Don,

I actually kinda enjoy the drive from Austin to Battle Mountain.  At least
there are a few grades, turns, and vegetation.  And the best darned Basco
chorizo sausage in the world comes from the little store in BM.

I think BM is on I-80, BTW, which is a pretty darned boring road through
that area, too.

Karl Wolz

|   So I recently re-traced one of our courses...Austin, on highway 50 up to
|Battle Mountain on I-70...about 100 miles, more or less  It took us about
|2.5 hrs in my Vanagon.   We ran that course (The Pony Express Open Road
|Race) in my 90 GT 928 Porsche in the Supersport class with a target speed
|of
|165mph and that meant our target time for the same course was about 36
|minutes....A lot more fun at that speed and I don't think I missed any
|'scenery' even though at that speed you only have about 20-odd seconds to
|see each mile ...
|
|  But in the Van, I just endure the boring parts of the drive and travel at
|65 or so.  I always  attempt to find alternate routes.  The trouble is
|there
|aren't enough alternatives up and down the west coast or east/west across
|the western deserts...been over them all dozens of times.  I choose 395
|when
|weather permits...but it's still boring south of Bishop...I need Scotty to
|beam me down from Bishop to La Paz...me and my van..
|  Don Hanson