Day Twenty-Three - Sunday, May 24, 2009

Well, I realize that my exhaustion yesterday caused me to fail to mention the extraordinary beauty of the Lake Tahoe region. The mountains were snow-capped and the pine trees stood straight and tall in the sunshine. The views around the northern coast of the Lake along I80 truly were memorable.

And then to Reno where we failed to take the cruising path that one of my high school friends had suggested because we never made it into Reno other than skirting it on the north on the I80 path. Perhaps there will be another time for such a "cruise."

Our drive through northeast Nevada revealed much more of the great American western landscapes! Though it was a long driving day requiring two driving shifts for each of us, it was a beautiful drive. In many places we followed the traditional western pattern of river, railroad, and road, each taking advantage of the canyons and valleys through the mountains. The rolling brown hills were dotted with sage, back grounded with mountains in the distance, and accented by ribbons of green along the riverbeds. And then there was the flat, flat land where the horizon promised mountains in the distance. At Mile 65 we passed Hot Springs where dozens of steamy columns rose from the earth providing hints of the geothermal activity below the surface. The AAA book promised geysers, but we saw nothing that looked so significant as to rival Old Faithful - or to even come close!

We passed the time by reading the "State by State" book entries on California - a bit bizarre and slightly depressing but I suppose that's California - and Nevada - a much more uplifting story about a family's life in Las Vegas in the last half of the 20th Century. Of course we also consulted the AAA book and the 1,000 Places to See book, but we found very little information about our travel day in these two sources.

From Mile 145 northeast to Winnemuca - what a great name! - the hills and mountains were green and the desert plain was green and the bushes in the desert were green and these all were natural - no irrigation here. It was a pleasant change from the dryness of the earlier desert scenes. We stopped at McDonald's in Winnemuca for our morning coffee and then drove on to another McDonald's in Elko for lunch. Elko is quite a large city for this area. It is famous for cattle and for cowboy poetry and is the location of the National Cowboy Poetry Conference. Very interesting.

Beyond Elko the terrain turned more rugged and mountainous and our climbing was nearly constant. The green continued into the mountains and flowers of all sorts and colors began to appear along the road and in the mountain meadows. Besides looking at the scenery we also decided we had to be entertained to help us stay awake - always a good idea on a road trip! We listened to a book by James Lee Burke - "A Stained White Radiance." It's tough to be a blogger and to listen to a professional writer's books and realize that the language you are using cannot possibly compare to that of a professional writer. Nevertheless, I will continue to blog so that I will remember my own story a bit better as the years go on.

A bit of a parenthetical observation here: It seems that the towns in this stretch of Nevada create landmarks for themselves by marking a nearby mountain with the first letter of the town's name. So in Winnemuca, Battle Mountain, Elko, Wendover, and elsewhere, we saw large "W," "BM," "E," "W," etc. It's a bit of an eye sore on the mountain from our perspective, but it also creates a symbol of community pride and visibility, I suppose.

The higher we drove, the more beautiful the mountains. There actually were highland marshes along the way with pale lavender flowers and green fields and more snowcapped mountains in the distance. The skies were blue with fluffy cumulus clouds to the east and rain clouds in the southern sky. Trees were more scattered at this altitude. The Ruby Mountain Range was to the south and the East Humboldt Range was to the east and both provided vistas of power and grace to enjoy. At 6987 feet we crossed the Pequop Summit and at 5940 feet we crossed the Silver Zinc Summit. We began a long steady decline into a broad valley with salt white dirt and we knew we were approaching the Utah border.

After a short debate about the "tragedy" of not gambling on either visit to Nevada, we proceeded on into Utah and into a total change of environment. The natives were still speaking English, but the terrain could not be more different. We were right into the Bonneville Salt Flats and a broad flat valley of white salt for as far as we could see. We were in the Great Salt Lake Desert - broad - flat - white - broad - flat - white. Amazing!

It is a bit disconcerting in the desert to see a bright light coming toward the car. Of course, in Utah it could be a religious experience, but in this case, we eventually realized that it was an oncoming train - on its own path of tracks to the south of the road - and hauling an uncountable number of cars carrying coal. We watched rainstorms to the south and "floating" rocks to the north - rocks that appear to float above the desert floor based on the vast white expanses of salt and edges of the rock worn away by winds and other elements and time. Once again we talked about the magical results of Mother Nature and Father Time.

We continued traveling through the desert and eventually read that we also are traveling near the Newfoundland Mountains and through the Great Evaporation Basin. The Basin and the Desert are the remaining evidence of the size of the original salt lake known as Lake Bonneville. We passed within view of the Lake and some beaches and saw the enormity of the Lake that remains. It is an amazing work of nature, but no floating for us on this trip!

We found our hotel and had dinner at the local Perkins Restaurant - not our finest but it served the purpose. Early evening naps and two loads of laundry completed our day! Such is the life of a traveler.