Sunday April 3, 2022

I continued a further 240 miles along Route 50 today, entering Utah and the Mountain time zone. The drive was varied, mainly scenic but, if anything, more lonely than in Nevada. The only tourist destination along the route was Great Basin National Park but I decided not to visit.

2021 saw record visitations for many National Parks due to covid and the National Park Service is introducing new ways to control the flow of visitors by requiring online advance purchase or registration for some parks and activities. Great Basin NP has two main attractions – Wheeler Peak, a 13,065 feet (3,982 m) mountain with a scenic drive and Lehman Caves. Cave tour tickets are available online but, when I went to purchase, were sold out and only the lower quarter of the Wheeler Peak Scenic drive is open due to the season.

This is the view I got of Wheeler Peak from Route 50 and I figured it would be the best view I would get today.

Below are a few other road views I was able to get from pullouts that give an impression of the drive.

There was a less scenic section in the middle that was mainly flat but I could always see mountains in the distance.

Since I only stopped to take photos I arrived quite early at my hotel and was planning to experiment with mounting the Sony camera I use for my photos on the dash-cam mount and controlling it with an app on my phone. This way I would be able to get photos of the view even where there is no pullout available to stop. However, those plans went into the trash when I returned to my car from checking in and, within a few yards, realized my front right tire was flat as a pancake. I jacked the car and put the spare wheel on right in front of hotel reception.

My spare is the small donut type that cannot be driven at speed so I found my room and went online to look for a tire shop. Being a Sunday meant that only Walmart was open but, when I drove there, they were closing early due to staffing shortages and could not do anything today. I have made an appointment at 8 AM tomorrow at a tire repair place just a few hundred yards from the hotel and hope that replacing or repairing the tire will not take too long and I can keep to my schedule. However, I am so pleased that the puncture occurred where it did and not on the open road where there was often no cell service.