on the road: The Loneliest Road in America to Lahontan Reservoir, Fallon, Nevada

"The Loneliest Road" is Route 50 from Great Basin National Park to Carson City, Nevada. It is called the loneliest road because there are so few facilities along the 380 mile stretch. We were surprised by its beauty and also by the fact that we drove over 11 mountain passes in one day. On one of those passes, when I was driving, we ran into snow and a complete white out. We celebrated our survival by feasting on hamburgers in Eureka!

Eureka, Nevada

Austin, NV where we once thought
we'd camp but found it way too snowy and cold around here.

The Pony Express Trail
What a dangerous job being a rider or a station-
master was! Did you know it was only in existence
for 11 months? It was not lucrative and the
transcontinental telegraph system was completed
by the end of their first year.

We decided to make it a longer day than originally planned and drove all the way to Lahontan Reservoir, outside of Reno. We were tired and cranky and anxious to get settled but because the signage was so bad here, we got lost and got crankier. But when all was said and done, we were totally alone in a gorgeous spot and after a few cocktails, we were smiling again.