I love you, icthyosaur

I overdid it yesterday running down a mountain in thigh-high snow at 4 degrees and 7000 ft, enough with the bone-dry air already. But we persevere. Cough syrup haze, beautiful day, actual ghost towns, debates over gastrointestinal ettiquette, snowy snow, icthyosaur fossils - prehistoric reptilian whale, rocks, caves, lichens, the most amazing mountain road views, pb&j assembly line, in bed by 8 with the zquil stuff. Berlin, Icthysaur SP, Ione, Calandaria and again in Tonopah, where if you barter for a lower room rate, you pay in towels and tp. Sleeeepy sleep.

Sleeping in a bed.

I'll let you know how it goes.

The loneliest highway

I'm feeling pretty euphoric. We survived the evening. You don't understand, this was quite a feat. We drove from Ely to Tonopah today and did a fairly amazing hike to try to find a ghost town called Newark which, as it turned out, was covered in snow. being 6000 feet above sea level and thigh deep in snow eventually took it's toll and we turned around and headed back, facing an amazing view of a really beautiful valley all the way to the car. We then drove to the next town to eat lunch and plan. We museumed it up and ate mining town sized sandwiches. Deciding to make Tonopah our home base for the night we headed out just as it was getting dark. Now, getting to the harrowing part: We decided one of the really great ghost towns circled on our map (that happen to be on the way) would be way more rad at night. Roughly 30 minutes later we found ourselves 12 miles down a poorly plowed gravel road. There was no way to turn around, even if we were able to get going the other direction there would have been no way to get back up the mountain we just drove down. We had to keep going. I feel the need to mention my lack of confidence in our rented GMC good for nothing, front wheel drive, piece of shit. Erin did a terrific job of not letting it go off a cliff and for that I'm grateful. When it was realized no one was breathing, we decided to stop at a fork in the road and reassess our directions and consult the compass. It was at this time that I saw, arguably, the most beautiful scene I've ever seen. The moon lit up the entire valley, words can not describe. I did have a small chat with the cosmos on our current predicament and when I shook off the awe of the scene and reconvened with the group they had a promising direction and a new way out. Belmont (ghost town of the evening) was amazing and we made it out alive without having to seriously debate weather if we got stuck in the snow to stay in the car or walk back to keep from freezing to death in single digit temperatures. Tonight we chose the least rapey motel, though, the bathroom does looks like a future murder scene and the artwork is adhered to the wall with a screw going through the velvet canvas.

Johnny Appleseed of diarrhea.

Who is this mysterious camper? Have these public bathrooms not been cleaned since the 70s? What did you eat to get that kind of projection? These are my questions when I walk into a national campground to find the bowl, floor, and wall completely covered in shit I'm less angry, more impressed. Cheers to you buddy. I will just continue to shit in the woods.

Cave bacon

And it begins

"I'M GONNA GO OFF-ROAD HIKING!!!"
Beth

Ely

We caught up on each others' lives during the 3-hr drive by interrupting and yelling over each other and giggling. Nevada is really pretty; looking forward to seeing more of it in daylight. We bought groceries at a Mexican market and had a surprisingly tasty meal at our hotel restaurant casino. Beth lost a dollar gambling at the airport while we waited for Kelly. That was boring so no more of that. Snow on the ground and more expected tomorrow may interfere with navigation, but it's not like we have to be anywhere.

On that note, I set an alarm on my phone to remind us to return to Ely on the 30th so we know when to go home. The desert can do strange things to you. Kelly was also put in charge of knowing what day it is. The rest of us don't want to know, we just want to know that someone knows.

Beth is shown here practicing good headlamp ettiquette: when someone addresses you while you are wearing a headlamp, kindly do not turn and look at them.