Ignoring the know-everythings of the internet [Trump Won, Derek Chauvin is the Real Victim, Plantation Capitalism is way better for you than Disney Pickle Corndogs and the Police are always Nice] we slid into a water-depleted April weekend at Wall Spring with

early onset dust storms,

geese of a morning,

dogs in the waters [don’t even ask what it’s like when they emerge and roll in the dirt**] and

a backhoe after lunch; AAA out to begin Rerouting the Waters

which, as can be seen, sorely need it.

Monday I went in to Gerlach for gas, left 34 at

Three Mile and saw no one.

The new truck seems all there; even its well-regarded [as per internet] tires ought to work fine at least until they begin having flats. Exited desert at Trego, totally dry, the only sign of man

a campsite in the distance and after that no one until past Hycroft, then a grader trailing

a water truck before Jungo and a similar setup crossing Desert Valley.  A tanker inbound and

a hay hauler headed to California were the only other sightings in the two hours it took to Winnemucca where the hardware store was adamantly unmasked but not the supermarket.  After half an hour of errands, an hour’s wait outside the DMV and half an hour sorting out

the new registration it was 80 to Mill City for gas [in the spirit of “only run off the top half of yr tank”] and from there to Gerlach saw only one vehicle on the frontage road and a big WP

utility truck coming down from Imlay Summit, where I stopped for lunch. The only other sign of humans aside from scattered mining detritus between lunch and Trego was a new sign for

“Three Peaks Ranch” [chain across dirt track wandering away to the north] and an abandoned stock trailer on a flat patch of dirt. On the playa one distant vehicle was spotted

veering off for Frog Ranch and an anomalous herd of various small sedans which started

up from Three Mile en masse as I slowed down to pull off onto 34 where two guys on bicycles were pedaling towards town…and I home at three, well-fried from the wind. Next morning the right rear tire was flat. Ok, in former times a person would soldier on with two spares, patching and repairing but around here no one does that anymore and it’s no longer worth taking the chance, not anymore. Time to renew the Yokohama Geolander subscription.

 

 

*KAFU; Keep America Fucked UP!…seems to be the New MAGA mantra. Just ask Marj ‘n’ Matt…and Tex Crude, of course.

**Very like Disney Pickle Corndogs, but hairier.