Across the Great Basin

The Great Salt Lake Basin....under the blazing sun and into the brilliant white reflection from the salt, folks walk out to test its substance.  I could not stand the burning rays more than a few minutes.   On the way, we had passed at least two cars that had ventured off the highway to test their ability to drive on its surface.  Both were immediately mired in sand beneath of hard baked surface....we gave them a "tsk, tsk" as we sped by on the paved surface. 

But, then, beyond this flat land drive, the western hills emerge.  Nevada that funny antithesis of Mormon Utah...maybe not funny, maybe sad, to judge from the faces of slot machine players early the next morning in Elko.  After getting my own smart phone, I could sympathize easier with those folks who seemed frozen, visually stupified, by the rolling lights, the loud "ching, ching", the constant stimulation, the jarring lights of the uncrowded casinos.  So much to occupy the neural pathways...so many synapses to load at one time...so many ways to lose active consciousness.