Highway 50: The Loneliest Road
Thursday - 27 June 2002: Carson City, Nevada
- Which is how we found ourselves in Carson City. We gained an hour
yesterday, so woke early (even for us) and hit the road. This was only the
fourth time on this trip we have "over-nighted". We are getting better - we
used to hop from one place to another. Now we take a day or two (or five) to
explore. Or you can read it as "there are a lot of golf courses in Carson
City, Nevada", because we have booked in for three nights. In Ely, there
seemed nothing to linger over. But, Ely does seem to have something planned
for the 4th of July. They are running an antique steam engine train up into
the hills. Passengers will have a gourmet dinner and a sky-wide view of the
fireworks.
Today was going to be a driving day. Heading west on 50 - The Lonesome Road.
The long days on the road are more enjoyable for me now since the purchase
of a short footstool. It helps keep my stubby gams from dangling all day. We
went over a series of mountain passes, all around 7- to 8000 feet in
elevation, where the hillsides were covered in juniper and pinyon and then
the road dropped to a sage brush valley - miles wide. We did this all day.
Up and down. We saw a small group of Pronghorn Sheep (American Antelope) and
several "ruins" - old stone shacks made by early settlers. The only town of
any size at all on the Lonesome Road is Eureka. Eureka seems to be a
thriving community. A lot of work is going on downtown to restore old
buildings - giving the quaint downtown area an "old west" feel.
We stopped at the half-way point in Austin. Austin is 12 miles from the
geographical center of Nevada. We stopped because there was a place to park
in front of the post office and I had my usual stack of postcards. The
Austin Postmistress was very friendly, dressed in a patriotic American flag
print shirt, had a good supply of 23-cent postcard stamps and told us not to
miss the soft-serve at the Toiyabe Cafe next-door. It didn't take more than
that to convince us... even though it was only 11 am.
Outside of Fallon, we came across Sand Mountain - a huge sand dune in the
middle of the sage brush. Just past Sand Mountain, the Loneliest Road in
America crosses through a dry lake bed. Here you can stop to make a call
where a State highway sign offers: The Loneliest Phone Booth. Along this
stretch of road, hundreds and hundreds of people have written their names
and messages with stones diagrammed-out on the white sand. Fallon is home to
the Naval Air Station where the Top Gun pilots train. I did not see Tom
Cruise. Fallon is another farming and ranching community. They have all the
major chain fast-food shops, a new The Wal-Mart and, no doubt, many handsome
men with short hair. There is a huge reservoir west of town to supply water
for the crops. I saw mostly hay and feeder corn. We stopped for a picnic
lunch at the reservoir. Lahontan State Park has camping, fishing, swimming,
boating and picnicking. We saw a flock of huge American White Pelicans,
herons, sea gulls, gold finch and hundreds of swifts. During lunch, we could
occasionally hear the Top Gun's flying - but never did spot a plane.
Lahontan State Park
Pelicans at Lahontan State Park - and a view from the dam
After arriving in Carson City and checking into our RV
Resort/Hotel/Casino/Bowling Center/Steak House - Pinon Pines RV Resort - we
made a quick drive through town to plot our activities and, of course,
stopped at The Wal-Mart to replenish our bottled water supply - it is like
we have become sponges here in the desert. We stopped at a local grocer for
produce and found beautiful cherries for $1.99 - IF you had their "card". If
you did not have the card they were about $3,000 per pound. We now have the
card. Our Safeway card works at all the Von stores we find here in the
Southwest, and our Smith card will work at about 6 other chains down here.
Beer was $8 with the card, $12 without... what a racket.
RV Park: Pinyon Pines RV Resort - which is now the
Gold Dust.
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