Nevada: The Land of Casinos and Desert

I apologize for the lack of posting this past week, I don't think I've even taken my laptop of my backpack since the last time I posted. We're currently in Colorado so writing about Nevada is a little late, but I figure better late than never. We were in Nevada for what seemed like forever because of the never ending desert. It was cool at first because I'd never really been to a desert before, but after over a week of nothing but desert followed by small town after small town I had had enough of Nevada. It's amazing being in such a desolate area. Many times I would stop to set up a water stop for the riders and there would be nothing and no one around me. It's really quite haunting to be in the middle of nowhere by yourself with no sound besides the wind. Since Nevada we've been through Utah, which is comprised of slightly less desert, and arrived in Colorado yesterday. It's so nice to be in a more mountainous area that has grass and rivers! Today our ride was short so during the afternoon several of the staff and riders when for a swim in White River. It was very refreshing to be in fresh water again with beautiful, lush scenery around us. I'm excited to be in Colorado, and there's many fun things in store for us here.

There's such little life in Nevada you can lay in the middle of the road without worrying about traffic

Lots of open, bleak country

 

No I definitely do not take pictures while I'm driving

The bus I drive most of the time

In Fallon, NV we visited a 9/11 memorial that had a piece of steel from the twin towers wreckage

More open, bleak country

In Ely, NV the local State Farm agent treated us to a spaghetti lunch followed

by a ride on a coal powered train

On an off day intern Parker and I went for an adventurous ride up a dirt and gravel road

to Success Summit in Cave Lake State Park

 Finally a new state!