I woke up bright and early and decided to backtrack on Route 50 a few miles to check out the copper mining town of Ruth. (Fun Maryland-related aside: former Congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley was born in Ruth.) However, it’s not so easy to find the actual old ghost town of Ruth, because the town apparently would pick up and move every time they exhausted one mining site and went on to another. That sounds like a lot of work to me, but what do I know? I try to move as infrequently as possible.

I did get to visit the current mining operation in Ruth, courtesy of the Robinson Nevada Mining Company. They have cleared a visitor-friendly viewing area, just a mile or so up a gravel road, where the public can see the huge mining vehicles trundling up and down, with the terraces cut into the hillsides in the background.

I then hit the road to Great Basin National Park, which is the second least-visited of all of the US National Parks. The reason is certainly not lack of beauty or grandeur — it’s clear that the reason is its remoteness. It’s not a “passing through” destination near a busy major interstate, like Badlands. Many of the National Parks are more or less along the way to other tourist destinations, but you really have to be planning to visit Great Basin to find yourself there.

I ended up stopping at one viewpoint and having a long, wonderful conversation with a lovely couple who live in Alaska and travel to a different part of the US every few months or so. They have a van that they travel in, and they leave it in a different area of the country each time they end their travels. That way they can fly back to Alaska, and then plan their next trip to start from wherever they left their van. Pretty clever strategy!

I then headed up the scenic drive, which is quite a climb — fortunately, I had heeded a park ranger’s advice to leave my trailer in the visitor center parking lot. At another viewpoint, I chatted with another park ranger who was enjoying her last day at Great Basin before heading to California and then her next post at Carlsbad Caverns — what a difference from Great Basin that would be!

At the end of the road, in the shadow of 13,000-foot Wheeler Peak, I wanted to take at least a brief hike. I had spent a lot more time chatting with people than I had planned, so I didn’t have a lot of time for a leisurely hike, but that’s a tradeoff I’m happy to make, since I’ve met so many nice, interesting people on this trip. I hiked through bristlecone pines and quaking aspens to the picturesque and peaceful Stella Lake, and much of the trail was covered in snow. I had not expected to be hiking through snow in Nevada. Great Basin may be remote and little-visited, but it’s a gem.

Back on the Route 50, I wanted to get to the town of Delta, Utah, before dark. As I made my way along one of the straightest, flattest stretches of highway I’ve ever driven, it occurred to me again that I could take that one highway all the way across the country and end up darn near my own front door.

I crossed into Utah as the sun set behind me and realized I’d lost an hour, crossing into another time zone, but I was also happy because I’d come one state closer to home.

After my customary breakfast of coffee and oatmeal, I started to head out of town, only to pull over into a parking lot and indulge one of my quirks — my need to say hello to any pugs and their families that I see! Since I’ve been gone from home for 50 — yes, 50! days now — I’m really missing my dogs. So when I saw a family with two pugs walking down the sidewalk in Bishop, I had to pull over and visit. The family very kindly let me pet and fuss over their dogs, Cookie and Sweet Pea, and I shared with them some pictures of our pugs, Sophie and Tippi, and our husky mix, Rocky. I come from a family of pet-owners and animal-lovers, so being away from my canine companions for two months is definitely an adjustment.

I headed out of Bishop on US Route 6, aka the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. In theory, I could actually follow this road all the way across the country and end up at the Atlantic Ocean in Provincetown, Massachusetts. But my plan on US 6 only took me a little beyond the town of Tonopah, Nevada, where I would then continue across the state towards little-visited Great Basin National Park. This would be a day of lots of driving.

As I approached the Nevada state border near Boundary Peak (the highest summit in Nevada, in the White Mountains), I turned off the highway to explore an abandoned casino and motel that had apparently fallen victim to a fire. I spent nearly an hour there, taking pictures and pondering the mysteries of a site that was once a bustling business, turned to rust and ashes. It was a beautiful, crisp morning, and as I drove on into Nevada, I enjoyed the views of the snowcapped White Mountains with sagebrush covered desert foothills below.

From the burnt-down casino:

Drawer of Rust

I am convinced that nothing will give you more appreciation of how immense this country is than driving across it. The empty vastness of the state of Nevada alone is almost overwhelming. The desert has a starkness that lays everything bare and reveals the topography of the land like no other kind of landscape.

I arrived in Tonopah in time to eat some lunch, fill up the gas tank (something you do at every available opportunity in this part of the country), and get caught in traffic behind a parade, for the second time on this trip! This time the occasion was Homecoming for a high school football team apparently called the Muckers. My car was one of the first through the street at the tail of the parade, so we stragglers became de facto parade participants — the spectators along the streets waved and called to us as we passed, which was fun. I didn’t have any candy to throw at the crowds, so I just smiled and gave the “Queen wave” back.

Outside of town, I turned north on Route 376, which puts up a fair fight with Route 50 for the title of the “Loneliest Highway” as it passes through the Big Smokey Valley. It’s very remote, and pretty in it’s own stark way. I glanced at my iPhone at one point and was shocked to find I had four bars, whereas in many towns I’ve been in, I have had absolutely no service at all. AT&T drives me crazy.

I hit Route 50 and headed east, stopping to explore Main Street in the silver mining town of Eureka, and Ray, the very kind owner of the Silver Sky Lodge RV Park, let me photograph some cool old cars and an abandoned hospital on his property.

I continued on to the town of Ely, where I found my campsite for the night. I had a craving for pizza, which a busy, flag-bedecked place called All American Pizza satisfied quite nicely. Bonus: Tomorrow’s lunch!