First Time in Nevada

Almost 200 miles we traveled today, through country that's variously referred to as "the Oregon Outback" or "Oregon's Forgotten Quarter". But I found it much more interesting and scenic than those labels suggest. It's a mixture of high desert, wide vistas, and almost continual series of small mountain ranges. It's also the northern edge of the Great Basin -- that huge area that encompasses most of Nevada, and parts of Oregon, California, Idaho, and Utah. It's high country, we spent all day today between 4,000 and 5,000 feet, and it's dry. If any water does find its way onto the ground it has no chance of making it to the ocean... any ocean. The Great Basin is just that... a huge basin... there are no natural outlets or streams that escape. The water stays here until it either evaporates or soaks in to groundwater.

We're camped tonight at the Winnemucca RV Park, an old KOA park. Once in a while it's nice to have full hookups so we can get caught up on laundry. We arrived early enough that we should accomplish that task before we leave tomorrow morning. We're also going to stock up on some essentials and enough food to carry us through the next week or so. We may find grocery stores harder to find while we're down near Great Basin National Park and traveling down to Zion National Park after that.

Winnemucca, located mid-way between Salt Lake City and San Francisco, was a key railroad station on the first transcontinental railroad. The guys that surveyed and selected the path for that first rail line through here were pretty good at what they did, as it's still the best alignment for the tracks and I-80 uses the same route as well.

After we spend tonight here in Nevada, we'll have fulfilled all the requirements for having officially "been" to our 31st State. That alone is cause for celebration.

Having a blast in Winnemucca, NV
T