Spring 1990 to June 1997. Seven years in a city built entirely on other people's luck — the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), my mother's house as an unofficial weekend hub, casino floors, balloon races, and the friends who made a strange, wide-open stretch of my twenties worth remembering. The years between Blinn and Seattle nobody quite has a name for. I call it Camp Reno.
Nevada Neil
UNR in the early '90s. The Sundowners, the Ominous Pinniped expeditions, a flagpole at Lawlor, and the friend who made Reno worth remembering — up to and including a Slayer show attended with a missing tooth.
Read →The Night the Cow Palace Changed Everything
New Year's Eve 1991. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam, over Donner Pass in a snowstorm to get there. Eleven days later, Nevermind was the best-selling album in the country.
Read →The Balloon Crash
A giant Korbel Champagne bottle balloon loses lift over East 6th and Valley during the Great Reno Balloon Race, and comes down in the middle of the street.
Read →Power Walkers to the Casino
My mom's house as weekend hub, a power walk to the craps table, and the night Jim rolled three 11s in a row and walked away. We did not.
Read →This collection is still growing. A run of mountain-biking pieces is next — Peavine and the arborglyphs above town, Hunter Creek, Dog Valley to Truckee, Geiger Grade, and Steamboat Ditch — along with whatever else Camp Reno still has to give up.