An interesting day

Yesterday, I got up and was getting ready for work when I saw a text from Andrea that she would be flying into Reno and her dad was picking her up to go to Elko, but could we have lunch. So, Chris and I headed down to Deli Towne around noontime to have lunch with Dre, her dad and stepmom, plus Jeremy's mom and nephew. (If you don't know, Deli Towne is a sandwich shop inside of a gas station. I was skeptical the first time Dre and I went there last fall, but they are some bomb sandwiches. Smokey cheddar. Dutch crust bread. Mmmm.) Anyway, we had a quick but nice visit with the Paris-Nevins and then I went back to the office for a bit and on to Artown.

A mariachi band was playing as part of the World Music Series, and when I got a break after intermission I decided to shoot some video. Imagine my excitement when they played the Devil Went Down to Georgia!

I played with the video when I got home and waited for Chris to finish working. Around midnight, he called and asked if I was still up and had I looked at the paper's web site. Yes and no. He said there was a lot of smoke and to come outside and look. A huge plume was visible in south Reno and it was glowing. I called the newsroom (which had already sent a reporter), grabbed my camera, and we were on our way. At none of the road closures could the police tell us where media staging was, but some nice policemen let us park at the base of an on ramp and walk up it to shoot (Chris took some stills while I shot video.) But then some other law enforcers saw us and didn't like it, so one of the other guys came and picked us up and gave us a ride back to our car in the back of his policecar. The seats were hard, and Chris laughed at me when I tried to open my own door to get out. Glad it was a short ride! After that, we found the media staging area, shot some more, and finally got to sleep around 3:30 this morning. (Here is the link to the fire video).

This isn't the first time Chris and I have gone out together for breaking news at midnight - last year we were called in when there was a big earthquake. I like being out with Chris on late assignments - it makes me feel better to have him there, and I think we're a good team. I just asked him what we'll do when we have kids and there is breaking news at night ... will they tag along and be junior reporters? He said I might have to go by myself. I like my idea better.