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The Loneliest Road in AmericaFeb 18, 2008
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The Loneliest Road in America
The Loneliest Road in America
The Loneliest Road in America
Today I drove from one end of Nevada to the other along “The Loneliest Road in America,” as Highway 50 is known. Before leaving Carson City, I made sure to check the air in my tires. The last thing I wanted was a flat tire.
Highway 50 has always been a historic transportation corridor, first used by the Pony Express Trail, as well as a portion of the Carson Route of the California Trail. The Lincoln Highway, the first coast-to-coast road in the U.S., also followed Highway 50, and markers can still be found along the side of the road.
Although the road was not nearly as lonely as I was led to believe, it does traverse a desolate countryside, with tiny towns sometimes one hundred miles apart. The road crosses a series of basins and mountains and is particularly beautiful this time of year when everything is covered with snow. It was a beautiful drive, and time passed much more quickly than I thought it might.
Interesting towns, such as Eureka, and quirky roadside features, such as the shoe tree and ice sculptures, provided welcome diversions. I had intended to stop in Ely for the night, but continued on to Baker and Great Basin National Park, a distance of approximately 400 miles. That’s probably the most I’ve driven in one day on this trip.
The only lodging that was open in Baker was the Border Inn Motel. It was a bit sketchy, but I had no choice. The motel looked like a small truck stop with rooms in manufactured housing, but the people could not have been more friendly. I met the owner at dinner, and it turns out that she is a director with the Great Basin National Heritage Area. She even knew some of the same people I worked with at the National Register of Historic Places in the late 1970s. What a small world. You never know who you might meet in middle of nowhere!
Unfortunately, that night I received a phone call that my mother had been taken to the hospital in Baltimore. I will probably head back to Las Vegas tomorrow in case I need to fly out.
