Written by:
SPEED Staff
SPEEDtv.com
Buddy and Bob kept each other company on the loneliest road in America. (Photo: www.noagelimitpiaggio.us)
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Reno to Austin, NV — 175 miles. The first half of the Highway 50 "survival challenge."
In July 1986, Life Magazine described Nevada’s Highway 50 from Fernley to Ely as "The Loneliest Road In America". Life asserted that there were no attractions or points of interest along the 287-mile stretch of road and recommended that drivers have "survival skills" to travel the route.
Bob and I disagree with the Life assessment. Petroglyphs, a sand mountain, Pony Express stops and the remoteness of the road make it one of the most scenic & historic corridors. The MP3 purred along in the 104-degree desert heat and never missed a beat.
We traveled through Fallon, an agricultural center famous for its "Hearts of Gold" cantaloupes, Grimes Point, an archaeological site containing prehistoric Native American rock carvings (Petroglyphs) & Sand Mountain — a two-mile mound of sand rising several hundred feet from the desert floor. The Old Shoe Tree is a giant cottonwood filled with hanging shoes (you acquire strange urges in the desert).
Tonight we’re in Austin, NV, once a prosperous mining camp; now marginally surviving. It’s an authentic Old West town untouched by Disney. We had a couple of beers in the International Cafe. It was me, Bob and the owner/bartender, who hails originally from Ohio.
“Why Austin?” Bob asked him.
"I was drunk."
Unlike riding an MP3, a transdesert crossing in a car can be a tedious, monotonous experience. On the MP3 your senses kick in. Thinking gives way to seeing, smelling, feeling as you enter "the zone". It’s hypnotic, and the drive-friendly MP3 takes you to this special state quietly & gracefully
From the canyons of Manhattan to the Nevada desert — WHAT A RIDE!
Read the Intro
Catch up With Buddy and Bob
See the Photo Album
