History: - Weeks 1-4 Cross Country Week 1-4 - Week 5 Cross Country Week 5 - Week 7 Cross Country Week 7

Where we are now:

• Week 7, part 2
  • Dec 5 - We originally thought to see Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park. But. Wheeler Pass required chains.

When we left for Tahoe a few days ago, we didn't know about the Nevada 511 site.

Today we wanted to see the Great Basin National Park. We wanted to tour the Lehman Caves.

Now that I know about Nevada 511, I checked immediately.

The dashed blue line is the "Chains or Snow Tires" area.

The solid blue line is the alterante route to Washington, UT.

I hit refresh every few minutes until CA said we're going around.

Later in the day (a few minutes before writing this) it downgraded from "Chains or Snow Tires" to "Adverse". The map redrew with yellow instead of blue dashes. This would be a Big Deal if we had to get through to Baker, NV.

The traffic cam on either end of the Wheeler Pass look pretty good. The road is clear. There's minimal snow. The traffic cam at the top of the pass, however, isn't working. So we don't know what it looks like up there.

(Think of how much information I have at my fingertips, and I'm complaining about one traffic cam.)

Adversity is not a thing we look forward to. If this was the only route to Utah, we'd chain up. We did it earlier when we tried to visit Tahoe. It's only 30 miles of winding mountain pass, how bad can it be?

It is not, however, the only route to Utah.

We have a two-wheel drive truck with all-weather highway tires. (P275/55R20, no "M+S".) We are going to nope out on even "adverse" conditions.

Taking the southern route. No Wheeler Pass for us.

Technology Wow Factor

Once upon a time, (10 years ago?) you took your life in your hands driving up there in the winter. You couldn't know. The invention of the 511 traffic recordings was a big deal. The internet, however, is a wow.

All the worlds knowledge on a supercomputer in my pocket.

Next, Southern Utah. Bryce Canyon.