Epic Cross Country Road Trip August 22-23

 

Day 22: Sunday

Ellen and Bob whip up a great breakfast with eggs, bacon, fresh fruit.  Ellen makes some orange scones.  She thinks they are under done but we all think that they're great.  Another "Too soon goodbye."  We talk about the possibility of a fall reunion next year in Wisconsin.  If I put it here, and out there, a better chance of it actually happening. 

We had planned to camp in Taos but because of smoke, changed our plans.  We will go down to Reno to cross over Nevada.  The smoke is still quite bad and obscures what I know are beautiful vistas.  

We stop for gas.  Oh, we must be in Nevada!  Gambling opportunities everywhere!

We are traveling along Hwy 50 which is dubbed the lonliest road in America.  At one time the Pony Express took this route.  We stop for lunch at a place that was once a stop on their route.  A young girl is there playing with an Ipad.  What would it be like to grow up here?????

We do cross a few small mountain ranges and there are some nice yellow flowers blooming along the road  to break things up a bit.  

We overnight in Austin, NV.  It's trying hard to be a tourist place but just isn't getting the people.  There is a small libray, a tourquoise place, small local museum and free range chickens.  Mostly just big pickups in the motel parking lot.  

Day 23 Monday

A leisurely take off.  We have about a 4 hour drive today to get to Great Basin National Park.  The terrain continues mostly flat with lots of sage.  No houses.  Pretty lonely!   There are 2 towns that are slightly bigger – Eureka, which seems to be a bit more successful in having things of interest to tourist and actual tourists visiting them.  We, however, don’t stop.  We continue on to Ely where we have lunch.  I think we’ve gotten to the area where there is some real Mexican food.  There are several to choose from.  We choose Roberto’s.  It is full and mostly Mexican.  It was a good choice. 

Another hour of driving and we’re to Baker, which is the “town” outside of Great Basin National Park.  We can’t check into the hotel until after 2 so we go on up to the visitor’s center.  What?  Only open Wednesday to Sunday????  There is another visitor’s center that is near the entrance to Leman Caves.  To get the whole tour, you must book on line and they are all full.  But on a first come first serve basis you can enter the first main room.  It is also booked for today but we should be able to get a spot in the morning.  

The ranger recommends some hikes and a road that takes us up into the mountains and some nice overlooks.  Off we go!  There were once huge glaciers that carved out the basin which was a large inland sea.  We gain altitude from about 5000 feet to over 10,000 feet.  That’s where our “easy” hike starts.  It is about a mile in to an alpine meadow and lake.  It is a gradual uphill so not too bad.  Still at that altitude, we take it slow.  We see a deer.  We make eye contact and both go our own ways.  Nick is having some trouble at this altitude and decides to turn back but I continue.  A sign – Sutter Like .1 miles ahead.  I can make that!  I’m the only one there!  The solitude and view are glorious.  The wind is strong and I’m glad I have my jacket even though it is 90 degrees lower down.  The lake is small and I’m able to walk all the way around it easily before heading back down. 

Back at the “Stargazers Inn” we take a nap before dinner.  Oh, the hot tub would feel nice…..

We have dinner at the Sugar, Salt and Malt.  Two women who went to culinary school in San Francisco came back and opened the restaurant.  It was delightfully sophisticated in this little town of only a few hundred people.  I had a spinach fettuchine and a wonderful garlic knot.  Nick had a steak with green beans that had a jam sauce.  Very tasty.  Room for desert – Crème brulee with fresh fruit and a homemade yummy ice cream sandwich. 

Catching up back here in the hotel room.  Making some plans for our next couple of stops.  It is now dark so we step outside to look up at the stars.  We’re in town so there is quite a bit of ambient light.  We could drive out to a darker place but decide that we’ll wait for when the moon isn’t so full.   

We had planned on 2 nights at the Stargazer’s Inn but after hearing what there was to do around the area, we decided we wanted to spend only one night.  We called and were able to arrive a day early for our place in Moab and we were able to cancel our second night at Star Gazers Inn.  So nice when things work out that way!