West Wendover, NV

 This morning, we left the GSR campground and headed east on I-80.  It was good staying at the GSR site for two nights - we actually only spent last night in the RV.  It gave us a great opportunity to load it up, check it out, and see what we may have missed in our planning for the trip.  Even so, we had to make one last trip home Wednesday night.  Got an early start on Thursday, but we really didn't need it.  There was an accident on I-80 at milepost 41 (Painted Rock) and it caused an hour-long delay - big traffic jam.  An 18-wheeler decided to take out several hundred feet of railing before landing on its' side just off the highway.  Not exactly a great way to start our trip.

We retraced the pioneers route (only in reverse).  It still amazes us that they were able to make that trip across Nevada back in the day.  As we have said before, I-80 follows the same route as the railroad, the wagon trails, and the Indian trails.  Pretty much follows the Humboldt River for two thirds of the way across Nevada.  All of the rest areas were closed for renovation, but we managed to stop in Battle Mountain for lunch at a roadside park in town.  Battle Mountain is known as the Armpit of Nevada (thanks to an advertising campaign by Arrid several years ago).  Otherwise, it's known as the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Nevada.  Lots of back country roads, mountain biking, etc.

After a couple of gas stops (this may be an expensive trip :-)), we passed Pilot Mountain in the eastern side of Nevada.  As we crossed the mountain into West Wendover, we passed the spot where Danny lost his camera years ago.  Still not able to find it, but we did take a picture from the same spot.  Great shot of the Great Salt Lake.

We're spending the night at the Rainbow (part of the Peppermill family) and then tomorrow we head across Utah to Wyoming.  Pretty flat trip tomorrow across the Great Salt Lake and through Salt Lake City.  When we leave SLC, we climb through the Wasatch Mountains.  Plans are to stay at an RV park in Evanston, WY.  Today was an almost 390 mile trip and we don't plan on doing any more long daily trips.  We have plenty of time to get to North Dakota and want to enjoy the scenery.

More tomorrow.