I packed up this morning, turned right out of the hotel car park onto Highway 50, and rode 274 miles without turning once, til I got to my sumptuous accommodations for this evening. The end.
Highway 50 is billed as the loneliest road in America. It is probably not, but might be the loneliest highway here. I think I passed two “towns” and one RV Park/diner the whole day.
Almost the entire road is dead straight, and runs east-west. I am heading eastwards back towards home, so rode into the sun all morning. Fortunately, there are no cars, and no scenery, so I didn’t need to see anything aside from the sun, bleaching my retina.
I stopped at the one non-town for breakfast. I was not sure it would be open, but fortunately it was. I do have a packet of beef jerky with me, in case I don’t find a meal stop – but it went unopened today. The Middlegate station provided a good meal, and some interesting history.
The highway 50 runs along the old Pony Express route. The station was built 150 ish years ago as a waypoint, and also was where teams would switch wagons as they ferried mail in both directions. One wall of the place is still the original, and though it was quick ramshackle, it had a good atmosphere. I chatted with the owner, and she gave me some good insights into the place.
Apparently it has rained incessantly for about 6 weeks – just like for us back in Colorado. In fact she said yesterday was the first nice summer day – I am glad I missed the rain. Everywhere is pretty green, which she says is very unusual. She said that summer is usually “50 shades of brown”.
The roof of their place was covered – literally – in dollar bills, that people had put notes or messages on, and stuck to the ceiling. It was quaint, odd and a bit weird.
The scenery was actually OK. I loved the fact that there was literally no civilization (and I use that word lightly, given where I am) all the way today. Just rolling countryside. I went over a few passes – all decent elevation, from about 5,500 to 7,500 feet. It was quite funny – every now and then there would be a slight kink or bend in the road, and they had put warning roadsigns there. The road is literally so straight you have to warn people if there was a slight shift left or right by a couple of degrees.
Anyway – a fuel stop, a wee stop or two, and that was about it. I arrived as usual at my evenings destination, but my room is not ready, so I am at the bar, having a drink, and being forced to inhale cigarette smoke. Apparently it is legal in this town (maybe in Nevada?) to smoke indoors. I am very happy that there is a smoking ban in most places, and this reminds me of how good the ban is.
My hotel is an old fixture of this town, built in 1926. I don’t think it has had a refresh since – it has a gambling hall too. I think Gambling is legal in Nevada (I guess Las Vegas, right?), and so everywhere one goes there are casinos or slot machines. There were betting cards at the place I ate last night – didn’t really look at them, but the restaurant wasn’t a casino (I think).
Because the place is a casino, they make room and drinks super-cheap to attract people. It does attract people, but probably only those who want to gamble in a 4th-rate place while smoking, and drinking cheap beer. A pint of lager was $2.50, which is very cheap indeed. I had to wait while my room was being readied (I arrived too early), and was very surprised how cheap the beer actually was. At least there is that in this gambling, smoking hell-hole.
See you later, peoples