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Wed, 30 May
We took the day off from traveling, as we were all tired of the road and setting up and taking down campers. The four of us had a big breakfast together, thank you Bob and Gena for that. Then I spent the morning doing laundry. Afterwards, Kerry and I went to Gardnerville, NV, to visit his cousin Jerry and his wife, Barbara. It was a pretty drive down to their house and they have wonderful vistas from all windows. We had a nice visit and a delicious lunch.
When we got back to the campground, we picked up Gena and went to Walmart to do some shopping. Afterwards Gena stayed with Milo and Bob walked over the casino next door with Kerry and me. We played a few slots, then got two of their pizzas and took them back to the campground for supper. After stuffing ourselves on pizza, Gena, Kerry and I went back to the casino to contribute a little more money to their coffers. Gena doesn’t do it right, she came back with $2.70 more than she took.
Thurs, 31 May
We left Carson City heading east on Highway 50, dubbed
Kerry, Barbara and Jerry
We enjoyed our visit with cousins. “The Loneliest Road in America” by Life Magazine in 1986. We filled our gas tanks on the outskirts of Carson City, not knowing how much we’d have to pay for gas or where we’d find it. There are only 7 towns between Carson City and Ely, and most of them don’t even qualify as wide spots in the road, just a few houses in a clump. We passed signs for the Coast Guard Station and the Naval Air Station, both of which seemed a bit out of place in the Nevada desert. East of Fallon we passed the Navy B-17 range, with a sign warning of low flying aircraft. The road runs straight for many miles through the valleys, then curves and climbs and descends through several mountain ranges. We passed through wide valleys that were progressively drier the farther east we came. We drove through mountain passes and over summits with elevations from 4,600’ to 7,600’.
We stopped in the town of Austin , a bit less than halfway, so Bob could top off his fuel. On the east side of town the road twisted and climbed to Austin Summit at 7,484’. We followed a semi slowly pulling
Mesquite tree droppings
This stuff was all over the camper and it sounded like rain falling on the roof. two trailers loaded high with hay to the summit, where he pulled over to allow us all to pass. The descent was not quite as winding as the ascent, but enough to cause Kerry to clench big time.
Between Austin and Eureka we were stopped for 20 minutes for road construction. The woman who was the flag person said that 20 years ago she would sometimes not see a car for an hour or more. Just before we got to Ely, we passed Ruth Copper Pit, one of the world’s largest mining pits, with its multi-colored sides.
It was over 300 miles from Carson City to Ely, but we saw enough other vehicles (and a couple of walkers and bicyclists) to say that Highway 50 in Nevada is no longer the loneliest road in America. However it may hold the record for the fewest rest areas, just one and that only had picnic tables and no toilets.
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