Yesterday was a glorious but difficult bit of driving. 75 mph all the way through mountains and desert, and then mountains again. I stopped for the night about 40 miles East of the CA border, which means today is my last day on the road! Whoo!

I didn’t set up my tripod again because the roads were ridiculously curvy, steep, and bumpy, but I did manage to get some shots with my phone camera during some of the long straight aways. First were the Wyoming/Utah mountains, absolutely gorgeous:

Then came the Utah salt flats, which were kind of trippy. Completely flat, with mountains rising up in a line far off in the distance – so far away and hazy they might just be clouds. It would suck to get stranded out there.

I did make one rest stop in the middle to take pictures with my good camera – and damn I’m glad I did. Soooo beautiful! Here’s one of the regular shots I took, but I got a rather breath-taking panorama as well that I’ll post later once it’s all put together. God it was picturesque. Like standing in front of a real-life postcard. The land you see in the picture above was dry/muddy and dusty, but below, closer to the mountains, the salt was covered in a thin layer of water.

Immediately upon leaving the salt flats on I-80 you hit the Nevada state border, and the very first thing you encounter is:

::sigh:: I mean “first thing” literally, too. They had a line drawn on the road, one side marked “Utah” and the other marked “Nevada.” The entrance to this casino lies directly on that line. It’s a little ridiculous how rife with casinos this state is. They’re integrated into everything. Want a coffee from Starbucks? They’re all located inside casinos. Want to stop for a bite to eat along the highway? All the road-side restaurants are attached to casinos or strip clubs. Even the freaking gas stations had slot machines in them. I quickly got out of the populated part of Nevada though, and struck out across the wild countryside which featured stunning mountain views.

The day ended driving into yet another spectacular sunset, and I’m camped out at an RV park just outside Reno. The truck stops were insanely full and none had RV-specific parking anyways so I ended up paying for a spot here. I get free electricity and showers though, plus there’s no sounds of the highway or extra light, so not a bad deal.

Alright, enough blogging. To California! :D