June 2, 2013 - Nevada

A little before 8 we were on the road for our voyage across Nevada on the Extra Terrestrial Highway.  Our first stop was for the ever elusive gas station in Benton, CA.

 

As we traversed Nevada, this is what we saw, lots of straight ahead 2 lane road.  Stopped again for gas in Tonopah, we were now following the 1/2 tank rule we learned in Alaska, when the tank gets down to 1/2 a tank you stop an refill asap!  The next gas station would not be for another 163 miles.  Leaving Tonopah we passed a missle range, Joan remembers camping in this vicinity with mom and dad, watching nuclear bombs being set off in the early 50's!  In over 100 miles we passed less than a dozen cars. Nearing Caliente as we went through the passes Joshua Tree Forest began to cover the hillsides.  The final pass, Oak Springs Summit was covered by a Juniper Forest.  The landscape has changes from brown to green as far as the eye can see.  The temperature dropped from near 93 in Hiko, Nevada to 86 as we come off the summit.

 We arrived at our campsite at Cathedral Gorge State Park at about 3:00.  

At over 90 degrees, it was too hot to go exploring.  We spent the afternoon trying to stay out of the sun.