Ailiens and Moonscapes

Day 2 Tonopah, Nevada to Zion National Park, Utah

Mileage 347 Miles, States - Nevada, Utah

I don’t know what AT&T did to Tonopah, but someone took the hump, and now it’s the only Cell phone provider that does not have service there. Bummer for us, but luckily the Mizpah had WiFi, and the car has its own navigation. It’s a bit dopey and somewhat grumpy. It doesn’t speak to us like Jane does, but it gets us there!

The Mizpah was beautiful inside – I mentioned this already in my last post, but I only took the photos this morning.

This is the business center! Just kidding. They had lots of beautiful old furniture and "olden days technology" on display everywhere. 

The Cafe where we ate dinner and breakfast.

The Lobby.

The casino

We couldn’t leave town without having a mosey about. There isn’t much to Tonopah, but it’s cute. A nice stop on a long journey. 

There’s is a mining museum with tours…

A fire station…that didn’t really inspire confidence…but at least they're next door to the water company. That should come in handy.

And we just had to visit the Clown Motel…

…and right next door we could pay our respects at the Miners Graveyard, which is harder than you’d think what with having all those crazy clowns at your back.

When we’d checked out of the Mizpah, the receptionist had explained to us that Nevada is the most desolate state because so much of it is owned by the Government/US Military. That was why there was so few civilian settlements and so much distance between the ones that existed.

As we drove east along Hwy6, we could appreciate this sense of desolation. The scenery alternated between this…

…and this

Long straight stretches with short hops over hills to the next long straight stretch.

We saw a sign that told us we were in the Toiyabe National Forest. This is the forest...

Now, I’ve heard of not being able to see the wood for the trees, but not being able to see the forest for the lack of trees is a new one on me.

Approaching junctions was pretty exciting, though ultimately anticlimactic – but it was a break in the monotony.

And then we were on the Extraterrestrial Highway 375.

 The first thing we saw was this.

I think it was okay since we’d been warned for miles that we might see one.

My Husband had great concerns about the dangers of cattle on the highway. My view was that it wasn’t like you’d turn a bend and bang one would be standing in front of you. There were simply no bends in the road! His comeback, “It’s a 70 miles an hour highway!”

We stopped for lunch in Rachel, a tiny town with a permanent population of 84. Area 51is nearby and the restaurant was themed around it and aliens.

On the way out of Rachel, heading south, we saw two dead cows by the side of the road. My Husband reckons they were hit by cars, but I'm thinking those aliens in the restaurant looked pretty dodgy!

As Nevada merged into Utah, the flat pans became more undulating and green, the mountains more craggy and pinker.

Cedar City, Utah, the biggest town we’d seen since we’d left the bay area, was dwarfed by the huge red hills that rose up behind it.

We headed from there to Kolob Canyon Visitors Center only  to discover that the Visitors Center was closed. The sign on the door said it closed at 6pm. I checked my watch. It was only 5pm. And then My Husband said, “I think we’ve crossed into a different time zone.”

Our smart phones confirmed this – they’re smart, you see! We'd driven all the way forward an hour.

Luckily, the road was still open, and we got the first taste of the truly spectacular, jaw dropping vistas that we are expecting from this area.

I particularly liked the way the road was colored red too.

We approached Springdale, Utah with the hills turning deeper and deeper shades of read as the sun dropped below the horizon. Tomorrow, we intend to spend the day just exploring canyons. It may be a pictures only blog, because I'm running out of words to describe how gorgeous everything is!

Byddi Lee

The Ebbetts Pass and off the beaten track in Nevada

Day 1 San Jose, California to Tonopah, Nevada

Mileage 430 Miles, States - California, Nevada

I nearly had to bribe Jane* our GPS into routing today's portion of the road trip. We needed to cross the Sierras. We've done the Tioga Pass, through Yosemite, many times and traversed the Sonora Pass, the next pass to the north, a few times as well. We were out to explore America, not drive the same old roads all over again, though they are stunning. We set off intending to find additional stunning!

Having forced Jane to map us along Hwy 4 and the Ebbetts Pass, we hit the Western Sierra foothills and were met with poor visibility  and the stench of smoke. We checked the Cal Fire website and saw a few fires come up on their map, but they were miles away. Aware that the smoke can travel a long way, it was still disconcerting that we were traveling on a road that we knew nothing about with patchy connectivity, in fire country, in fire season, and during a massive drought. Most of the pictures were taken from a moving car - apologies for the less than perfect composition - though I did have a chuckle at the beer can that showed up in this one!

Even though Jane had gotten past the please-take-a-U-turn stage by the time we got to Copperopolis we needed to stop for gas.

Yes, that's what it's called, and I don't know how to say it - I just say it how it looks - Copper-op-polis! (Okay, so maybe I stick an extra "p" in there - it's still a really fun name to say.)

There were two girls working in the gas station. When they greeted me with a cheery welcome, I asked them if they knew where the fires were. They said that the smoke was from the Butte fire further north and that there were also some burning in Yosemite. They asked me which way we were traveling. I told them I was taking the Ebbetts Pass. They said they would check the road conditions for me. Then, as I stood there, one of them lifted the phone and called the sheriff. In a few short minutes she had the answer - all clear. I was extremely impressed at their willingness to help keep a total stranger safe. That's what I call a full service station!

The air cleared as we climbed over the pass. There were plenty of warnings at the beginning of the pass about steep gradients and winding roads, but for someone used to roads on the West Coast of Ireland these roads were totally fine...

Okay, so many some of the turns were a bit full on...

 

But the views were worth it!

 

Sections of the road told the story of the aftermath of the blistering fire season we've had in California.This went on for several miles, often on both sides of the road. A part of the natural cycle, it was still bleak to look at.

  

The Eastern Sierras did not disappoint. I love the wide open vistas. The barren landscape tugs at me in a way I find difficult to explain - a mixture of awe and terror. Despite its beauty, I can't help trying to imagine having to survive in this harsh and unforgiving terrain without the modern conveniences!

Once through the Sierras, we hit my favorite highway (so far!) in the US - Highway 395. Wanting to explore, we once again bullied Jane into taking us along the road less traveled and insisted on going via Smith Valley to Tonopah rather than through Lee Vining.

Nevada seems to be vast desert salt pans separated by jagged peaks. There is no in between - it's either step sides or flat flat flat. 

However, this route delivered several surprises. We loved the Wilson Canyon on Route 208.  

The mining industry reared it's ugly head in Yerrinton (I think!)

This heap of gravel was beside a huge (I mean gigantic!) pit right beside the road. It was the size of the nearby hills. If it wasn't for it's flat top and perfect symmetry, one might think it was another mountain or cinder cone.

Just when all the desolation was starting to overwhelm, a shimmer appeared in the distance. A mirage maybe? Not this time. Walker Lake is a 50 square mile natural lake. I liked the shade provided for the picnic tables - not a mission of getting a tree to grow here!

And of course, you wouldn't be in Nevada if you didn't have the the long straight roads all the way into forever...

Color was draining out of the day and pooling in the Western sky as we approached our destination - Tonopah. We drove past the Clown Motel, contemplated it for a brief second. I was caught between thinking it could hilarious or horrendous (It was very very cheap - and not necessarily in a good way.) My Husband, having more refined tastes, suggested we push on to see what else the town had to offer. We settled on The Mizpah, opting for an economy queen room. It was small but very very plush.

The Mizpah is right in the center of town. It reminded of the type of old hotels you had in small towns in Ireland. The kind of establishments Maeve Binchy would have referred to in her novels, places that served as the pivot point for the town and its community.

It's interior is like the posh old Western saloons that you see in the movies. The kind of place Scarlette and Rhett would have stayed had they come this far (though it wasn't around in their day having been only built in 1908). It is a listed historical building and even has a resident ghost - the Lady In Red - who is said to roam the hotel and leaved pearls at random. I hope she's quiet because I'd like a good nights sleep, but I'd be happy to get a pearl!

It's a been a long and interesting day and tomorrow we are set for Zion via the Extraterrestrial Hwy - not sure how much excitement I want along that road  - find out if I meet ET in my next post.

Byddi Lee



*Click here to find out why we call our GPS Jane

Stranger than fiction

This began as a Facebook post that started to run on a bit, and I decided to simply turn it into a blog post.

I originally began by saying (in my little Facebook voice!), "So, I've been researching stop off points for our upcoming trip to Yellowstone. We will have to stay in Nevada and rather than do the run-of-the-mill Reno or Vegas thing, I was looking at stopping in a town called Tonopah. It looks like it's completely in the middle of nowhere (just the way I like it!) But having just read Stephen King's book Desperation set in a (fictional - I hope) forgotten Nevada town..."

Well that's when I screeched to a halt and realized that this all really began when I read Desperation!

And that it needed to be a blog...

Cue new beginning.

I've always been fascinated by the Wild West, the empty spaces, the lonely barrenness in the landscape and the tumble weed (which is actually not even native to that area! It's Russian thistle brought in from Eastern Europe/Russia in a bag of grass seed!) When I mention driving through Nevada to my American friends many of them pull a face of disgust like, who'd want to do that? But when you were brought up on a tiny lush island with winding roads, the Nevada-scape is exotic by comparison. There's just something about those long, straight roads disappearing into a pinoint on the horizon that awe me to almost speechlessness. Almost, not completely but even so, it might be why My Husband finds those road trips appealing too!

Even reading Desperation didn't put me off, though I sure hope I don't get pulled over by a cop on highway 50. The stretch through Nevada is known as "The Loneliest Road in America"! I thought it prudent to stay away from Highway 50 altogether, and with the help of Google maps, I discovered Tonopah. What really cemented the deal for this stop was that it will be a great jumping off point for State Route 375. Why this road? Well, here's what it says in Wikipedia about it...

"The top-secret Area 51 government base is near SR 375 and many travelers have reported UFO observations and other strange alien activity along this road. Such stories prompted the state to officially designate the route as the Extraterrestrial Highway in 1996. The small town of Rachel, located near the center of the highway, caters to tourists and UFO seekers with alien-themed businesses. Although the area receives some tourism due to alleged extraterrestrial activity, SR 375 remains a lightly traveled route."

At least it's not lonely, right? You know, especially not with all those aliens...

So okay, Tonopah... the pictures aren't very inspiring on Bing Images, so I had a look at the town website which conveniently has a lodging section. All very well and good, until I noticed the second one down - The Clown Motel! As if staying in a tiny town in the middle of Nevada wasn't scary enough they have a Clown Motel as in horror-movie-creepy-ass clowns!

This picture of Clown Motel from the Town of Tonopah website

Upon further investigation, I came across this blog, Atlas Obscura (what a find by the way!) only to discover that if the clowns weren't freaky enough for you, that the motel is sited beside an old miners cemetry! Go read this short blog - I'm just bummed they got there before me, but I'm not one to reinvent the wheel - they've written pretty much what I would have.

And while I'm directing you around the inter-web-thinggy, check out the comments on Trip Advisor about this place - hilarious!

Comments like, "...The clowns in the office were a bit scary..." and another said, "...Gotta admit, the clowns scared me...." and my favorite, "...I was here alone for a ghost hunt in a nearby town..."  Like, seriously? Alone? For a ghost hunt and staying in a freaky Clown Motel? Fair play to ya mate - it takes all sorts, and I'm guessing we'll meet most of them on this upcoming trip!

So will we stay here? You'll just have to read the next installment in a few of week when we hit the road. But here's a clue...My Husband says "NO way!" This is the man who wouldn't buy a house near railroad tracks because he saw an episode of Criminal Minds that had a serial killer traveling on freight trains and murdering people who lived near the tracks!

We intend to hit up some of the big parks in Utah (Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands and more if possible) before heading north for Yellowstone. I have a vague intention of posting daily...That is if the Big Cop from Desperation, the ailens and the clowns don't get us first!

Byddi Lee