We woke early and wanted to get rolling as soon as possible. The plan was to spend the night in Tonopah, which is about 230 miles north.
Around 8:30 we headed out. The drive through Las Vegas was a little congested, but once we got past downtown the traffic thinned out. Heading north on US-95, we soon found ourselves in the middle of the desert. Las Vegas is a strange place. To reach it from any direction, you have to drive for hours through desert. Due to the nature of the place, that might be a good thing.
The drive along US-95 was through some of the most desolate country we have seen. To the east is the Air Force Base and Nevada Test Site; two places you certainly don’t want to wander into. To the west was Death Valley. There are few towns (if you can call them that) and lots of abandoned mines. This is high desert so most of the vegetation is sage. Most of the drive was through open range, which means livestock is not fenced away from the highway. You need to stay alert since hitting a cow at 65 miles per hour would be disaster.
We were surprised at how rugged the terrain is. The well maintained road winds through valleys bordered snowcapped mountains. It really is quite scenic, especially when you get within view of the Sierras. I wonder what the place is like in summer.
In the early afternoon we reached Tonopah. We were totally underwhelmed. It had been an easy drive on a good highway so we decided to keep going. Eventually we stopped in the small town of Mina, Nevada. The RV park was a no-frills place but had full hookups and easy access. I would be surprised if the town population exceeded 55 people and 22 dogs. We didn’t even unhook the Jeep.
Late in the afternoon, the wind started and a huge cloud of dust came up off the dry lakebed and covered everything with a fine powder. We kept the rig closed up and waited for it to blow over.
We watched TV before going to bed.