Today we went from Ely to Baker, NV. It was our last stretch on US 50...for now. It turns out that Baker is right next to the Great Basin National Park. The elevation in Baker is about 5200 ft, but at the top of Wheeler Peak in the park is over 12,000 ft. We took a drive up to the trails and overlooks near the top. The short 12 miles drive took us up to 10,200 ft. We took a walk around to see the Bristlecone Pine trees. They are 2,000 - 3,000 years old! The oldest trees in the world! The temp at the top was about 65 F...the high in Baker was about 92 F. It was a nice drive and a nice walk around.
Today the kids got haircuts. See before and after:
This gas station was just a set of pumps and a soda machine.
Great Basin National Park:
Thank you Andrew for playing with the kids for a while!!
From John:
Today's ride started with a long flat into the wind. We came across a few signs for abandoned silver ghost towns. I enjoyed the one that was "a rather lawless town that had regular killings. However, justice was carried out swiftly by the vigilante committee and the hanging rope". Ironically, we passed a prison right down the road. Our first climb was great and winding. The decent was about 15 miles into a valley filled with wind turbines. We met Rebecca soon after this and for a nice lunch. From there we went to the most kick in the butt climb I've ever had to deal with. The entire way it never appeared that we were climbing more than one or two percent because the terrain was wide open and everything sloped up with the road. It was a slow grinding climb up about 2000 feet. 
The view at the top was incredible as we saw the four primary peaks of the Great Basin National Park. This decent was incredibly fast and fun and we are able to coast nearly all the way to Baker Nevada! While I have many mixed impressions on US Highway 50, I can say our last day on the stretch was really fantastic.
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