we usually get bulk items) and Raley's (which usually has a better-quality selection) seemed to not only be out of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce (or any brand, for that matter), but also didn't seem to have any space for it on the shelves anymore. It's hard to believe that the stores would drop what seems like a standard condiment item. After the disappointment at Raley's we initially thought to head back toward home and possibly swing by one of the other grocery stores that direction that might still carry the sauce.
As we neared the north end of Veterans Parkway, we ran into a slowdown. While waiting our way through it, I spied off in the distance that the cause of our backup was that traffic on I-80 eastbound (toward Fernley) was at a standstill. That was not good. I-80 east of Sparks is a bottleneck between there and the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Park at USA Parkway. Accidents or blockages there, especially during rush hour, cause huge delays. Even if it would take longer in net travel time, we'd rather keep moving.
Not wanting to spend an hour-plus in creeping slow traffic, I made a U-turn at the last available opportunity before being committed to the freeway, and made our third trip of the day down Veterans Parkway, turning onto US-395 Alternate (the former main highway, now superseded by I-580 between Reno and Carson City) and headed south. This is a pleasant enough drive, and usually lightly traveled, which suited us, even though the speed limit is lower. In Carson City, we turned back east, and as we got to Dayton, we decided to try the Smith's grocery store (part of the Kroger grocery conglomerate) there. We found that they had Worcestershire sauce, and bought several bottles. We also took advantage of gasoline prices 30 cents/gallon cheaper than Fernley to refuel the Astro before heading for home.
A wrong turn going to the gas station with the cheaper fuel also gave us the opportunity to read a historical marker. Dayton (site of Nevada's first gold discovery) has some interesting history, and we've meant for some time to come explore it more thoroughly, which we may do post-COVID. Alas, we'll never get to see the former Carson & Colorado railroad station, as it burned down a couple of years ago. The local historical society has pledged themselves to attempt to rebuild the station they way it used to be in the days when there was a railroad connecting Carson City, Virginia City, and Tonopah (and thus also Goldfield, Bishop, and ultimately Las Vegas and Los Angeles) running through here. The railroad is long gone, but there are dirt roads and embankments that look to me to probably be the old right-of-way.
It's never really a quick trip to Reno given that it's a minimum of 25 miles to the edge of the city from Fernley, but this was a particularly long day, and not one I enjoyed that much given that it was a work night. We got home, I had a quick dinner, and went to bed two hours later than usual. That has made today a bit of working through a fog, but I've managed.