The Trip Thus Far (Part 1 - Day 1, Folsom to Ely)...

Ron and I set out last Saturday morning at an ungodly hour on our "southwest tour." As we approached the first stop sign near our house, the "check engine" light went on in our beloved '07 Escape Hybrid. Of course, we HAD taken the car in for a service before the trip -- we even did it a WEEK prior so that if anything went wrong ... you get the idea. Apparently, this was one instance where swearing and yelling at the car (by Ron, which is scarier than if I do it) actually worked. Each time he turned on the engine, he dared the car to tell us it needed service, punctuating each request with "you fucker." We haven't seen the little wrench light illuminate since.

Our first day on the road took us across Highway 50 from Folsom all the way to Ely (say, "eelie"), Nevada. I was on a bit of a tear to see weird shit along the highway & our first stop took us to a giant black widow sculpture made from a VW Beetle.


Of course, we also stopped once again at "the shoe tree" in Middlegate and met some cool folks who had motorhomed their way across the states from Michigan. We were treated to a viewing of a few wild horses while out that way too. Unfortunately, the horses were ... y'know... hoofin' it, so no photos of them.

(clicky for more sizes of this photo and, eventually, more photos of this tree!)

We stopped at the giant sand dune, but all of the OHVs crawling all over it like ants (and buzzing like bees at a distance of 2 mi) put us off that adventure once again.


We stayed at a clean, but uninteresting motel in Ely since we weren't able to get the John Schneider suite (or any room at all) at the Nevada Hotel and Gambling house. However, we did end up meeting some retirees on a road trip with their Model A Fords. Pretty dang cool and generally uneventful evening, which is pretty much all you want after 12 or so hours in the car.

Oh, and there was some intense giggling that involved dry ice and a pink hotel bathroom....


More later on our underground adventures in Great Basin NP, above ground adventures in Dinosaur NP and the best pancakes anywhere, EVER.