Thanks for all the information!!
About dates, ideally what I want is, to get to RNO or SMF on Friday evening, which seems close to impossible.
I am coming back on Tuesday (4 July) on AA as it has seats open.
I checked AA for west bound flights and I think I can get to PHX on friday night ot saturday morning.

If I decide to wait till sunday, AA has some open seats from DFW direct to RNO, and the flight from ORD to RNO is wide open. But I was hoping to find a way to SMF(sacramento) or RNO on Fri/Sat.