Crossing the Basin and Range

Sometimes people ask me about the commute.  "It's OK," I say.  "Not too bad; takes about nine hours; a full day, but do-able."  Well, to provide a little more detail:  The commute requires a complete crossing of the Great Basin, from the Sierra Nevada on the west to the Wasatch Plateau on the east.  And, instead of one big basin, most of us know it as "basin and range country," meaning that for every basin you cross, you have a mountain pass to navigate, too.  So, while some people tell me, "you can lash the steering wheel, set the cruise control, and go to sleep" (above), each nap only lasts for 40 to 70 miles because then you need to come off auto-pilot (below).

What the crossing really comes down to is avoiding three things:  Driver drowsiness, road construction, and fauna.  (Each of these is famously described in one of the band's biggest hits.)  If I can stay awake and miss the orange cone zones, I am nearly home free.  But, there are also a lot of animals out there and that is probably the biggest risk.  Ryan told me that he once crossed from Lakeview, OR to Price, UT in one shot, picking off rabbits at rate higher than they could reproduce!  So far, after 25 round trips (50 one way trips!) in the past two years, I feel extremely fortunate to have hit exactly one (1) cow.  At any rate, the worst part of the day is when the sun is about to set (below).  My eyes want to close and the animals want to wander into traffic (such as it is).