Day 58 -- Mesquite to Tonapah, Nevada -- 260 Miles

Well, today's drive from Mesquite to Tonapah, Nevada through the vast vacancy that is Nevada's Great Basin high desert was beautiful, inspiring, and geologically fascinating. It could have been much more if we had seen the "Extras."

What "Extras" you ask. Well, the Extraterrestrials who are known to hang out on the Silver State's "Extraterrestrial Highway." We set off across Nevada Route 375, the E.H., just after lunchtime today and thereafter we kept a sharp eye out for any suspicious activity, on the road, or around any of the forlorn outposts of possible alternate realities that we passed.

The Extraterrestrial Highway can be reached by driving north from the town of Moapa that lies between Las Vegas and Mesquite, Nevada. From Moapa you'll drive Route 93 until you get to a wide spot in the road that is identified on maps as "Ash Springs." If you're in need of snacks or liquid refreshment, there is a snack shop at Ash Springs. You might want to consider loading up on snacks there. In case of abduction, you'll at least have something to eat during the interstellar journey.

From the Ash Springs junction you will head southwest on Route 318, which marks the beginning of the E.H., and will transition to Route 375 about a half mile later. The full length of the E.H. is about 100 miles and ends when it intersects Nevada Route 6 that runs between Ely and Tonapah.

As far as our experience goes on the Extraterrestrial Highway, we're sad to report that aside from the top two depictions of aliens that we photographed at the aforementioned Route 93 snack shop, we saw no actual aliens today. We did see two dead cows lying in the desert beside the E.H., and this may in fact be evidence of alien activity, but we saw no space ships rocketing by overhead, nor did we see any abnormally short, green hitchhikers.

At one point we caught sight of a couple of cafes that we might have explored to see if any aliens were employed as wait staff or dishwashers, but we were determined to get off the Extraterrestrial Highway before sundown least we end up like the two cows. Who wants to be experimented upon while you're on vacation?

And so we drove and drove and drove and basically saw nothing unusual. But as our interest in alien creatures began to wane, our interest in the surrounding desert correspondingly expanded. In fact, at one point I began to look more closely at the Joshua tree cacti we were passing in ever greater numbers. Initially I was just thrilled to see how healthy and robust the Joshuas appeared.

And then I noticed something else: first, it appeared to me that a great number of the trees appeared to be youngsters, often being only three feet tall and having no branching arms yet; second, the older versions of the trees had what looked to me like weird clusters on their branch ends. Every chance I got I stared at the clusters, wondering what they were.

After a time it occurred to me that the "weird clusters" had to be the resultant seedpods from the Joshua having flowered in the Spring. Unsure whether this was true or false, I consulted Wikipedia and learned that following: "Joshua trees are fast growers for the desert; new seedlings may grow at an average rate of 3.0 inches per year in their first 10 years, then only about 1.5 inches per year thereafter."

"The trunk consists of thousands of small fibers and lacks annual growth rings, making determining the tree's age difficult. The tree has a top-heavy branch system, but also what has been described as a "deep and extensive" root system, with roots reaching down to 36 feet."

"If it survives the rigors of the desert, it can live for hundreds of years; some specimens survive a thousand years. The tallest trees reach about 49 feet. New plants can grow from seed, but in some populations, new stems grow from underground rhizomes that spread out around the parent tree."

"The evergreen leaves are dark green, linear, bayonet-shaped, 6 to 15 inches long, broad at the base, tapering to a sharp point; they are borne in a dense spiral arrangement at the apex of the stems. The leaf margins are white and serrated. Flowers grow in panicles."

"Flowers typically appear from February to late April, in panicles 11 to 20 inches tall and 11 to 15 inches broad, the individual flowers erect, 1.5 to 2.75 inches tall, with six creamy white to green tepals. The tepals are lanceolate and are fused to the middle. The fused pistils are 1 inch tall and the stigma cavity is surrounded by lobes. The semifleshy fruit that is produced is green-brown, elliptical, and contains many flat seeds. Joshua trees usually do not branch until after they bloom (though branching may also occur if the growing tip is destroyed by the yucca-boring weevil), and they do not bloom every year. Like most desert plants, their blooming depends on rainfall at the proper time. They also need a winter freeze before they bloom.

"Once they bloom, the flowers are pollinated by the yucca moth, which spreads pollen while laying eggs inside the flower. The larvae feed on the seeds, but enough seeds remain to reproduce. The Joshua tree is also able to actively abort ovaries in which too many eggs have been laid."

Now that I know about the seed pods, I'm ever so glad that I stopped and hiked into the desert to liberate a couple from a parent plant. I'm going to try getting a few seeds to sprout at home in northern Nevada.

The other thing that we kept an eye out for every time we stopped today to stretch our legs was rocks for Concetta's rock garden. Unfortunately, almost all of the territory through which we traveled, including the Extraterrestrial Highway, was one giant lava field. In every direction as far as the eye could see lay mesas, buttes, and batholiths of bleak volcanic rock. Some folks might like black rocks in their rock garden, but not us. That didn't stop us from continuing to look, but we simply never found anything worth bringing home. The rock pictured was about the only interesting one I saw. I didn't take it, however.

If you're lover of the desert environment as we are, you know that the best thing about traveling there is the multiplicity of colors of the native flora you encounter. Today, every color from soft pinks and reds, to blue-greens, to brilliant yellows lined both sides of the highway. Since it's fall now, the most brilliantly displays are those of the rabbit brush plants in their almost fluorescent yellow hue.

So, that's about it for our trip from Mesquite to Tonapah, Nevada today. We had hoped to find a nice parking spot at one of the casinos that advertised RV spaces, but what we found was a little less than thrilling. They did furnish electric, but the water was disconnected. We didn't even bother to hook up the sewer line since have no water to flush the tank makes a sewer connection less than effective.

Tomorrow we intend to leave Tonapah and head north to Fallon, Nevada on Route 95. From there it's a fairly short run to Carson City. Our fabulous trip ends tomorrow, but when you get out there on the two-lanes and begin to explore this grand and wonderful land of ours, The Happy Wanderers wish you happy travels and exciting adventures.