Aug 25 Monday's Monotonous Mountains

All the truckers were already gone when my alarm went off to make sure I made it to my 8 o'clock (my time )patient .I got partially caffeinated and at least my hair combed for the video appointment and then once again took off for Yosemite. I made it halfway across the Old California Trail (now West 80) and thought would I have had the guts or the ability to withstand what those pioneers put up with to go by covered wagon 2000 miles. I'm going 65 miles an hour most of the time on beautifully paved highway marked with every kind of warning possible with water ,refrigeration, a bed and a potty and I think I'm roughing it when I don't have electricity to run all my gadgets. I hope all Americans aren't losing their grit!

I found that they now have RV hook ups at many of the Love truck stops that have electricity, water, and sewer dump spots. But it is 50 bucks a night and you have to have reservations so you would have to plan ahead which sort of leaves me out.

I got to Battle Mountain about the time for my 12;30 patient so had some left over lunch and then found the post office to finally mail some postcards and belated as usual birthday cards. .

Coming. from Texas I never thought I would ever consider mountain scenery monotonous but oh my, after mile after mile of rolling Hills and Sagebrush flatlands . At times I wondered if I was really on a real highway as I might go 10 minutes without passing a car. I have concluded that the fence post industry must at least at one point have been very lucrative. What they are fencing however, is a mystery as you might see a cow every 20 miles or so and no wildlife ,no crops. I don't think our cows would even eat Sagebrush.

We then started down Nevada Highway 50 known as" the loneliest road in America". I thought I had just come off of it, but it took me to Austin, Nevada, which was at one point a booming Metropolis for it's time, pop 10,000 . All from silver and gold mining. The sign now says social distancing since 1862. The town has maintained its frontier atmosphere and since the museum was closed on Monday as usual, I ended up in one of the quaint. local bars for tacos and a beer.

It became obvious I wasn't going to make it to Yosemite by dark so I pulled off on a side street in a little town called Gabb for the night .