10-29-18 (Lk_Lahontan)

Great Basin cottonwood, Populus fremontii . On the edge of Lahontan Reservoir, on the Carson Reservoir in western Nevada. Wave action from the high water level in spring 2017 has nearly toppled this tree! The reservoir is now low due to the end-of-season drawdown.

A.k.a. Nevada State Route 439, USA Parkway. Looking northwest. This is a new highway linking the tiny burg of Silver Springs with the Reno-Tahoe Industrial Park on Interstate 80. The highway is so new, in fact, that it's just sketched in to the Google map! The Reno-Tahoe Industrial Park's claim to fame is that it's the site of the Tesla gigafactory, making batteries for the eponymous cars. The park's developers built USA Parkway off I-80 a few years back, and then persuaded the state, not just to take it over, but to extend it 12 miles to intersect with US 50 at Silver Springs! Previously there wasn't so much as a Jeep road this way. So we'll see how it works out--