The Loneliest Road?

Last month I drove US 50 across Nevada. This highway is called "The Loneliest Road" and indeed it only passes through two towns in 250 miles between Ely and Fallon...Eureka and Austin, neither boasting more than about a thousand people. Still, it's by no means devoid of traffic. I ran some counts and generally encountered about one vehicle per mile. This was about twice as much traffic as I saw on highways on the edge of the Australian outback...not even back of Bourke. This is a typical scene on the highway...lots of mountains and lots of sagebrush. You alternate going over the mountains...they're oriented N-S and the road runs E-W...and racing over the sage flats in between the ranges.

Pinyon pines and juniper prevail in the mountains. The trees are cool and gnarly.

There are sand dunes along the highway too. Whoops! Uh, these particular dunes are not along US 50 but are on the beach in southern San Mateo county. They are actually only a few feet high. Blow up the pic and check out the wind ripples. There are big dunes along US 50 that are used by ORVs.