On my way out of Austin, I visited Stokes Castle. It was built in 1897 by a mine developer and railroad magnate as a summer home for his sons. It was modeled after a medieval tower near Rome. The family only used it for a couple of months and it hasn’t been lived in since.
The one thing that I have really enjoyed about highway 50 through Nevada has been the little towns. Most of them were founded in the mid-19h century and don’t look like they have changed much. I took a rest day today and explored Austin a little bit. Austin itself was built up the steep sides of a canyon part the way down the mountain from Austin Summit.
The place where I camped was next to some petroglyphs. Before I left, I decided to take a little hike to see them. They were a little disappointing. Many simply looked like scratched hash marks in the rock. There were also several that resembled horseshoes with thick lines in the middle, like some sort of ancient “Kilroy was here” drawings.
As I was leaving my motel room today, I met Brett Bramble. Brett is walking across the United States from Delaware to San Francisco to raise awareness for drug overdose. Over 47,000 Americans died of drug overdose in 2014, including Brett’s sister. He has been on the road for seven months and plans to be in San Francisco by mid-November. If you want to check out his journey, he has a blog at brettbramblewalks.com.
I am tired. Tired of climbing. Tired of semis and RV’s buzzing me. Tired of pedaling as hard as I can and only going four miles per hour. All the time, I am tired. All the rest days don’t seem to help, at least not for long. The only thing keeping me going is the fact I have less than 600 miles to go, but I can’t do 600 miles at four mile per hour.
In 1986, Life magazine called highway 50 through Nevada “the Loneliest Road”.
“It’s totally empty,” says a AAA counselor. “There are no points of interest. We don’t recommend it.” The 287-mile stretch of U.S. 50 running from Ely to Fenley, Nev., passes nine towns, two abandoned mining camps, a few gas pumps and the occasional coyote. “We warn all motorists not to drive there,” says the AAA rep, “unless they’re confident of their survival skills.”
I took an extra rest day in Ely, NV. I spent part of the day at a local museum that featured some mining equipment and railroad equipment, along with other historical items from the area.
My air mattress sprang a leak last night. After about four hours, I woke up with gravel poking at my sides. Hopefully, I can fix it before I have to camp again.
The place I camped last night was part of the open range. Instead of cattle in this area, there was a small heard of horses that passed nearby in the early morning hours. It was still dark out, so I couldn’t see them. I heard them moving and eating, but didn’t know what they were until one or two whinnied.
I can’t believe I haven’t thought of this song before today. It could have been my theme song for the summer. I am certainly in the west now.
Pedaling America 