Day 51: Winnemucca, NV Elevation: 4,320

Miles:  55.95
Average Speed:  11.19
Max Speed:  25.35
Total Miles:  1,810

Very good ride today - left early, overcast, cool, little wind, 3 breakfasts, some interesting views.

All these depressed towns are becoming very depressing.  Maybe it's my perception, or perspective, but the people look run down, beat up.  There are very few homes, just decrepit trailers and RVs.  These places aren't communities, they're more like transient labor camps, thrown up to develop whatever resource is presenting - community development is nonexistent - in sharp contrast to community development projects in El Salvador.  We develop, exploit, resources and human capital is only valuable to the extent it aids that exploitation - it's disposable.  And of course all these resource extraction operations are controlled by corporations that extract the wealth as well as the resource and they will exploit it to extinction and pay the transient workers enough for them to live in camps - no real home, no neighborhood, no schools - just the ability to move to the next "strike".  It's like The Grapes of Wrath - there are millions on the move.  Have we progressed?

Morning light is best - few miles west of Battle Mountain

Again

Looks like it could rain ahead - rode through a few sprinkles a few hours later

Holy Smokes!  It's a solar inversion - this is indeed a strange land

?????

The changing light turns these mountains enchanted

Again

Initial climb to Golconda Summit about 5 miles away

Last pass in Nevada - only one more

Unique, at least relative to what I've seen, formation.  This is across the road from the hamlet of Golconda in the valley immediately west of the pass.  Golconda, according to the locals, means 'town of gold' in some South African dialect.  A South African mining company called Adelaide found gold near here and named the town after one of the same name in SA.  No one remembers when all that occurred.  I had my third breakfast of the day here - one of the best of the entire trip.

Do you see the guy on horseback?  He just moved a group of cattle now out of the frame to the right

Tomorrow I'll try for Lovelock depending on a really early start. 

Keep the comments flowing - very entertaining.