Highway 6 (Ely to Tonopah)

So I drove the 66 miles from Great Basin to Ely, a drop in altitude from 7500 feet to 6400 feet and spent the night.  And again, of course, it's snowing.  I spent the night at a travel center/Chevron in the dirt lot behind and watched the snow fall, not giving any thought to my slides being out or my satellite dish being up.  Not one of my smarter moments.  I'm calling 511 all night for the road conditions and being thankful they were downgraded from chains needed to winter driving conditions, and checking the lot to be sure the snow doesn't get too deep to drive out, but never gave a thought to the snow accumulating on the top of my slides.

In the morning, I can't bring in my slides or lower my dish.  The snow that fell was very wet and heavy and now I have a problem.  What to do?  I can't wait out the weather and hope the snow melts because three more days are forecast and the high is 40 degrees.

After I quit kicking myself, I walked out to the man plowing the parking lot and asked for his help.  He went to get his boss and after we all discussed options, they got a ladder and a snow scraper and cleared my slides so I could bring them in.  They also managed to get enough snow away from the dish so I could lower it most of the way, enough to drive.  Several times in the years I have been full time I have had "angels" come into my life to help me.  This was one of those times.  I have really been very lucky.

Although I haven't seen the rest of Highway 50 yet, I'm thinking maybe Highway 6 should be the Loneliest Highway.  There is nothing!  It is 178 miles from Ely to Tonopah and no services.  You better have a full tank when you head out.  There weren't even other cars traveling either way.

I had to cross two summits, one at 7100 feet and the other at 7700 feet, but when I was past them the weather warmed up to the low 50s, all the snow melted from my vehicles, and the sun was shining.

Although there is a cold wind, with rain predicted for tomorrow, the forecast is for 60 degrees the rest of the week.  I'm staying here for a few days!