Today I realized just how crazy what I’m doing is. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to pack up my car with everything I own and drive 40+ hours, but [despite the warnings] I didn’t think through how grueling this would be. But I’m glad I went through with it after all because, well, I always like having a story to tell. 
The plan for today was to reach Denver, one of the main destinations of the trip. I left the isolated town of Tonopah at 7am PST and again headed east through the Central Nevada desert on Highway 6, a.k.a. The Great Basin Highway. This time I could see the roads, as it was now light out, but even then there were little signs of life. For about 100 miles I had no FM radio signal, no cell phone reception, and I saw only a handful of cars—maybe one every 10 minutes. Interestingly though, I did pass a military weapons testing range. There were no rest stops and no gas stations until I finally reached the small town of Ely, NV. I don’t think I was ever so happy to find a McDonald’s. 
After leaving Ely, I would then experience the same roughly 100 mile drought again until reaching the town of Delta, UT. All throughout each remote stretch I just kept hoping that I wouldn’t run out of gas or break-down—because there really wasn’t any way to get help. But of course everything turned out fine since I’m writing this now.
Highway 6 became Highway 50 (in Utah) and then eventually Highway 70 (in Colorado). After passing through the small towns of Salina City, UT, Green River, UT, and Parachute, CO every couple hours, eventually I reached a populated city—Aspen, CO—about 11 hours after originally leaving Tonopah. Up through Aspen I was very fortunate to have encountered great weather and great scenery the entire day. In fact, I saw [quite literally] nothing but blue skies, white puffy clouds, and the mountain side in each state. The only difference in each place was the color of the mountains. In Nevada the setting was desert-like, as the mountains were sandy and barren-looking. In Utah, however, the mountains were greener and more colorful. And in Colorado, the setting was the greenest and most beautiful of all—especially at Aspen.
After Aspen, though, things got a little rough. Road construction and lane closures added time to the drive. And then I encountered a lightning and heavy rain storm. I pressed on through it, but that was a lot harder to do on the sloping and twisting highways of Colorado. Then my phone died. I tried very hard to overcome the problems and still make it to Denver in time for Monday’s Rockies-Padres game (including hitting 100 on the speedometer for the first time haha), but in the end nature and traffic just did not allow for it. I arrived at the baseball stadium when the game was pretty much over. But fortunately the same two teams are playing again Tuesday night, so I’ll get another chance.