Today was our longest time on the road of the whole trip; 11 hours to reach Lake Tahoe with Rick using up his maximum ten hours driving allowance, a distance of over 500 miles in total. It was my turn up front to keep him company so, unlike the others I didn’t really get a chance to doze although I did manage to write up some of the blog whilst we were in transit. We broke camp early and left on the dot of 8am with the sun only just rising behind us, picking out the hills with an orange glow.
The Great Salt Lake stretched out to the north and everything was pretty flat so I expected an experience similar to our journey into Central Australia in 1979. Nothing was further from the truth as there always seemed to be high ground in sight somewhere and there was always some contrast in either vegetation or rock formation.
A brief stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats for photos before crossing into Nevada, where gambling is legal. Even the Filling Stations had slot machines. I invested 25cents in one and complaining that I’d lost the money Kate replied, “Jim, you’ve just paid 25cents for six people to wee.” The further east we got the emptier and drier it became and radio signals became intermittent. In places the odd cattle seemed to graze but eventually there was little pasture of any sort. However, there were small towns although it was hard to see why. Occasionally, the odd coal mine added a dash of black to the scenery and buildings related to natural gas or oil could be seen. One town, Elko seemed to have everything; nice houses, trees, a watered golf course. But why would anybody live there?
Our lunch stop was in a pleasant Rest Area but as I went walkabout I encountered some nasty spiky things that made me hop around a bit. So not everything here is friendly!
Late afternoon and we pulled into Reno for our last grocery shop and a welcome break before a final hour taking us to Lake Tahoe, which we hit, dead on schedule at 5 pm. Camp was pitched and my final culinary effort was that old staple, pasta, tuna and sweetcorn. Not too bad considering the low grade American cheddar and we ate it by the lake as the sun went down. The only power supply is in the toilets so this is where this episode is being completed. Tomorrow we head for Yosemite and the final stage of this trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment