It turned out to be pretty scenic anyways, although I have nothing to compare it against. The scenery consisted of nothingness for about 230 miles. A barren landscape of hills and distant mountains, desolated, with just the Humboldt river making an occasional appearance here and there. If Nevada had a state color, it would be ochra/mustard - the only bushes popping out of the sandy soil are dry and yellow. We took a break at a rest stop and a plaque gave us an idea of where we are. This is the Truckee route that became a popular crossing path between 1849 and 1869 for settlers moving west. It just happened to be so exhausting and desolated that very few of them made it. Cattle and people were dying of fatigue and lack of water - having to walk some 40 mile stretches at a time under the sun during the day or in extreme cold during the night. The temperature difference between day and night here is easily 30ºF. Actually, it's hard to imagine on a day like today (daily temp 80ºF), but chains or snow tires are required along this route, which in some parts is closed during the winter. I wonder what the locals do if they cannot move outside their little villages for months on end... On a stretch of some 250 miles we passed maybe 4 towns so tiny and you'd not even notice them without a highway sign. Some simply looked like abandoned shacks in the middle of nowhere. And of course, they had the usual cemetery of derelict and rusty cars right in their front yards. What's up with that everywhere we drove???
We got off the highway at Winnemucca, the biggest town along the way, and drove through its main street, a drag of about ¼ mile with motels, casinos, car dealers and car repair shops. And that's about it. Back on the highway, we arrived in Elko soon after sunset, just in time to be blinded by the neon signs of the casinos - a stark contrast with the desolation of our drive today.
We enjoyed this vista in front of us for 250 miles today.
This is what we saw to the left.
The only big building along the way: a state prison.
And this is what we saw to the right.
Welcome to Winnemucca.
The most colorful building in downtown.
By a rest stop we saw this structure, barely standing...
To the right of it a Century 21 sign indicating it's for sale.
To the left, this abandoned car. I wonder if they throw it in for free with the purchase of the "house with potential and plenty of room for expansion".
Back on the road, in front of us same old same old. Let's see if the panorama has changed to the right...
Nope. To the left perhaps?
Ditto.
Arriving in Elko at sunset. The hills are a bit more ondulated!
Our campground is part of this casino.
Petr had to enter the casino in order to register. It took him a very long time and I started wondering if he was lost (and had lost all of our money) at the poker table. Turns out, the lady at the check-in desk had some trouble understanding that wireless and Wi-Fi are just two words for the same thing.
The restaurant by the casino is open 24/7. Anybody up for cheeseburger and fries at 3:30am?