Saturday we left Olympic Valley late morning, driving on the interstate through Reno and Sparks. We then got on Nevada Hwy 50, known as the lonliest road in America. It is one long, straight, long, straight, flat road until you hit a mountain range, which you can’t go around, you must go through. I read that there were 8 mountain ranges across this road, so we climbed, climbed, climbed, then went down, down, down, then straight and flat until we reached Utah. Saturday was a very long day – we stayed in Eureka, NV in a nice little campground. There were apple trees everywhere and the wind had blown quite a number of apples on the ground. The park owner told us to take all we wanted. That night, deer came into the campground to eat the apples. Sunday, we left for Baker, NV with plans to stay two nights and go to the Great Basin National Park. Stopped in Ely, NV for a late lunch. Oh, wow – the best food we’ve had since we left GA! I had a pulled pork quesadilla and Tony had a pulled pork sandwich. Delicious. On to Baker. We arrived at the campground mid afternoon. Monday, we headed into the park, which was only about 13 miles away. I didn’t know much about what to expect, so I’ll give you a geography lesson. Most all of Nevada is in what is known as “the great basin” and it is high elevation desert, with big basins that don’t have any way to drain what little water they get. There are 8 mountain ranges across the area. The Great Basin National Park is right on the border of Utah and is the only “cold” desert in the U.S. due to altitude and elevation. When we got in the park, we were at about 7,000 feet and we drove to above 10,000 feet. We went from sagebrush, through different ecosystems at different altitudes, all the way up to alpine meadows at the top. We are in the Snake Range and the basin is considered to be an island surrounded by mountains. There is also a cave system here in the park, but the tour was sold out for today. Tomorrow, Tuesday, we start across Utah. We aren’t going to do all of the national parks right now because we want to get on to Colorado. Depending upon our time, we may visit Arches and Canyonlands. The sign for Welcome to Utah is in the parking lot of the campground we are at. As soon as we cross into Utah, we are back on Mountain Time. So we lose an hour within 1 minute of pulling out. (Typing on Wednesday) Tuesday we made it to Delta, UT and stopped at a quilt store. After shopping, we had planned to drive on to Salina, but we decided to call the campgrounds before leaving Delta. Guess what? No sites available, so we stayed here in Delta. This morning I was still really tired, so we have stayed another night in Delta and have spent the day trying to find campgrounds around the national parks in Utah. Finally found a spot in Green River (near Arches), so we are headed there tomorrow for two nights and there is NO campsites available in or around Littleton/Denver for October and November. We finally found a private spot about 10 miles east of Parker, which is about 20 miles from Littleton. So, we have a temporary long term home, if all works out. I need a rest. All this traveling has worn me out! Plan to be in GA the middle of December to see doctors. Rest a while, then back on the road again.
Pictures won’t load – internet too slow. Will try tomorrow.
GA Gypsies - Fulltiming 