On the Road Again

My wife and I just got back from a road trip to Sun Valley, ID. For more on that, see my previous post. Among other things, we took in the annual Wagon Days celebration in Ketchum- complete with the  jerk line mule team.

The mule team with ore wagons

This was our first drive through this part of the world and I can’t help making a number of observations.

If ever there was a place where there is no ‘there, there’ this is it. The fact that Burning Man is held 75 miles north tells you how far off the beaten path Black Rock Desert is.

The five hours from Reno to Elko has a number of exits with town names, but you couldn’t see much more than a few trailers by the side of the road.

The exception was Imlay, home of the Thunder Mountain Monument – a unique home constructed of debris from the local junkyard, and concrete.

The major industry in Northern NV appears to be power production and mining. Where else do you see road signs promoting Barrick Gold.

It was still nice to see my tax dollars at work repairing overpasses at 5,000 feet with lanes closed and minor backups. I found some of the downhill sections of the high desert a bit intimidating and I couldn’t figure out why until I noticed there were no guard rails. Nothing to keep sleepy motorists from simply driving off the road and down 1,000 foot embankments. We did see one car which did just that.

Parts of Route 80 in California are similar. I assume it’s to leave room for snow plowing, but still, it is odd.

Speaking of Route 80. Let me suggest that you don’t drive West on Labor Day. You’ll be joined by about 15,000 folks leaving Burning Man, along with the usual Labor Day traffic. Since many of these weekend Burners have never driven a trailer or camper before (much less a motor home) their skill at navigating Donner Pass was negligible. The result was a backup from Truckee to Nevada City, even though there wasn’t a serious accident in sight.

Two other stops to avoid during that period are the truck stop in Fernly, NV which must be the only gas station on the way out of  Gerlach, and the new Whole Foods in Reno. Every other car we saw was covered in the signature desert dust of Black Rock and filled with hungry shoppers snapping up food for the trip home to the Bay Area.

If you ever decide to make the 11-hour drive to Sun Valley, let me add one word of caution on road signs. I have a particular pet peeve with signage that isn’t clear to someone who hasn’t driven the road before. A case in point is SR93 in Twin Falls – a lovely new bypass that takes travelers outside of the downtown area, though a number of mall zones, that US suburbs have made famous.

Problem is,  unless you spot a single small sign pointing out a left turn, to continue on SR93 you will wind up far from you eventual destination. I guess the folks in Twin Falls just like to have lost motorists driving around aimlessly.

My favorite road sign of the whole trip was just outside of Elko, proudly proclaiming an exit for Beverly Hills. I’m sure Rodeo Drive was just off the exit ramp.

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