When I had read the hotel travel brochures in Carson City, NV, I saw something about the "Loneliest Road in the Lower 48," claiming people traveling it need "survival skills." This road is US 50, which runs across the central upper portion of Nevada. Come on, this is not Alaska. Looking at the map, it was dotted with small cities every 50 or so miles. As long as the car was fueled up, that was all I needed. After seeing this kind of hype, I really wanted to drive this entire road in Nevada. What prevented me from doing it? There were weather forecasts for major snowstorms on the eastern half of the road. Had the weather been fine, I'd have taken the road all the way. From what I could see on the map, I've taken far lonelier roads for many miles (such as I-70 in Utah, where people are warned that there are no services for 100 miles, or I-94 in North Dakota where most exits in the west indicate no services).
I decided to get a hotel in Elko, NV for the night. I had been to Elko in 2008 and chose the same hotel I used then. It's a Rodeway Inn, the lowest brand in the Choice Hotels group. Most of the Rodeway Inns are risky in terms of cleanliness, but this one stands out as being ultra clean and efficient. I recall that from my 2008 visit and many others said the same on TripAdvisor. Elko is along I-80 and I figured that as a city of substantial size (the main city in Northeast NV), it would be good in case there are major weather problems.
As I left the hotel in Fernley, the wind was extremely strong. There was a sandstorm and even my parked vehicle seemed to rock back and forth. I was getting a little nervous about whether I really wanted to drive US 50 or not. Bits of paper were being blown everywhere. I was glad I did not wear contact lenses today, or else the sand would have gotten under the lenses into my eyes.
I did drive the overhyped "loneliest road in America" for a significant part of the way. The first stop was in Fallon, which is a decent sized city that stretches for miles. There were numerous restaurants, a downtown historic district, many gas stations, chain motels and other types of stores, etc. So much for the "loneliest road in the lower 48." Gas was even reasonable there.
My destination on US 50 was Austin, Nevada. This used to be a major mining town in the nineteenth century. But now it's home to about 250 people and tourism is the main industry. Despite this, there still isn't a lot to see, unless you like collecting rocks or antiques. It's very overhyped on the Internet.
As I left Fernley, I misread one of the GPS turns and had to go through a neighborhood. Empty garbage cans were blowing all over the place. I hoped none of them would hit my car. Tumbleweeds were also blowing everywhere. These were big tumbleweeds. I recall encountering tiny ones in Idaho on my 2008 trip, but these were substantial.
There were interesting sights along US 50. First, Nevada has salt on the ground in the west. (It's like northern Utah where there are miles of salt along I-80 leading up to the Great Salt Lake.) On certain parts of the road, people would spell out all sorts of things in pebbles on either side. There were lots of names, religious quotes, expressions, etc. There was no place to safely get off the road, or I would have taken pictures. The words in pebbles went on for miles.
I visited one rock shop whose proprietor had his own mine. He had polished rocks for sale but also let me in the back to see the unwashed and unpolished rocks. He said he would charge me by the pound for unwashed and unpolished rocks. I didn't catch how low the rate would be so I didn't buy too many. But, it was a good deal. As we were talking, the power went off three times. The owner commented that they were in for some major weather problems and if the power went out in Austin, it would take at least three days to get it back. When I mentioned that I had to head north to Elko, he told me that they were already having weather problems there. That scared me a bit.
I decided I better get up to Elko fast. It was at least three hours to drive up there on Nevada 305. But, I did want to see another rock shop. Of course, I purchased more rocks. The woman at that store reassured me and said that as long as I can get up to Elko by nightfall I should be safe. She warned that there were high winds along the way but nothing as far as snow until night.
I fueled up at one of Elko's two gas stations. They did not have a credit card reader on the pump and the clerk told me to just pump the gas and come back to pay for it. Austin did not have 87 octane gas (they had 85 instead), so I had to pay close to $3.30/gallen for 88. Inside the gas station, I noticed t-shirts for sale which read "I survived the loneliest road in the lower 48."
As I left the gas station, I noticed road signs with the US 50 shield, announcing that this is the "loneliest road in the lower 48." I think US 93 in Nevada or Nevada 305 could better qualify for that designation. There is nothing but sagebrush and mountains for great lengths on these roads. On a large part of Nevada 305, there is no cell phone service. If you run out of gas, you better hope someone driving by is willing to stop and help you as you can't call anyone.
I stopped to take pictures along Nevada 305. The wind was so fierce that I felt like I would be blown away. However, riding in the car, I felt completely safe. The road was 70 mph, and the car didn't seem to rock at all when I drove that speed.
Driving further north, visibility was very limited. It seemed like a sandstorm and I couldn't see more than 75-100 feet in any direction. Tumbleweeds were constantly blowing across the road, bouncing up and down as they went.
When I finally made it to I-80 at Battle Mountain to head east to Elko, the visibility was terrible. I know there are beautiful mountains along I-80 in Nevada, so all I could catch were faint outlines. Tumbleweeds constantly blew across the interstate. When an animal runs in front of a car, it's stressful. Obviously you try to avoid hitting the animal if you can do it without causing an accident. With tumbleweeds going across the road and with enough visibility to know they were not animals, there was no stress. I likely shredded at least five of them that came directly in front of my car.
Although the wind was not a problem for my car, it was dangerous if I passed a large truck. The box trailer could turn over. Thankfully, nothing like that happened.
When I finally reached Elko, I was relieved that I had made it without any problems. I needed dinner. Right across the road from my hotel was my favorite Mexican restaurant in the entire country. I ate at this restaurant in 2008. They make some of the best chimichangas I have ever had. Their prices are great. Although I had decided the day before not to have any more Mexican food on this trip, I had to make an exception for Sergio's. The chimichanga was delicious, though I'm sure it was loaded with calories. But, I was not going to be in Elko for another evening, so I wouldn't have to worry about the temptation the next evening.
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