Ely, Nevada

 

A city of murals

New and...

...old.

Ely first came into being in 1870 as a stagecoach stop and trading post.

The six story Hotel Nevada was built during the Prohibition era and was the tallest building in the state.

Just imagine the stories this old hotel has to tell.

I would like to have gone in and explore around but I just cannot handle the cigarette smell.

 

It is of the courtesy of Hotel Nevada we stayed here for the night.

They have a large lot in back for the traveler in RV’s and the big rig truckers.

Another travel kitty, watching Beans.

The Pony Express

You get two posts today as this one is just a bunch of reading and there may be a few of you interested in doing just that.  Click on each image which will make it bigger and easier to read.

Twenty miles past dogtown and chicken acres was a rest area where the old pony express route passed through nearby long ago.  I wasn’t able to read everything for this woman came by and was unable read the signs using her inside voice.  I walked away from her and would read them later after she left.

 

We followed the Lincoln Highway one year from Illinois westward.  That was a great trip and it was fun looking for these markers all along the way.  I like that time period of American history.

Wells to Ely

In no hurry to get going we finally left Wells for Ely 138 miles south.

Pretty much this was the scene for the first half of the drive.

I never saw one vehicle in front or behind us going the same direction as we were.

This was good for that morning I saw emergency vehicles racing north towards Jackpot

on the very same highway we had come down the day before.  I knew why.

I looked it up later and there was a head on crash 27 miles north of Wells.

For some unknown reason a U-haul crossed over and crashed into a big semi truck.

Both drivers died. 

Beans was itching to get out and I was thinking of lunch. 

We pulled in to what used to be a travelers rest stop.

We hadn’t been out long before a whole bunch of little dogs some where off behind began barking their fool heads off.  One of the little ankle biters was loose and came over across the lawn in amongst the dozen chickens that were grazing.  The dog was barking and warning us away.  Beans totally ignored it and the chickens.  If that dog had chose to come any closer to Beans he would have been seriously injured by her.  I threw a rock and the little monster for it’s own good and it finally left.  

At the other end of the lot was this gas pump that last pumped gas when it was at 33 cents a gallon.

Can you remember back in the days when there was no place for dollars on the price?

Back on the road with sixty miles left to go.

Wells, Nevada

 

It was a 117 mile drive from Twin Falls to Wells Nevada which sits at the junction of Interstate 80 and Highway 93 that we came down on.  We stayed in the large gravel lot across for the Alamo casino.  All the big rig trucks stay to one end and us travelers the other, so it was a peaceful night.

Nothing fancy but nice of them to have the large lot across the street to park in.

I had walked over to the Burger King for my dinner.  See the large plexiglass virus barrier?  The thing made communication nearly impossible.  You can see how the tape holding to the two panels together had been removed to create the split so customer and cashier could hear one another.  Then the exchange of money and change was impossible and we both had to step to the side of the panel to hand money back and forth.  The whole thing was ridiculous and defeated the purpose it was intended to serve.

 

There was just the cashier guy and the lady cook in back.  While waiting for my burger I noticed a Subway sandwich and drink sitting at a table behind me.  It belonged to the cashier.  He had to try to eat his “dinner” in between customers.  Fortunately for him there were none except me.  

They don’t even get a thirty minute lunch/dinner break!

On my walk back a young family in a Tesla was backing up to the power station.  I asked the guy how long it took to power up.  He said it took about a half an hour to get up to 85% charge and another half hour to get up to 100%.  Gee, that would seem hard to accept when you’re used to a lifetime of five minutes to gas up and go.   

So if you think our choice of a place to spend the night isn’t all that great, imagine pitching a tent in a trash strewn big rig truck parking lot.

The fact is I think it is a homeless person.  The guy sat in his car all the time we were there except...

the early evening.  He had a pit bull type dog and it appeared that he had tied the dog up to his tent or something, it was too dark to really tell, and the dog kept barking.  The car was nowhere to be seen.  Did he go eat somewhere?  Was he off gambling?  That is a pile of trash stacked up against the tree.

  

It is 138 miles to our next stop in Ely, Nevada on Highway 50.  We are having to move faster than I really wanted to for another one of those cold fronts was coming down and the temperatures at night would drop down to the mid twenties (-3.9c) come Tuesday/Wednesday.  We can’t have that and live to blog about it.

Nevada

 

An hour’s drive south from Twin Falls, Idaho we crossed the border into Nevada at the small town of Jackpot.  Beans wasn’t into traveling that day and she let me know about it.  I stopped twice but neither stop fit her needs.  Just outside of Jackpot was a small rest area.  She was happy here.

Look closely and you can see graffiti high up on the cliff face.

I wondered how many fell and hurt themselves.

 

Yep, I had a happy kitty now.

This is Salmon Falls Creek.

I counted five of these things littering the ground at the rest stop.

I finally got her to come back inside so I could fix some lunch.

Okay Beans, time to get back on the road.  You can birdwatch at the next place.

She was fine for the rest of the way to Wells, Nevada, our stop for the night.

That’s it, I’m Done

We left Jerome the next day for Twin Falls, Idaho just ten or so miles away.  Twin Falls is a big town with over 45,000 in population.  I felt I had a better chance with finding books at thrift stores there.  The first two were Goodwill and Deseret, big places and NOTHING!  I was frustrated.

Then I found this store in between the next set of thrift stores on my list.

This looks promising.

Oh yeah!  Heaven!

The kitties weren’t working that day.

I walked out with a bag full of books!  I paid more than I would have at thrift stores but it was worth it.  I got nearly every book on my list.  I’m done.  No more searching.  No more thrift stores.  

Happy?  You and me both.

I am set for the winter.  Onward southward now.

The Out-of-the-Way Shower

 

When researching where to stay once we left Stanton Crossing I discovered a city-run RV park in the town of Gooding.  The highlight of this park were showers at the fairgrounds next door.  By the time we left I had decided we wouldn’t stay at the park (too close by) but I couldn’t ignore the opportunity for a shower.  So I drove nineteen miles out of the way just for a shower.  

All along those nineteen miles I kept thinking this is stupid.  Once there I had trouble finding the shower and restrooms and had to ask the lawn mower man.  That’s it on the right.

Inside it was a well used restroom as one would imagine for a fairground.

Okay, this will do.  

I turned on the water...instant hot water with some force behind it.

Oh yeah!  This was NOT stupid!

And it was free.

Feeling renewed and refreshed, I fixed lunch there and dug out some clean clothes.

Then I stopped at a hardware store we had passed by to top off the propane and fill my little tank that runs the heater.  We’ll be going through the nothingness of Nevada so best play it safe.

I hit up one thrift store in Gooding and two in Jerome after we backtracked some but no books of interest.  

But I did meet Hemi in the last store.

Beans was not pleased with the foreign cat smell on my fingertips. 

...hissss...

And so it begins.

Walmart store in Jerome.