Eureka....The Loneliest Road in America

Call it a bribe or a jump start, but the fact of the matter is the critters got up before 9am!  We scheduled a para-sail date with the Zephyr Cove Marina for the girls and they were up and ready to roll by 10am.  It could be a Vacation 2012 record.

Anticipation of a good time.

On Board!

Way up in the air!

In the Air.

The girls were all several hundred feet above Lake Tahoe before 11am.  They not only enjoyed the flight, but the view; both on the boat and in the air.

After a right hand turn onto highway 50 out of Zephyr Cove RV Resort, we spent most of the day on the old Pony Express trail.  A stop at WalMart and a couple gas stations, but the rest was on highway 50.  The trail was a bit windy from the RV park to Carson City, but it straightened out dramatically at that point. 

After several hours behind the wheel, I offered Caitlin an opportunity to captain the ship for a while.  The road was as straight as an arrow and there was little or no traffic.  It is no exaggeration to say that within 5 miles, the road became as straight as a coiled snake and involved at least a 2000 foot incline.  She handled the pressure like a professional and knocked out 70 miles behind the wheel.  She turned the wheel back over to me in “the friendliest town on the loneliest road in America”; Eureka!

Map of Caitlin's portion of Hwy 50!

Our destination on this fine day was Great Basin National Park.  It is known as one of the darkest places in the United States and there was no moon in the sky.  We were in position for a great evening of star gazing, except for the minor detail that as soon as we left Carson City, we chased a storm that stretched all the way to the Great Basin and the sky was filled with clouds.  There were small specs of blue sky, but there was no hope of seeing the Milky Way.

Cloudy skies at 6.24pm.

One prayer was said for a clear sky and the assumption the rest of the way was we would have stars (wink, wink). 

We couldn’t believe how dark it got as we approached our final destination.  Not only was the area desolate and dark, but we had this unspoken concept in the back of our minds that the entire drive was an act of futility.  There would be no star gazing.

Cloudy skies at 7.18pm.

Very cloudy skies at 8.46pm.

The first turn out for the park didn’t include a sign for camping, so I kept moving straight ahead.  Before long, I left Nevada and found myself in Utah.  We had to journey a couple extra miles simply trying to find a safe place to turn the RV around.

Once we returned to Baker, NV, we found a campsite in town and called it a day.  It was a dark night!!  That was until we had dinner. 

As I was hooking up the RV to the electricity, I looked up and to my astonishment; the sky was full of stars.   After a late night taco dinner, we all took a short hike to gaze at the stars.  Well, most of us did.  There were some strange sounds in the Baker evening and Caleb opted to avoid being coyote bait.  As we all left him home alone, the coyotes were howling with such volume most of us were tempted to join Caleb in the RV.  But we persisted and enjoyed the night lights.