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Fri Oct 26 2012: The Lonely Desert

Our trip so far has been interrupted by the Horizons Unlimited meeting and the need for some MotoTLC. So we're resuming our trip where we (almost) left off by heading back to the desert. Hoping there'll be more warm weather there.


No warm weather here, but good snow-cones... Donner Pass over the Sierra Nevada.

Since we're no longer Big City People, we decide to head to Reno, the "Biggest Little City in the World". We've ridden to Las Vegas before on our previous trip of the SW US, so we're spending an evening walking around the Bright Lights, Little City.


Drawn like moths to the neon lights of the Biggest Little City...

Slow night, off-season in Reno

New tattoo for Neda?

Mesmerized

We stayed at a state campsite just outside Reno instead - freezing overnight!

A lot of Vegas casinos also have a branch in Reno

Reno really reminded us of Old Vegas the way it was before the gigantic theme parks sprung up on the new strip. More about the neon and cheap food ($5.99 for a prime rib dinner!) than about the roller-coasters and Celine Dion.


From Reno, we headed south to the Highway 50. We're beginning a two-day ride through the desolation of the Nevada desert, trying to discover what led Life Magazine to dub this the "Loneliest Road in America". US 50 follows the Nevada section of the old Pony Express route back when the US Postal Service used to deliver mail via horse, riding day and night from the west coast all the way to Missouri!


Might look lonely up the sand dune, but there were dozens of vehicles behind this one and all over the hill

The Loneliest Road became a lot less lonely when we stopped in to visit Sand Mountain, just past Fallon. Tons of RVs were in the parking lot, belching out all kinds of dune buggies, ATVs, three-wheelers and dirtbikes onto the huge sand dunes just off the highway. Dozens of them climbing up and down the dunes like ants.


Soooo jealous! Paddle tires FTW!

When we set up our cameras at the base of the sand dunes, *everybody* started wheelying in front of us! :)

Even the little kids were getting into it!

We stopped for the evening at Lahontan State Recreation area right on the Loneliest Road in America, can't wait to soak up more of the desert lifestyle!

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