Debbie and I needed to get away. It's been work, work, work for quite a while.
...
A long but awesome trip going places weâve never been. But, now I can say Iâve been to places Lowell George has been... And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari Tehachapi to Tonapah...
Great pics. loved it.
Really, really, need to get out of work mode for a change.
Location: Really deep in the heart of South California Gender:
Posted:
Apr 26, 2022 - 10:02am
Debbie and I needed to get away. It's been work, work, work for quite a while.
We decided to go for a short road trip... to just go. My plan was to drive some really desolate back roads of eastern California and across the middle of Nevada. Starting just north of Death Valley.
We drove to Bishop. California to spend the night. A little under 4 hours from our house. One of my favorite drives up Highway 395, which hugs the eastern Sierra Nevada's.
We were following a cold front this whole trip which dropped the temperatures to below or near freezing at night. Snow had dropped heavily in the Sierraâs behind Bishop during the night and morning. We got up fairly early the next morning, and after breakfast we headed east on Highway 168 through the White Mountains and Westgard Pass at an elevation of almost 7500'.
The first around six different summits on this trip.
Looking back at the Sierra's and a clouded over My. Whitney towards Big Pine...
From there, 168 dropped down into Deep Springs Valley, home of Deep Springs College. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... This college was recently featured on 60 Minutes and is really out in the middle of nowhere. We then climbed out of that valley heading to the Nevada border. We've gone almost 40 miles by this point from Big Pine, California and only encountered one car going the opposite direction.
Looking back into that valley and where we came from. The college is that green patch in the middle left of the picture.
We turned onto Highway 266 and crossed into Nevada. Another pass into another valley. After 83 miles of more desolate terrain, we hit Route 95 and turned north towards Goldfield and Tonopah, Nevada. 95 was a busy four lane expressway. It was a quick 15-mile drive to the quirky mining town of Goldfield. It was very cold and windy there. After some quick exploring we continued North to Tonopah... almost 30 miles away.
Tonopah is another quirky mining town, though bigger and busier than Goldfield. A big âtrucker townâ with a casino. We poked around some more and Debbie wanted to go into this used book store on the main street. Well, that was an interesting experience. It had been raining the previous days before and the store had some major roof leaks going on. Tarps were draped redirecting rain water to large containers holding the water. The back of the store was dark enough you couldnât see very well. Debbie said itâs time to go! I mentioned to the owner as we left it looks like itâs time for a new roof. She said itâs been like this for 6 years now. Debbie said that was the creepiest place sheâs been in a long time.
Speaking of creepy... Tonopah is home of the âWorld Famous Clown Hotelâ. Actually, it looked like the rooms were pretty nice. And I heard this place fills up regularly. We didnât stay there... wrong time of the day.
Instead, we headed east again on Hwy. 6 into some awesome weather..
On to Hwy. 375... âThe Extraterrestrial Highwayâ. 100 miles of another really desolate road.
The only weird thing we saw on this highway was this little lake alongside the highway.
We stopped at the tiny little tourist trap of Rachel, Nevada.
We picked up Hwy. 93 at the end of 375 and headed south towards Las Vegas. Debbie wanted to go to the M&M store and the Hershey store on the strip... yes, weâre that hardcore.
We spent the night outside of Las Vegas. And went the back road home through the Mojave Scenic Preserve.
A long but awesome trip going places weâve never been. But, now I can say Iâve been to places Lowell George has been... And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari Tehachapi to Tonapah...
Doggone it's a Dodge! Is that a Proc in the pic on his way to the croc farm?
The only van with a 6' interior width. You could get a mattress in there sideways. They were the only ones.
Put a slant six, three on the tree in them and go forever ...
Had one of these on the front of a couple of cars from back then in those days. Got it as a souvenir one night while I was going to school down there. .
just got back from an action packed mountain getaway
asheville and lake toxaway
fun but exhausting
We were just near there before Christmas. Beautiful countryside. Did a 4 day road trip loop around the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Landed in Atlanta late, next morning drove to Chatsworth, GA Knoxville, TN Townsend, TN
Pigeon Forge TN Ashville, NC Brevard, NC
Table Rock State Park, SC Caesar's Head State Park, SC Augusta, GA
Helen, GA then back to Atlanta to catch our flight back.
