Wildflowers in the desert

The morning broke in Delta dry, bright and crisp, but the forecast was for an increasing chance of showers along our route as the day progressed, so Gi and I rushed breakfast, saddled the pony, and hit the road around 8:30. US 50 between Delta, UT and Fallon, NV is billed as "The Loneliest Road in America," it didn't take long to see why. The landscape is what geologists call Range and Basin for the mountain ranges separated by 30-50 mile wide flats or basins. It's some of the least densely populated land in the U.S., and in many place we drove for many miles before seeing another vehicle The road is a favorite for motorcyclists for the scenery, as well as the flats where you can open it up, and the 'twisties' going up and over the ranges. The mountains seen in the background on the first photo are the heart of Great Basin Natl Park, the newest park in the National Park system. I definitely recommend this route to anyone who has the time. I hope I can come back -- maybe when I'm retired -- to slowly poke around into all those neat little canyons I could see off in the distance. The area is a mecca for rockhounds and fossil collectors, and I can't imagine a quieter place to get away from it all.

The landscape is severe, and some views make it look completely barren. However, the abnormal rainfall this year meant that many parts were much greener than usual, and wildflowers were abundant all along the way. Other than a lone pronghorn buck, one golden eagle and a number of large hawks, we didn't much kin the way of large wildlife, but small birds and rodents were everywhere.

As expected traffic was light along most of the route, and perhaps not surprisingly motorcycles appeared to outnumber cars. There were even a few intrepid bicyclists, usually miles from nowhere (hopefully with a support car waiting somewhere along the route). Speed limits were posted at 65 mph along most of the route (thanks to the feds), but these are roads where speeds <100 mph often seem silly. You'll be glad to know that I did burn every last bit of carbon off my valves. (We covered 472 miles today in 7.5 hours, including our usual stops on the hour to stretch as well as several photo ops. I'll let you do the math;-))) And Gi's now an expert in high-speed photography!

We made such good time that we decided to continue on through Fallon to Carson City. Definitely a good choice as the lodging (Hampton Inn) and food (Thai at a place called Basil) were far superior to anything that could be had at twice the price in Fallon. Also, it's only 30-40 minutes from here up to South Lake Tahoe where we'll meet my cousin, Donald, and his family for lunch tomorrow. That means we can have something of a more leisurely morning tomorrow.