We drove over to the Venetian and then walked around the Strip for a few hours.  The Strip was unlike I had ever seen it – literally bare.  We got back in the car and stopped by Walmart to load up on water and protein in case we got stranded somewhere. Then we headed towards Death Valley National Park (video) .  The park is in a phased re-opening so some of the sites like Badwater Basin and Devil’s Golf Course, we were unable to see.  However driving on CA-190 was surreal.  It is so expansive and the scenery is amazing.  We stopped at Zabriskie Point and made the short hike to the top. Truly amazing views.  It looked as if you were on top of the The Badlands in South Dakota.

After spending several hours in the park, we started our trek NE towards US-50 – The Loneliest Road in America. Knowing we were driving through Nevada, we were paying attention to our gas as gas stations are hundreds of miles apart.  Unfortunately we got too wrapped up and noticed that we had 98 miles to empty.  We then passed a sign that said next gas 113 miles.  The decision was made to turnaround and backtrack 50 miles to the last station which added another 90 minutes to our drive.  We are now setting alerts every hour when driving. Normally having almost 100 miles to empty isn’t a problem, but in Nevada, it is a major issue. Trevor took over the driving at this point.

We arrived into Ely, Nevada around 8p.  After a small issue with the hotel, we ordered a pizza and turned in for the evening.