Sunday, October 4, 2009

Nevada = Brown All Around

We left Reno, heading south on US95 on Friday. We drove 234 miles and stopped in the town of Tonopah, which was 6700 feet above sea level. We got the very last RV spot and were most greatful, even though the site was on a hill and behind an old, tired casino/hotel, but, such a deal...only $18 a night!

World's record for us -- Saturday morning we left at 9:30 a.m.!
About 3 miles out of Tonopah, we saw a sign that we were entering Toiyabe National Forest. We drove for miles and didn't see one single tree. Then we started seeing these little stakes, which turned out to be cacti. Somehow, "forest" must have a different definition than I remembered -- I thought forests had trees!
This 400 miles from Reno to Las Vegas took us through an environment that neither of us have ever experienced. It's called the high desert which means that even though the temperatures may rise, it doesn't seem hot.
If I wanted to describe "nothingness that is brown", I would take you through this area. Every time we go over a hill we'd think there'd be something different but it just went on and on.
We passed the Hawthorne Army Depot, which is the largest storage site for ammunition in the world.
There were lots of buildings and some partly underground bunkers. The underground ones probably hold the bombs.
There are NO trees on these mountains.
There are a few towns and they must have phones and electricity. I cannot fathom how much wire it must have taken to get this set up.
Actually, I do like brown and there were many unusual variations.

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