From Vegas to Carson City

We pulled away from our campsite in Las Vegas about 8:45 AM on Tuesday morning.  This afternoon, about 450 miles later, we are settled between the trees, tucked under the snow-capped mountains in Carson City.  It wasn’t a bad drive, really, even though it was long.  We jumped on US 95 heading north, taking that road all the way to Fallon where we hung a left onto US 50 (the Loneliest Road) and rolled right on into Carson City.

Abandoned Silver mine

Tuesday was just a ride down the road without much in the way of interesting sights to look out.  The landscape continued to be what we have seen since we arrived in the Rio Grande Valley and what we’ve dubbed “stinking desert”.  The only thing of any interest at all was the “world’s largest firecracker” outside Alamo Fireworks.  We would have missed it if we hadn’t pulled off the road for a break in their huge parking lot.  We made the picture, but had our doubts as to the accuracy of the statement “world’s largest”.  It just didn’t seem quite big enough.  Maybe at one time it was the “world’s largest” and they just haven’t gotten around to changing the sign to “world’s second largest”.  Of course, we could be wrong and it could be the “world’s largest firecracker”.

Columbus Salt Marsh

Old Motel in Tonopah

Gene takes me to the finest places.  I know this because he mentions it from time to time.  Most recently, he reminded me of his propensity to take me to the finest places yesterday as we pulled into our campground in Tonopah about mid afternoon.  On our little scale of rating the campgrounds we stay in, Joy-Land Campground falls in that category at the bottom of the scale—don’t ever go there again.  It is hard to describe Joy-Land.  It is just a mile from US 95, so was conveniently located on a little road that ran downhill for about a half mile till there was no road left.  Being on such a downhill slant, we were quite surprise to find our campsite pretty level.  Joy-land has three sections, each with about 6 sites.  We wanted a pull-thru so we were sent to the last section at the end of the road next to the landfill.  Well, it really wasn’t the landfill, it was someone’s front yard, but it looked like a landfill.  Everything was gravel; there were no interior roads, just large gravel lots.  Hookups were installed around the perimeter and you drove around in the middle.  Of course, for the pull-thru spaces, (there were 4 of them) there was a large area for driving at the back.  This was a Passport America park and for $10/night you got full hookups and cable TV; not that the Cable worked, but it was included.  I will have to admit that the shower house and laundry facility were first rate and spotless.  I will also have to admit that Joy-Land (though rated poorly in all campground directories was rated better than the only other campground in town).

Walker Lake near Hawthorne

Tonopah has fallen on hard times.  In the early 1900s it was a booming gold and silver mining community.  Today, the abandoned mines can be seen dotting the hillside.  Of the 2000 or so residents of Tonopah work at the nearby Nellis Air Force Testing Range.  My favorite thing about Tonopah was its elevation.  At a little over 6000 feet, we were out of the heat.

World's largest firecracker