Messers Rand and McNally:
Sirs,
Although I count myself a lifelong admirer of your excellent, accurate and informative maps and, indeed, have relied upon them in many a life or death situation, I feel duty bound to point out a rather glaring mistake in your most recent ‘Road Atlas’ as you now seem determined to call it, although why escapes me as ‘Map’ has served the world perfectly well for hundreds of years - but I digress. The glaring mistake I refer to is in the naming of Scenic Routes.
I recently used your otherwise excellent MAP to plan an alternative route in order to avoid one of the afore-mentioned life or death situations along a designated Scenic Route. According to your good selves there was nothing noteworthy about the route I chose (95 then 6 in Western Nevada) which, under the circumstances, was well suited to my motoring needs, having recently been subjected to an over-stimulation of my Last Nerve.
Well, Sirs, I beg to disagree. Far from the boring yet soothing road your map indicated, this route through the valley between two mountain ranges was nothing short of spectacular. Indeed, I risked the life and limbs of my perfectly serviceable husband on several occasions to capture photographic evidence of your glaring mistake (see below.) I expect you to amend your map post-haste and will be forwarding to you the bill from my Nerve Doctor.
Your hitherto dedicated admirer,
Trailer Trash Mama
But oh the freaking traffic!!!
ReplyDeleteI know! Another reason to take “the road less travelled”.
DeleteIs that Walker Lake? In any case, the photograph is spectacular.
ReplyDeleteMy Auntie Anita and Uncle Jack used to live out on their stead near Lake Topaz due east of you on the California border. Once I brought my 17 1/2" Dobsonian reflector telescope there and was amazed at how dark the sky was. So much so that it was difficult to see the constellations against all these otherwise normally dim stars that came out to compete with the main stars with their own brilliance. Have you had a chance to see the stars up there at your altitude, yet? I advise you let your eyes get used to the dark sky, and the stars will astound you--to me they actually seem to get closer, an optical illusion, no doubt.
It looks like you are going East into parts I've never been--this is exciting. More!! :) So many places where man has not walked for a very long time, if ever, out this way.
I figure you are at around 6000 feet out your way in starkly beautiful country. I like the noticeably darker blue sky. Also, if you have polarized glasses and are outside on a clear day, you can hold one of the glasses lens up to an eye and rotate the lens--in this way you can see which angle the sky (and the sky, alone) darkens, and any clouds will stay at the same brightness. If you want to take a photograph and have the clouds really stand out, try putting a polarized filter (even one of your polarized sunglasses' lens) in front of the camera lens at the angle you find best. It's a thought; might produce some interesting differences in the photographs. Also, you can remove a lot of glare off of water using polarized sunglasses. Again, to test this, rock your sunglasses clockwise and counterclockwise to see the effect.
These photographs are well composed. I really like them.
The last photo shows what looks like the makings of a lenticular (lens-shaped) cloud. They are popular over peaks at high altitude in this part of the country. One does not fly near them. I remember Atmospheric Sciences was a popular degree at the University of Nevada, Reno, a high-altitude school.
Also, water boils at 202 or so degrees F up there. I wonder how that affects your cooking?
Jim, you know so much! I feel like you should be our other guide. Thanks for all the interesting facts and your personal recollections. They add to the story!
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