Day 3 - Nowhere Nevada

I left Carson City about 8:30AM at a relatively cool 79 degrees.  Did I mention it was 101 when I arrived yesterday and that was cool compared to Redding.  Today's title refers to a water tank I saw about mid-way in today's trip that was painted in white letters on a black tank..."Nowhere, Nevada".  I couldn't get a photo but it said a lot about the surrounding landscape.  Leaving Carson City on US 50 the countryside was desert but there was a bustling town.

I was surprised when I came across the Lahontan State Recreation area.  There was a pretty large lake and a lot of boaters there.  Elmer and I stopped for a leg stretch.

About an hour out of Carson city there were still a few structures and ranches that you could see along the way...

In Nevada they have roundabouts at some of their intersections.  I noticed them in the town of Carson City in several places and here's one on a US 50 intersection.  Notice the metallic artwork.  These pieces of art were found at a number of bridges, intersection and along the roadway.

There are several petroglyph sites in this region and I stopped at Grimes Point that was right along the road.  There was an interpretive display, a restroom and a couple of trails.  I did the quarter mile trail to the petroglyph site.  Interestingly, this area was once under about 400 feet of Lake Lahonton about 10,000 years ago.  Its also close to a Naval airbase (Navy in the desert?) and you could hear and see fighter jets taking off about every 15 minutes.

After this point the scenery was pretty much like the classic photo image you see of the loneliest highway.

At one point Elmer and I pulled over to take these shots from the middle of the road in both directions (and Elmer laughing at me).

There is a spot along the highway known as the "Shoe Tree".  People have tied their shoes together and thrown them up into the tree.  Its a tourist spot for sure but we made the mandatory stop.  There is nothing else there except the tree and the parking lot.

From here its more of...

...and...

...and...

...wait..eventually you reach those hill or mountains in the distance...

...and after you go through the mountain pass its....

...and...

You did want to share this journey with me .... right...?  I have a dozen more of these types of images taken along the way but will spare you, you get the picture!

Tomorrow will be a drive to Great Basin National Park and a drive up the Wheeler Scenic Drive.

https://goo.gl/maps/iF5pr1jE8UcZgjP17

  I will probably spend a couple of hours in the park and then head to the Hampton Inn at Richfield UT.

https://goo.gl/maps/PbChz25JW3vcrpDC9