At Cafe Toiyabe in Austin, NV |
Introduction
For the longest time I've wanted to do the Highway 50 drive. Highway 50 is labeled as the loneliest road in the United States. I think that is a bit of a stretch today as there were some cars on it, but it is definitely not a well traveled road.
Highway 50 cuts through the heart of north central section of Nevada. It starts in Baker, NV and slithers its way all the way to the capital of Nevada, Carson City. As someone who has spent a lot of time studying maps of Nevada and wondering what this road has to offer, I knew that one day I'd have to drive it.
Highway 50 cuts through the heart of north central section of Nevada. It starts in Baker, NV and slithers its way all the way to the capital of Nevada, Carson City. As someone who has spent a lot of time studying maps of Nevada and wondering what this road has to offer, I knew that one day I'd have to drive it.
Highway 93 to Ely |
The Drive
I started my travels in West Wendover, which is about a 100 miles north of Highway 50. I was able to get a free room / food there since I gamble so much. I started the day taking Alternate Highway 93 south until I hit Ely. Once I got into Ely, my trip would begin.
For the next 4 - 5 hours I'd be taking the venerable Highway until I reached Fallon, NV. In addition to Ely, I planned to stop in Eureka and Austin Nevada. I wouldn't recommend spending the night in those places as they tend to be fairly small / isolated. Fallon, however, is pretty much as close to regular civilization as you are going to find along the way until reaching Dayton / Carson City.
You can see the route I took by visiting this link on Google Maps.
Aside from the drive, another one of my goals on this trip was to get my passport book stamped. You can get your free passport by going here.
The point of the passport is to stop at least 5 of the points of interest and get it stamped by an authorized stamper. So doing a night run on this isn't going to work. I wound up getting my book stamped at: Hotel Nevada, Ely, Eureka Chamber of Commerce, Cafe Toiyabe in Austin, Best Western Fallon and the Dayton Chamber of Commerce. I was going to get my passport stamped in Carson City but I was too lazy and I had gotten the 5 I needed.
Upon completion of the challenge, you mail in your password to get a certificate. The fine folks at the Dayton Chamber of Commerce gave me a cool bandanna as well:
In the subsequent posts I'll give a brief run down of each stop I made along Highway 50. So stay tuned.
Highway 93 to Ely |
For the next 4 - 5 hours I'd be taking the venerable Highway until I reached Fallon, NV. In addition to Ely, I planned to stop in Eureka and Austin Nevada. I wouldn't recommend spending the night in those places as they tend to be fairly small / isolated. Fallon, however, is pretty much as close to regular civilization as you are going to find along the way until reaching Dayton / Carson City.
Heading into Ely, NV |
You can see the route I took by visiting this link on Google Maps.
Aside from the drive, another one of my goals on this trip was to get my passport book stamped. You can get your free passport by going here.
The point of the passport is to stop at least 5 of the points of interest and get it stamped by an authorized stamper. So doing a night run on this isn't going to work. I wound up getting my book stamped at: Hotel Nevada, Ely, Eureka Chamber of Commerce, Cafe Toiyabe in Austin, Best Western Fallon and the Dayton Chamber of Commerce. I was going to get my passport stamped in Carson City but I was too lazy and I had gotten the 5 I needed.
Upon completion of the challenge, you mail in your password to get a certificate. The fine folks at the Dayton Chamber of Commerce gave me a cool bandanna as well:
In the subsequent posts I'll give a brief run down of each stop I made along Highway 50. So stay tuned.
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