Nevada Route 50, Great Basin National Park and the drive to Zion National Park

Leaving Squaw Valley, we decided to take Route 50 across Nevada (dubbed "The Lonliest Road in America"). We went through Fernley, Fallon, Austin, Eureka, Ely, and finished in Baker. We did have some minor vapor lock issues but none left us stranded. We decided to take a 90 minute break in Austin and visit the Austin Museum and some rock shops while the car cooled off. The only issues we had from there on out were easily solved with the auxiliary pump. Here are two pics from Route 50.

Baker, Nevada is home to Great Basin National Park, and we stayed in the Whispering Elm RV Park/Campground/Motel in motel unit #3. Got up early enough to take a 90 minute tour of Lehman Cave (really awesome and highly recommended for the short walk but dense sets of formations. Afterwards we drove up Wheeler Peak to hike the Bristlecones -- the oldest living things on earth. Really neat. The drive up to the top is fairly aggressive and I scared myself by overheating in the very first part of the ascent. If we can't make that, then how will we make Pike's Peak? As it turns out, it was because we were low on water -- but I'm not sure why. Just 5 miles earlier I had topped off the water. My only guess is that perhaps I overfilled. I had topped it off with water then dumped in a bottle of Water Wetter and it was a bit higher than I usually fill it. After we let the car cool down at Upper Lehman Campground (around 7500'), and after topping back up with water, we drove with no problem to the 10000' summit, and in fact for the rest of the day which included many climbs.

The drive down from the top was interesting -- the speed limit was 35mph and I left it in 3rd for engine braking and because of all the hairpins. About a mile before we hit the bottom the gearshift lever popped out of gear (not as a result of a bump), and I could not select another gear at all. I was panicked thinking about what could have happened, so we glided the rest of the way down, coasted to the side and I was able to select all gears and have had no further issue with that. Weird. I hope that's the end of that story/topic.

The drive from Baker, Nevada to Zion National Park was a lot of wide open spaces, cows on skateboards (see sign), and a wonderful sunset from Milford, Utah. We stopped 10 miles short of our destination at the Bumbleberry Inn just outside of Zion to get a glimpse of dark skies that none of us have ever experienced.