The Loneliest Road in America has 4G

8/7/2016

Today’s my least favorite day. Not because it’s Sunday, which is just the precursor to Monday, but because it’s the day I have to say goodbye to the insanity of Hot August Nights. It’s the day I have to say goodbye to my parents and to my friends. It’s the day when I am once again alone on the road. Just me and Jane.

Not that I dislike being alone on the road, of course. I really do like lone wolfing it around the country. But I can’t help but feel a pretty substantial twinge of sadness every time I leave a big classic car area to head back to wherever it is that I came from, because I know that chances are that I won’t see any more classic cars again until the next car show I go to. I don’t know why it is that I like seeing other classics on the road, but it must be something to do with not wanting to feel totally alone in a sea of nearly-alien modern cars.

Anyways, nothing I could do about that feeling, so I enjoyed a last breakfast with my parents, made sure Jane’s fluids were all topped off (looking at you, oil dipstick…) and started the long trek back to Texas. I didn’t really have a particular route in mind but ended up on Highway 50, which has been nicknamed “America’s Loneliest Road” for many years.

Just a giant salt flat

On both sides. No trees, really no bushes, just white.

Some people found some dark rocks and spelled their names out on the side of the road, which was pretty neat. Of course, they may also have been SOS signals that were ignored for years.

Well, it’s really not America's loneliest road. Not anymore, at least. I don’t know if it’s just increased traffic between cities or if tourists come to experience the vast endless wasteland of Nevada, but there were definitely quite a few cars on the road. Hell, the majority of the road even had 4G cell signal! Not terribly lonely…

I stopped first at the Sand Springs Pony Express Station. I actually had no idea that the highway follows the old Pony Express route, but saw a sign for the turnoff and decided to stop by. This particular station wasn’t preserved well (in fact, it got buried under sand for quite a few years), but from what the exhibits said, it pretty much looked like this even when it was a fully functioning station. No roof, sand everywhere, no relief from the sun, no water, no food. What a terrible place.

Pony at the station!

Also a lot of sand

Yep, this is pretty much it...

From there Jane and I headed to Middlegate, which apparently was a Pony Express station named for being the middle of a “gate” between two hills. Incidentally, there is also a Westgate and an Eastgate. Creative. Middlegate has the distinction of still being in operation, though as a local roadhouse instead of a Pony Express station. Real roadhouses are quite rare these days (in fact, I believe this is the first one I’ve ever seen) but they are very cool when you find them! Middlegate features gas (questionable, maybe), a motel, some camping spots, and most importantly a full-service bar. I went inside and found a bunch of locals who apparently come from the “nearby” towns of Fallon and Austin (both of which are more than 40 miles away). They were super nice and told me to take a detour off of “New 50” onto “Old 50”, which is now 722. Since it put me at the same distance away from Austin as just taking “New 50” (important because I needed to find good gas somewhere at some point), I decided to take their advice and take the road less traveled!

Emergency cash reserve stapled to the ceiling?

Man, was that a good idea. For those of you traveling America’s Loneliest Road, make sure you take a detour off onto 722 to get a really actually lonely road with incredible mountain views and canyon driving. Just spectacular! Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures because the roads were curvy and I needed to focus on driving.

Alas, eventually I linked back into plain ole Hwy 50 and kept on my way. At some stop somewhere along the way I met a fellow who was riding a pretty righteous Harley. We chatted for a while at the gas station until the gas station attendant kicked us out, and then parted ways. Never did ask each others’ names. But that’s fine when you’re on the road. You don’t need to know someone’s name to enjoy having a nice conversation with them.

Eventually, the lonely desolate desert turned into a lonely beautiful desert with extraordinary views. There were all of these mountain passes separated by long, flat plains that were a joy to drive through. I would cruise up a mountain, reach the summit, and just see a long pin-straight road stretched out in front of me, beckoning me to the next mountain over. As the sun started to fall, the plains lit up all honey and gold while the crags in the mountains were sharply illuminated by brilliant highlights and deep shadows. It was absolutely incredible.

But first, here's a giant dust devil that almost got my car. It crossed across the road a couple car lengths behind us - really neat to watch, less neat to drive through probably!

Nearest mountain: ???? miles

I am fairly certain that this is a different mountain entirely than in the above picture, though I may be wrong. These images were taken 30 minutes apart if that tells you anything.

Super neat geology with beds outcropping perpendicular to dip! (rocks doing cool rock stuff)

Lovely mountains in the background

Last valley before Baker

I took a couple videos but they are terribly substandard (and the one outside the car is ridiculously loud due to wind noise). Regardless, I’ll put them here… but know that my camera has not been accurately capturing colors today and has been washing everything out. Really, this scenery was all kinds of brilliant colors. Oh well.

The final stretch brought me into Baker, NV, the home of Great Basin National Park. I figured it would be a good spot to stop, make some dinner, camp, and relax. And just about the time that I rounded the corner and saw Baker in the distance is when I remembered that Baker does not have a grocery store. In fact, the nearest grocery store along my route was… Reno. I have no idea how these people live but it must be on canned goods or something. So with no groceries to speak of, I went to a nearby café advertised as “really good” by the campground owner, and enjoyed a book and quite possibly the worst burrito that I’ve ever had. Fortunately all burritos are good, even when they’re bad.

The Harley fellow had set up camp near me when I got back – it was nice to have a kind of “traveling buddy” for a bit! I had a nice quiet night and then went to bed early to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Tomorrow I’ll hike Great Basin and then head on to Utah!