A Very Very Long Day

We left Laughlin as the sun was rising and waved goodbye to the last of our sort of warm weather. Yesterday we arrived in shorts and flip flops and today we are in jeans, boots, and jackets because the weather in Winnemucca, NV, our stop tonight, is calling for rain and possibly snow 😦 We had a long drive today but it was necessary to put us in the best position for travel tomorrow. There is a snow storm coming in to the Winnemucca area tomorrow and we want to get out of that area and put some miles on before it hits.

The weather was great when we hit the road early this morning.

We could see the snow on the hills as we drove through Las Vegas … yup that is where we are headed 😦

And then we were out of Vegas back on more boring straight highway.

I was looking forward to seeing some new highway when we turned toward Tonopha and I guess it was a little different, definitely less creosote bushes and more sage brush … but those pesky snowy peaks are still there looming in the distance!

Four hours into our trip, with a stop to top up the tank (hubby doesn’t like to get much below half a tank) and a washroom break, we left Beatty, NV behind and turned north toward Tonopha, NV. This is a route we have never taken and the roads where lined with sage brush which reminded us of the Kamloops area in British Columbia.

When we originally planned our trip home we were going to spend our second night in Tonopha but if we had done that we would have been driving through a snow storm tomorrow or spending a few days hunkered down in Tonopha. After checking weather we decided our best option was to skip Tonopha and drive a very long day today which should get us ahead of the snow storm … I guess we will see how that works tomorrow.

Five hours later and a half hour south of Tonopha we hit this …

There were only some small sections with snow and we were still under sunny skies and temps in the high 30F/5C, it was cooling down quickly but the roads were dry and the snow was sparing. That view only lasted for a few minutes and then we were back to this.

We topped up the tank in Tonopha and headed off on the second half of our trip … crap we are only halfway 😦

When we left Tonopha the wind was really howling and sadly for our fuel mileage it turned into a headwind as we drove further north.

We had four hours left of driving and the topography hadn’t really changed, the clouds were moving in but the temperature had gone up 10 degrees.

With three hours left we passed through Hawthorn, NV and found some interesting things, a military depot and a lake. This is a quick photo of the Hawthorn Military Depot which I think I will do a blog on the next time we come through this area, it has some interesting history.

And it was nice to finally see some water, this is Walker Lake.

An hour out of Winnemucca, and after we turned onto I-80, we ran into the nasty weather we were expecting. The tail end of this storm with the next one starting around noon tomorrow.

After an eleven hour day we finally pulled into the Walmart in Winnemucca, NV where the skies had cleared and we though the weather was looking better … and then we stepped outside! Holy crap it was cold and windy, and then an hour later it started to snow. I’m not sure what tomorrow holds but I would really like to get out of here before the next storm arrives.

And FYI a report from Miss Kansas in Cocopah shows Paul & Penlope are doing well 😀

Until next time …

Advertisement