Thursday, 8:00, Carson City... Check out... Head out...
Breakfast at the Cracker box... Then east on Hwy 50... Up the hill, under the new V&T bridge... Into Mound House...
In Nevada, brothels are legal, but not in "urban" ares, so alng the fringe, certain businesses are found... It has become a default boundary, a line between urban and rural Nevada, so in Mound House I past the "Bunny Ranch Business Park" ... Past the Kit Kat Club and several other similar businesses... I had never thought of a whore house as an anchor business in a business park...
I stopped for gas in Fallon... At 9:57... The reservoir was near empty, but there was lots of alfalfa being mowed, bailed, and trucked out...
A road sign tells me it is 258 miles to Ely...
Out, into the desert... A surprisingly green desert... The salt flats, dry lakes are wetter than they look...
10:56, Middle Gate Station... An accessible (aka, visitor friendly) desert road house... It's too early for a beer... But I stop, look about, and talk to a local...
A few miles beyond, I find the shoe tree... or the new shoe tree... The original tree was cut down by a vandal a couple of years ago, but now, a nearby tree has assumed the role...
I get stuck, moving slow behind a couple of dump trucks climbing New Pass and spend nearly 10 miles at 40 mph... Eventually, the road steightens, I pass, and again, am up to speed...
Just outside of Austin, I encounter a "reduced speed" sign as I approach a slow moving truck... Poetic justice or just a coincidence...
I head out of town, climbing on a road increasingly dominated by dump trucks carrying mining concentrates...
As I approach Ely, I detour, and head to Ruth, the mining area... I drive up to the pit overlook... Explore a bit further on the dirt roads, then back track, and head into Ely, and east Ely... At the depot (train depot, Nevada Northern Railway) I encounter a friend, a fellow speaker at the symposium... We wander off, check into the hotel, look at each others presentations, work on our own, and eventually, go across the street to the local Mexican place...
The next day (now Friday) we rise early, attending the symposium... Highlights included a demonstration of the railroad's steam wrecking crane, and a hands on riveting demonstration... There was a train ride and a bar-b-Que... Back to the hotel to polish our talks... One version of the schedule has me talking for two hours(with a break)... A second has me talking for an hour, followed by Jim for an hour... We revise it to me for close to an hour, Jim for a short complimentary presentation, a break, then me again... (Narrow gauge railroad cars of Nevada)...
Saturday... Up early, revise the talk (again) head over to the railroad yard...
The talks go well... I eat lunch, then... About 12:30, I head west... Home... For the return journey I head south on Highway 6... Through Tonapah, into the Owens Valley, left at Benson, along the South Side of Mono Lake, over Tioga Pass, thought Yosemite... Then home via the Big Oak Flat road... 530 miles... About 9 hours...
So, Klinger's (my new Jeep) can go fast, but isn't happy above 80... Gas mileage falls above 70, faster as speed increases. Klinger's loves dirt roads... And seems to almost float over them at moderate speeds... I didn't have a chance to test Klinger's rough track skills... That will have to wait for another trip...
Now, late, Saturday, mostly packed for a cruise tomorrow... (aka, vacation, part II) I am blogging instead of sleeping.... I should be sleeping.
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