After breakfast burritos at Riva’s Mexican Grill (which sits directly across the road from our motel), the second day of our Left Coast adventure involved a 300+ mile drive across the state of Nevada.
We were traveling on U.S. Highway 50, which decades ago Life Magazine declared to be the “Loneliest Road in America.”
It was Sunday morning and traffic was light with miles of open highway sporting nary another vehicle in front nor behind us.
The landscape offered strips of north-south running mountain ranges separated by wide-open valleys or basins.
Hillsides displayed slopes of dark barren rock occasionally blanketed with scattered patches of piñon and juniper trees.
The basins between the ranges were rife with sagebrush, saltbush and the occasional cow.
While I prefer slickrock canyons or glacier-clad mountains, I do appreciate the stark beauty to this part of the Great Basin Desert.
We stopped for photos on a hillside above Austin, Nevada. I watched as vehicles pulling travel trailers passed by.
While it’s nice to be able to sleep in our own little cabin on wheels, I was certainly enjoying not having to drag our trailer along on this trip!
We arrived in Minden, Nevada, and checked into our room at the Quality Inn motel. Unlike other Quality Inns, this one does not offer breakfast, and the room lacks an in-room coffee maker. Our quarters may be more spacious here, but I enjoyed the room at the Grand Central in Ely far more.
We hauled our toys out of the car, locked the room, and headed over to have dinner with the in-laws.
