Moab, UT to Reno, NV
June 2, 2003

Hwy 50, Nevada

We took Highway 50 all the way across Nevada today. We started in Moab, Utah, which is basically desert. Most of the rest of the drive across Utah and Nevada was mountainous but no inhabitants we could see except towns listed on the map (about four). West of Austin, NV (just at the edge of town) we saw a sign reading, “Highway 50 – The Loneliest Road in America.” So true! But I actually enjoyed it. Chuck said he thought the road was very long and boring.

A little further on we actually saw wild horses! Right after that I noticed a sign for the Pony Express Trail. Chuck wouldn’t stop to take a picture of the marker (men and their need to just drive, drive, drive!) but it was still neat to know we were following the actual trail. I just love this ‘Wild West’ stuff!

We were heading for Big Spring Creek Road where there was supposed to be free camping on the creek (according to Woodall’s Free Camping book). The campsite was supposed to be about 11 miles down a dirt road after turning off of Hwy 50. Once we got to the our turn, we decided not to continue. Chuck was afraid of possibly getting stuck with the Pop-Up. The road wasn’t very wide, and who knew if there was enough room for a turn-around at the end, or if the dirt road would be passable with the truck and camper.

Chiisai, Shadow, and me in front of a 'Shoe Tree'

It wasn’t long after we decided to continue west on 50 towards Fallon, NV that we came across a “Shoe Tree”. Neither of us has ever seen anything like it before. We were just driving along and noticed a car on the side of the road in what looked like a little pull-out area. This got our attention, as we hadn’t seen too many cars all day (it was, after all, a ‘lonely road’). Right behind the car was a tree that had stuff hanging off of it, but we couldn’t make out what in the world it was. Chiisai and Shadow were due for a little potty break anyway, so we pulled over to see what was in the tree. As we got closer we could see… shoes. Lots and lots of shoes all hanging from the branches. We can’t imagine why. This tree is a lonely thing in a clump of just a few other lonely trees on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere! Who comes all this way to just throw their shoes in a tree? We thought maybe it was a high school senior right-of-passage sort of thing, but it was at least another 50 miles to the nearest town (Fallon) so, who knows? It was interesting, none-the-less.

After the ‘Shoe Tree’ we continued to Fallon and past scenery that looked like a giant dried up lake bed. Seems to belong to Fallon Naval Air Station. It looked really weird – like snow with a green tint. People write their names and messages in it on the side of the road and it comes out black. What kind of military tests were done out here to cause that? We felt like we were in Area 51 instead of Nevada today!

We ended up getting to Reno after dark, so instead of finding a campground and setting up the camper just to take it down again tomorrow morning, we opted for a night at Motel 6. Tomorrow we continue on to Alturas, CA.