Mile 3231

Today I can confirm that Nevada has of all the states we travelled through the longest straight roads we found thus far.  We also found out that the wind always blows from the side, never from the front, never from the back.  And we saw that dumb can always be beaten when a Ford Transit Van was driven into the salt flats for the perfect Facebook photo, not considering that below the crusty salt surface the ground was still soft and the van sank beyond the axles into it.

We left Salt Lake City, UT early this morning and found after a quick gas stop our way out.  Unfortunately can we not follow the Lincoln Highway as it passes nowadays through military test grounds and is off site for us.  So we pass the Great Salt Lake on Interstate 80 and follow the salt harvesting ponds to the West.  There are one salt pond after the other, and soon we wonder if there will be something else around there.  As the miles go on, we reach the Bonneville Salt Flats, home of the land speed record.  Leaving the Great Dessert at Wendover, UT we turn south onto Hwy. 93A and come into the Ruby Mountains and the Shell Greek Range, before we turn West again in Ely, NV.  This stretch of Hwy. 93A is about 130 miles with no gas station, not town, no settlement whatsoever, just plain dessert.  Having turned onto Hwy. 50 in Ely, NV, the barren country has by now turned into nice forested and mountainous areas, winding roads, and we are passing several 7,000 ft plus summits.  We share about 100 miles of the old pony express route, and for what we pass in a little more than one hour and a half, took an express rider in 1860 about the whole day, and 8 horse changes.  We take a gas stop in Eureka, NV and cooling ourselves down, before following the Hwy to Austin, NV (not Texas), before calling it the day in Fallon, NV.

Surprise of the day is that regardless how small a town is, casinos are everywhere.

Wendover, NV

Eureka, NV

Old Pony Express Rider Station in Schelbourne, NV near Ely, NV

"There were about eighty pony riders in the saddle all the time, night and day, stretching in a long, scattering procession from Missouri to California, forty flying eastward, and forty toward the west, and among them making four hundred gallant horses earn a stirring livelihood and see a deal of scenery every single day of the year." - Mark Twain, Roughing It