AK Trip - Day Thirty Seven - Sunday, July 22nd,

Reno, NV to Delta, UT

Hwy 50 - The Loneliest Road in America

The sun was low and rising in the eastern sky, making it difficult to see down I-80 as we departed Reno. Thirty miles later we left the interstate and, after a stop for breakfast and a trip to Wal Mart for two dozen bottles of water, we began our trip across the Nevada / Utah desert on Hwy 50.

The Loneliest Road in America has this name for very good reasons. I would rate Utah’s portion of this highway just as remote, if not more so. On more than one ocassion we found sections of this highway with well over 100 miles between services. When I say services I mean not so much as a fence post to be found.

. Our first sand dune sighting. Shade was scarce. We found this picnic table alone in the desert and gladly took a water break.
Great Basin National Park lies on the Nevada / Utah border, 400 miles from Reno and another 109 miles from Delta, UT. It may well be second only to Wrangles St. Elias NP in Alaska for remoteness. When we left this park we had no choice but to continue on to Delta to find a motel.

Ten miles west of Delta, UT my trip meter turned 10,000 miles. We rode slightly over 500 miles on two lane roads today in temps up to 101 degrees.

We spent the night in Delta, UT in possibly the worst motel of the trip. (Albeit cheap) I'll vote to spend a bit more tomorrow... LOL In all fairness, we were chased by a thunderstorm into Delta and we took the first motel we came to. (Big Mistake!)

"The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see."- Gilbert K. Chesterton