Day 69: Winnemucca to Chemult in "Starship Mini"

Monday, November 5th

(Remember, to see a larger version of the photos, "click" on them).

We spent the night in Winnemucca, Nevada... not much here unless you are a gambler... and then there still is not much I am guessing...

As we drove through the Nevada desert (Still lots of very flat land), we spotted many of these wild burros along the road... Deb thought they were real cute...

This is some of the desert flora at one of the rest stops... it was next to a fresh water spring that we used to fill our water bottles...

After an 87 mile drive on a road that only had one slight bend and one other car (Lil loved this stretch of road), we finally reached Oregon... sheesh... do you think we could put up a fancier sign... this is one to be proud of!

On our way to Lakeview for lunch, we spotted a huge herd of pronghorn antelope...

some beautiful high desert country...

A Big-Horned Owl...

and some deer...

After a very nice lunch in an antique store and deli located in Lakeview, we headed up the canyon towards Crater Lake National Park... we followed this river for quite awhile...

We arrived at the rim of Crater Lake just as the sun was slipping down over the horizon... the park was deserted for the winter and we were the only ones there... it was so still and quite that it was almost unsettling... the lake was like a mirror... it was just like the night we spent at the Grand Canyon... not even a hint of a breeze...

But it was perfect for photography... so I took out my tripod and settled in for an hour or two of evening shots... Here is a panarama that I took at out first stop...

Here is another that I took at another spot about 30 minutes after sunset...

I stayed until long after sunset in order to get a few shots of the stars reflecting in the lake...

This is a shot of Starship Mini's landing lights illuminating the lake...

Finally, my favorite... this is a shot looking out the moon roof of Starship Mini... the interior was lit by the glow of the GPS navigation system during this 30-second exposure of the galaxy beyond... this photo is not "photoshopped" but is real-time fans...

Because we didn't realize that the lodge was closed for the winter, we took a very precarious ride back down the mountain looking for gas and lodging... fortunately, we found a gas station that was closed but we were able to pump gas anyway (don't tell the fire marshal), or we would have been sleeping along the side of the road... the next gas station was beyond the range of our reserve tank! We found a nice "Down Home Style" restaraunt and motel in Chemult where we spent the night... the motel was not the greatest but the food was tasty and plentiful!