Beginning Wednesday, May 18 and ending on Sunday, May 22, Elaine and I took her 82-year-old Mom, Mary Bottoms, on a six-day tour of rural Nevada. It was her first-ever trip to all kinds of interesting places.
She has been a permanent resident of this state for the last 3.5 years, and prior to moving here from Greeley, Colo., she had visited us in Carson City a number of times. Those visits had been made by either train or bus and were always along the I-80 corridor from Wendover to Reno. That was all she had ever seen of the State of Nevada until this particular trip.
This was our itinerary:
Wednesday, May 18: Stay overnight in Gerlach.
Thursday, May 19: Stay overnight in Eureka.
Friday, May 20: Stay overnight in Ely.
Saturday, May 21: Stay overnight in Tonopah.
Sunday, May 22: Return to Carson City
If you have never been to those locations and are interested in traveling to them, here are some of the details of our trip:
Wednesday, May 18:
We left Carson City and drove to Gerlach via U.S. 50 to Silver Springs, Alt. U.S. 95 to Fernley, S.R. 427 to Wadsworth, and S.R. 447 to Nixon and then on to Gerlach, a total distance of 127 miles.
Once you leave Wadsworth and head north on S.R. 447, you quickly leave most of civilization behind (including cell phone service), as you drive further and further into the vast remote reaches of Northern Nevada.
Lots of huge, open, empty spaces with typical looking Nevada scenery.
On our trip we saw very few other vehicles, but we did see lots of cattle, and two different groups of Pronghorn Antelope.
Every so often, we would stop and Elaine would take photos of such things as: The “Snoopy Dog” rock formation, signposts, a long empty stretch of the highway, the tiny town of Empire, the slightly bigger town of Gerlach and the Black Rock Desert (home of the annual Burning Man celebration).
Gerlach consists primarily of Bruno’s Country Club (café, bar, motel and gas station) which is owned by 90-year old Giovanni Bruno Selmi, who has been in Gerlach since way back in 1950.
We stopped at the Country Club, had lunch, checked into the motel, dropped off our luggage and drove north to Squaw Creek Reservoir.
That reservoir is about 17 miles north of Gerlach, it is a nice looking oasis in the middle of nowhere and contains very nice trout.
However, on that particular day, the wintery-weather combination of wind, rain, hail, sleet and snow quickly put a stop to any plans to catch fish.
Elaine took some photos and we returned to Gerlach for late afternoon cocktails, a leisurely ravioli dinner at Bruno’s cafe and an overnight stay.
Thursday, May 19:
After a quick breakfast, we went from Gerlach back to Fernley and then took Alt. U.S. 50 to Fallon where we switched to U.S. 50 and drove from Fallon to Austin and then to Eureka, a total distance of 286 miles.
On this day, there were lots of antelope, a small herd of deer, a great tasting lunch at the Stockman’s Casino in Fallon, many bands of wild horses, a man carrying a large wooden cross and walking along the highway (close to New Pass Summit), snow in Austin and a NDOT snowplow coming down main street in Eureka, where we ate dinner at the Owl Club and then spent the night at the Sundown Lodge.
Friday, May 20:
We had a quick cup of coffee from the Owl Club, drove 77 miles to Ely, then 62 miles from Ely to Great Basin National Park for an early afternoon tour of Lehman Caves. This is a “Do Not Miss” tour if you are in that area.
On this day, we saw mule deer, Pronghorn Antelope and lots of cattle and sheep before reaching Ely. On the way to the National Park, we took a short side trip to Cave Lake for photographs.
Then as a rare special bonus, Elaine photographed a doe Pronghorn Antelope with small twin fawns just out of the tiny town of Baker.
After the cave tour, we returned to Ely for an awesome steak and shrimp dinner at the Big Apple Café and an overnight stay at the Bristlecone Motel.
Saturday, May 21:
We ate a leisurely breakfast at the Big Apple, the weather was finally nice and we fished for several hours at Comins Lake for Northern Pike.
I managed to catch a 20.5 inch Northern Pike on a blue-green lure, and that Pike should be a serious contender in that category in the Ormsby Sportsmen Association annual fishing contest that is currently underway.
From Comins Lake we drove back to Ely, turned onto U.S. 6 and then traveled 168 miles to Tonopah.
Along the way we saw many Pronghorn Antelope, numerous wild horses, all kinds of cattle, very few other vehicles, lots of big open country, a large airplane parked in the middle of nowhere, a working oil well in Railroad Valley and some spectacular black-colored lava rock formations.
After checking into the Jim Butler Motel, Elaine and her Mom took a walk around downtown Tonopah, while I worked on my lap top computer.
We ate dinner at the Ramada Hotel/Casino, returned to our room and turned in early for the return to Carson City the next day.
Sunday, May 22:
A drive from Tonopah to Carson City via Mina, Luning, Hawthorne, Schurz, Yerington, Wabuska, Silver Springs, Dayton and then back home.
This was the day we had coffee and pastries in Tonopah, could not see Boundary Peak (Nevada’s highest mountain) due to clouds, took Elaine’s Mom for a tour of the back streets in Hawthorne, ate an early lunch in Yerington, and finally arrived safe and sound after a trip that totaled 5 days, 1,118 miles and 250 digital photographs.
Finally:
Now Mom can say that she has been to lots of places in rural Nevada.
Most interesting, in addition to the many different towns and great scenery, she also has as serveral of her top favorites, the guided tour of Lehman Caves at Great Basin National Park, and her dinner at the Big Apple Café and her room at the Bristlecone Motel, both in Ely.
In summary, speaking for all three of us: Traveling is a “Ton of Fun,” but there is no place like home and it’s great to be back!
Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can’t tell you what we liked the least.
If he grins and says, “It was our Saturday night dinners in Tonopah,” he could have been seated at the dining table next to us that evening.
Dinner was a bit pricey and definitely far from “Five Star.”