Travel to Reno, NV from Salt Lake City

Leaving Salt Lake City west on I-80, you drive past the airport, around the south end of the Great Salt Lake, and then for miles on the former "Bonneville Lake" bed. It was the prehistoric precursor of the Great Salt Lake. The flat turned from tan to snow white and I thought it was snow as it turned abruptly as in a line of snow. We drove and it continued. We passed a Corvette out in it, sunk up to his axles. He must have thought he was at the Bonneville Salt Flats Speedway, which we passed about 40 miles further on. There was a Hummer trying to pull it out, but with little success. My truck may have had better results, but we had the fifth wheel attached and this was on an Interstate, not a good place to be trying to tow someone out from the highway. Just before the terrain changed we did pull off and see if it was snow, as by now we were not sure what it was, so I took a piece and tasted it and it was pure salt. It is amazing how much salt there was in places between Salt Lake City and the Nevada border. When we reached Nevada, there was the state line sign and a casino sitting right on it. The parking lot was in Utah, and the casino was built on the edge of the state line, no time wasted to get busy gambling. Every gas station we saw was also a miniature casino. Soon we saw billboards for the Mustang Ranch. David and I thought it would be a good experience to visit it, but then figured it would look strange for us to stop, look around and then leave, so we kept going.
We drove 9 hours today and arrived at Reno just as it got dark. The temperature was 28 degrees. While in Sandy, UT, we had temps of 80 in the day and near 55 at night to 45 in the day and 30 at night. David and I both have sore throats, probably due to the dry air and the wide temperature swings we have experienced on this trip. Some of the swings involve elevation as we have gone from Collierville at 400 foot above sea level to 7000 foot on the way to the Grand Canyon, then down to 3,000 feet, and back up to 6000, to 4500 at Salt Lake City, then back up to 6000 and tonight at 4000. Next we will go through Sacramento, CA and on to San Francisco which is near sea level. David wants to visit Yosemite National Park too on the way, but that too is off the planned path so we will have to reason on it, as at this rate we may not make it to Alaska till July, and have to turn around and come back. One has to set limits on the rabbits chased off the path...