November 14, 2023 Day 38 Kanab Utah to Ely Nevada 284 miles
Today is sunny but cold. We filled the car with gas and headed out about 9:00 am. We have a long driving day today.
The first hurdle was a very large mountain between Kanab and Cedar City. The road was long and slow both up and down. The grade was up to 8%. A couple of switch backs were also there. Near the top there were patches of snow along the side of the road. In another spot large icicles hung from the rocks. Also at the top were patches of old lava flows. The elevation at the top was 9910 feet. We have not unpacked our heavy winter coats yet. But there is still time.
Once we got down the wind picked up. We could have done without that. Sometimes it was from the side and sometimes from the front. We never have a tail wind. A small field of solar panels were just outside Cedar City. Nothing like the ones from earlier.
A large dark colored deer bounded across the road in front of us. Best guess was a mule deer. Don’t know if the season is open here. Farm country goes for a few miles before the desert takes over.
Hoorah here comes Nevada. We had yet another mountain to go over. The elevation at the top was 6719.
Lunch was at the gas station in Panaca Nevada. That is the first community passed Cedar City. That is the only place to eat in town according to the high school students that came there for lunch. I am guessing that was the entire high school population. Maybe a count of twenty.
Now the road is extremely straight and there is nothing but sage brush to look at. We did go over another summit of 6180. Sure glad no moisture is falling because it would be snow. Saw several signs saying snow tires and chains required. We do actually have tire chains in the car.
Off in the distance are some 30 windmills. We did not have to see the windmills to tell that we had another headwind.
We had one more mountain to climb. We passed another vehicle while going up the mountain. That is extremely rare. The summit elevation was 7720. Then it was straight and basically flat into Ely. We arrive about 4:30. Yea, no night driving today.
We ran without a spare tire today. Only two more days of driving left on this trip. If we have a flat, Rob will have to patch it on the road. He said that he has had enough practice on this trip. He also said that he is going to buy some better knee pads to bring along next time.
Spoffords Travel 