Life on the Wall Spring porch continued with the Western Fence with or without us
as it all will, and warmly.
The Taco was mostly loaded by the time Sonny came by on the Mule, the boys’ latest [and greatest!] motor pool addition and then Friday, weirdly and most welcomely, it cooled* and
somewhat rained for breakfast and beyond…beyond being, mid-morning, back on the road
again. I drove
to Fallon, dropped L. off at the DMV to renew her license**, got gas, fussed with the load,
the dogs and rudiments of lunch while she did until, realizing I had no service whatever under the tree where I was parked, drove back to the DMV to see if the phone worked there [it didn’t]
to find her already out front, shaken from the uncertainties*** but relieved to be done so off
we went on 50 as far as 722 through Eastgate which was a really nice road
into and over the mountains
at Carroll Summit but as I was driving took too much attention
for many pictures…back on 50 L. took over to drive nonstop through the Unfriendliest Town
on the Loneliest Road and continued,
through intermittent splats of rain,
to Robert’s Creek and the foothills of Lone Mountain just as shifts were changing at the Gold Bar. Once the shuttles made it to pavement we trailed them into Eureka, checked into
the Surestay where itinerant workers were celebrating Friday in the alley and after unpacking,
showering and a bit of a rest ventured up Main anticipating salad and a beer at the Owl Club only to find it inexplicably**** closed...Cuda’s Restaurant and Winery across the street looked promising until we looked in to find it still under construction so were forced to fall back on the friendly but not very great Urban Cowboy whose updated wine list had shrunk to “sangria and sweet red” and whose updated menu was likewise much more limited than advertised. The beers, though many, failed to interest so dinner was water, two not very good cheeseburgers
and the rodeo channel on the TV before wending our way back through the alley partiers
to fitful sleep. Morning was quiet; we were out of town early[ish]
to pull off onto the old highway at Pinto Summit, feed dogs and eat our toasted bagels
[much more appetizing than Urban Cheeseburgers] from the hotel and on a perfect Saturday
morning went all the way
to Ely to End Nevada.
Well not quite the end; it was still another hour, two passes and Baker before the border…
after which, just over the first pass in Utah, we again let the animals out.
*Maddeningly the next week was predicted to be mild and cool [which it was], but we had to go.
**A procedure much in doubt given the new online/reservation-in-county-of-registration only legislation [which, Gerlach not being in Churchill, we weren’t. Aren’t.]
***After an unsettling incident with a possibly malfunctioning eye examination instrument it all went off without problem or question.
****Closed for the first time in all these years of our passing through due, it turned out, to a yearlong sting operation leading to a drug and weapons [In Nevada?] bust, resulting in its indefinite and much lamented closure.
