If you are ever in the sleepy old mining town of Austin, NV, the Mountain Motel is the place to stay. It's like the saying 'you can't judge a book by it's cover' - new beds, new bathrooms, new HVAC, and a nice proprietor to boot. Farewells to my pedal cycle friends, their butts are tired and are sandbagging a day here hoping to miss any bad weather. Although the sun was shining, not a mile out of town, the sprinkles started. The temperature dipped below 42F and I was immediately bored of cold and rain.
The nice thing about the rain however, is the sweet sage smell that permeates the air as I descend into a valley from one of the dozens of summits I cross. Each pass offers a new view which must be even more spectacular if not for the rain and clouds. I did manage to skirt the worst of it that obscured the view with wispy sheets of rain.
I stopped at the Opera House in Eureka to get my 'I Survived Hwy 50 Passport' stamped. It's been restored and is now part of the Chamber of Commerce. Nice little place if you ask me. I had lunch at the Owl Roost Casino. As if I haven't been subjected to enough ducks these last few months, they have ducks swinging from the ceiling. Very strange.Most of the interesting turn offs have been down dirt roads, but one for an archaeological site in Baker, NV was paved...at least the first part of it. I'm glad to report I did not drop the scooter on the last 1/2 mile that was gravel. The gravel dust made for a nice backgound for my Michelin Gold Standard tire now with 6000 miles on it. That's a lot of miles. More often than not, scooter tires last less than 3000 miles.
I stopped at the Utah/Nevada border for fuel. As I turned to leave, I noticed the road blocked by Highway patrolmen from Utah. I figured it was some road block for some escaped criminal, but it turned out to be an escort for two ginormous earth moving behemoths on flatbeads that took up both lanes of Hwy 50. I can't imagine the cost to the trucking company to block who knows how many miles with eight Highway Patrolman escorts.
Once into Utah, the rugged mountain passes quickly morphed into dry, flat, arrid desert. I thought the last 200 miles was lonely. This was downright depressing. The vista eventually opened up to salt flats as far as the eye could see.I've been seeing the warning signs for open range cattle for weeks now. I finally spot some along the side of the road, on my side of the fence. How quaint. I stopped to get a picture. They all stopped to look at me, then they started coming to me. I figured it best to leave, there were some babies with them, and I was not interested in any bovine battle. I saw them just milling about the center of the highway in my mirrors. I turned around and went back to terrorize them off the road. I really didn't want to leave them in the middle of the road.
I decided to stop at The Deltan Inn, they advertised wireless internet, but it seems I'll need to plug in at the office. A late dinner at The Rancher Cafe was welcome, along with lots of local advice on the next few days of travel.
I'm happy to be out of the cold. Big slide show today:
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