The thought of meeting up in Reno for Hot August Nights sounded like a good idea, so I called up the car rental agency and reserved a bone-white Dodge four-door sedan that looked like it was fresh off a television cop show. It wasn't as much fun as driving one of my old trucks, but it wasn't bad. The best part was the Dodge had a back seat, so I never had to empty the trash for the entire trip. It was about 4 a.m. when I exited CA-14 and rolled onto US-395. Around lunchtime I pulled into Bishop, California, and bought 2 lbs of smoked salmon, along with a big loaf of chile cheese bread from Schat's Bakker for the road. Just north of Bishop, heading towards Reno, 395 starts climbing at a pretty steep grade for many miles. The dinky four-banger engine in my rented Dodge spent most of the mountain ascent red-lined in second gear screaming at the top of its tiny little lungs.
Having never been to Hot August Nights, when I arrived on the outskirts of Reno and started spotting more and more hot rods and old trucks heading towards downtown my excitement started to mount. It was kind of like the feeling one gets as they ride into Sturgis, and knows the fun is only just beginning. For lodging (as in mooched a spot on a hotel room floor) I called the crew at Sonoma County Street Rodz and was told to pull into the Peppermill, leave the Dodge in the valet parking, and meet them in the lobby. It couldn't have been five minutes later and we were all piled into Sonoma's shop truck and headed to the auto auction held in the Reno Convention Center. At the convention center we walked up and down every aisle and commented about the vehicles that were staged to run across the auction block, and then finished the night off by witnessing how much money they brought.
For a Hot August Nights newbie it didn't take me very long to determine all of the casinos in town had custom car shows taking place in their parking lots. Hot August Nights is an event that encompasses the entire city of Reno, and one can try to run all over town and experience as much as possible or just hang out in the downtown area and have a great time in one spot.
At the end of my three-day stay I handed the Peppermill valet my ticket, and he went up to the parking structure's roof and retrieved the Dodge from the 100-degree heat. When the kid returned with the car he was as pale as a ghost, and looked like he was going to barf. As soon as I got a good whiff, I knew immediately what had happened. I forgot to take the salmon out of the car and it smelled like there was a corpse rotting in the trunk. Laughing, I hopped into the Dodge, cranked-up the A/C, and with all the windows down headed home towards LA.