Although the first leg of the trip wasn't very exiting (actually, it was pretty boring), we had to go to the beginning of Highway 50 to take the first picture. Since it is 45 miles of freeway from the house, it could just as well have been any freeway, but we did get the photo. Jym was there too, but someone had to push the button on the camera.

Leaving home on the second day, we wound our way up the western side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. East of Fresh Pond, the road follows the course of the South Fork of the American River to Echo Summit.

Right after the summit, the road takes a left, and the Tahoe Basin comes into view. The third or fifth pullouts provide the best views. At 1,645', Lake Tahoe is the second deepest in the US and at an elevation of 6,225', it is the highest lake of its size (22 miles by 12 miles wide) in the country.

Leaving the Tahoe area and coming down the east side of the Sierras, the terrain begins to take on the feel of high plains desert. The vegetation thins out and begins to take on the look of desperate survival.

Continuing east past Carson City, we began the trek across the emptiness of central Nevada. There is a stretch of many miles where people engage in a form of ecologically benign graffiti. Along the roadsides, stones are arranged to spell out one's true love, or their views of life, or just a statement for the ages.

Although there were heavy rain showers across Nevada, the road always managed to turn away when we got too close. As a result, we only had to endure an occasional very light sprinkling while riding, and it only rained hard after we had settled in for the night. In Ely, we were already snuggled in when it really dumped a load on the bikes.

Further east, Highway 50 really lived up to it's reputation of 'The Loneliest Road in America'. In fact, it is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the line in a Life Magazine article that brought the road its infamy. Some parts are mind numbingly straight, linked to more straight sections by long gentle bends, with very short sections of mountain curvy bits (over the passes) in between more mind numbingly straight sections! All in all, it is one of our favorite roads!

The first side trip from Highway 50 (of many planned) was to Ann's cousin Barbara and her husband Rich's home, just north of Salt Lake City. A new acquisition was Barbara's dream car - a 'Red Convertible Massarati (by Chrysler)'. Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay long enough for her to chauffeur us around with the top off.

We did, however, spend a day with them at THE Family History Library in Salt Lake. If you are interested in genealogy, it is the destination of pilgrimages. It houses the greatest collection of genealogical records in the world. We were able to add a significant amount of information to our own endeavors.

Leaving the comfort of Rich & Barbara's, we suffered the freeway south to Lehi in order to visit Cabela's, the (self proclaimed) 'Greatest Outfitter in the World'. It is quite a store, and it even has a very large aquarium and several large displays of stuffed North American and African game animals (which are actually pretty well done).

After returning to Highway 50 where we left it, we resumed our way east. In eastern Utah, the terrain changes as the road cuts through the San Rafael Swell, an area of red rock, mesas, and canyons. Most of the area is owned by BLM, and is accessible for exploration - if only we had been on dirt bikes.

A bit further down the road, is the overlook of Devil's Canyon, one of many major canyons in the area. Shortly after this stop, we encountered our first major downpour. We pulled into Green River and waited for the worst of it to pass while we had coffee and added clothing layers.

At Grand Junction, CO, Highway 50 no longer shares the road with Interstate 70 and heads south to Montrose. We again left 50 for a side trip down 550 and passed a huge abandoned mine at Red Mountain - the Idarado Mine which closed in 1978.

The reason for this detour was to visit John, another of Ann's cousins, and Charlotte. They rode up to Silverton to meet us and escort us back down to Durango. We stopped at Molas Pass to stretch and take pictures of the mountains that had surrounded us since Ouray.

At their home at the base of a bluff, we climbed up to the back of their property to get a view of the Animas Valley. A part of the house is barely visible in the trees below us.

After breakfast, we went on a little tour by the college which sits on a bluff that overlooks the town of Durango, which pretty much fills the broad valley.

On a suggestion from John, we returned to 50 by way of Highway 145 (another scenic byway). Along the way, we visited Telluride and passed through Placerville (which is so small that it was closed, it being a Sunday). It was a good thing that we had switched to our winter riding suits, because we did a bad job of avoiding the thunder, lightning, and heavy downpours.

Just east of Montrose on Highway 50 is The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The narrowest section of the gorge (at Chasm View) is deeper (2,722') than it is wide (1,100'). Although it became a National Monument in 1933, it only achieved National Park status in 1999.

Our next side trip was up Highway 285 to Denver to visit Jym's brother Mike and his family. Although half of the ride involved rain and hail, the visit in Denver was delightful. Both Philip & Bree live close so were able to join us for a little while after dinner. The next afternoon, we retraced our path down the senic byway in order to see it without the liquid weather.