Day 24, Wednesday, October 16, Walker Lake, either Nevada or California - who cares? - 5010 miles, and we are heading back from the moon.

What an absolutely fantastic day it was, a 10 all around. How many 10s have i had on this trip, 18? The rest have been all 9s. I must have done something to deserve this.

The day started out again cold, very cold. We were high up, is the reason. I took my sweet tine breaking camp, willing to make the inevitable tradeoffs. As it turned out, there were none.

I already posted about the stunning drive all day, so i will not elaborate again here .

We got on the road at 1015 - yes, to Pete Seger's This Land is Your Land, a daily ritual - and then to Red Rover Rock, which is great music to drive by through such terrain as we pass through. Twenty eight miles up the road we did come to another campground (the last till 3:59), but it was unclear how far away it was from the road, or if it was open, so my decision to camp at Willow Creek was the correct one. It pays to have and follow rules, and your intuition, although sometimes it takes me time and thought to reach an informed decision.

At one point on the trip i saw that we were only 26 miles away from Donner Lake, where we tried to camp last year, but it was closed for the season by then. if it was open now, i would entertain the thought of not making my 250 miles today and camping there. I called the camp - the campgrounds were closed, so we drove on. Just as well. Last year, Donner drank some of the water there and three days later at the Grand Canyon had to be hospitalized 100 miles away with a serious case of colitis, which really was not fully cured until literally the day before this trip.

I already posted about the Defender's landing on the moon today, so i will not elaborate again. While many vehicles have reached or surpassed the same milestone, few, if any, have gone where that Defender dared venture, and returned to tell the story.

I also already posting about our good fortune in ending up where we are tonight. And what a spectacular site it is. Assuming all goes well tonight, it stands to rank up there with the best of the, what, 400 some odd places i have pitched my tent in on these ten road trips.

Tomorrow, we will hope to get to Death Valley. We already have a site reserved there so i do not have to go though the hassle of finding one. We will stay there for four or five nights and do some exploring of that park, including a lot of rough dirt roads to get to some of the more interesting places. I hope to get a photo of the Defender at the lowest place in North America to place next to the photo of the Defender and Denali, the highest point. But the peak season started yesterday, so there will be crowds.

After Death Valley, the plan is to drive to Zion National Park for two nights, then the north rim of the Grand Canyon for two nights, and then to Arches National Park in Moab, before getting on the I-70 for the 2000-mile dreaded drive home from there. Fortunately, i know those routes so i know where all the camps are, or Day 6 motels east of the Rockies if the weather does not cooperate.

Time to hit the sleeping bag. I can hear the road beckoning me already.


Ed and Donner, from the road

P.S, Once again, i apologize for any composition errors in this message. I just do not have time or battery to edit it into my usual literary masterpieces.

Photo.... We are camped where i put the yellow X, but on the beach. You can see how crowded it is. I can see on RV i did not see before (drats, there goes my solitude), and that is it. And it's free.