Blue Goose ~ Day 159

November 4, 2014 ~ Wells, NV to Fallon, NV

I was wide awake by 4 a.m. and COLD. Thank God I had the option of an open truck stop, as there was no hope for more sleep, and settled into a booth in the attached McDonalds with coffee and computer and a breakfast burrito. Finally, the sky began to lighten in the east, followed briefly by an expansive gold and rosy sky and then the sun. These places are busy this time which helps me from feeling too forlorn...and, in fact, it's rather social. Most people are ready to start their day, are cheerful, are in from the cold and dark for awhile....getting morning coffee,  the locals ready for catching up on things, the clerks friendly...

All day I drove through Nevada, much of the time with nearly continuous snow-dusted mountains to the north and south. They are not visibly craggy like the Rockies but are impressive and probably not the landscape that comes to mind when most people think of Nevada.

Along I80 in Nevada

It was sunny (again) and traffic moved at 75 mph with many long-haul semis, some with double or even triple trailers. Up and down long swells of land, gentle curves, 10-mile straightaways - easy and tedious at the same time...tedious because of the monotony of the actual road and the need to keep driving fast and not just pull off on a shoulder or side road or look too long at anything out the side windows. Still, the interstates are very efficient in moving vehicles across the country and occasionally the only sane option.

What I did not see was water. The occasional creek or coulee was dry as were the ditches when present. This land does have some ranches as I would see road signs for such off to either side of the main route, but they must be closer to the foothills where enough water from the mountains make possible the cultivation of grasses for grazing cattle, and they probably free-range in the high meadows in the temperate seasons. Or so I speculated.

Finally I turned southwest for a 35-mile drive on a perfectly straight two-lane to Fallon where I stayed for the night.