From The Nevada Travel Network :

Elko retains its unique air of awkward splendor with a marvelous diversity of its population: cowboys and Indians, sheepherders, miners and railroad men, gamblers and whores, schoolmarms and ribbon clerks. Oh, and a few tourists.

Heh… I would be one of the few tourists…

Above, part of the Chamber of Commerce restored village. It includes a school house, dwelling, livery and blacksmith as a short self-guided walking tour. I walked around quickly after Karl and I had a walk in the park.

Then a quick stop at Cucina Fresca…

Like the proverbial kid in a candy store, I looked over the wares and came away with a few things for my motorhome kitchen. And this wine gift bag!

Meanwhile, clouds were building ominously to the west. I cut my exploration of Elko short and headed home.

The wind kicked up dramatically. It was so gusty that I pulled in the slides to save wear and tear on the slide toppers that roll out over the top of the slides.

I put Bob in charge of the weather radio.

We ended up getting a lot of wind, but no rain, no thunder or lightning – just a LOT of wind.

A tumblin’ tumbleweed – my storm souvenir.

We are parked at the Double Dice.

Not a fancy rv park but everything works, it is quiet, unseasonably cool and sits on a bluff. That water in the background of the above is a bit deceiving. It is more like a large puddle out a ways on the valley floor. Railroad tracks that stay fairly active to large freight trains run just below. The track is far enough away and below the park – the sound of trains is a nice background sound, barely noticeable.

Standing on the bluff, looking to the south is Iron Horse RV Resort. I tried to book a site there online. It said no availability and then I saw something that said it was to open in August so I never called. I am so glad! Although newer, with sites and grass “yards”, there is not much more room between sites and it sits on the valley floor, with no view, right across from the trains…Iron Horse, yes??? And no access to the desert for walking.

Karl and I can pick our way down this bluff – there are several easy trails. And the dog area runs across the back of the Double Dice so I can look out over the valley to the Ruby Mountains as Karl takes his time on our walks.

We took a very quick cruise through Elko at lunchtime yesterday. This park is beautiful with lots of shade and dogs allowed. It is perfect for a change of pace walk.

Elko just feels good to me – like a nice place. I’m not sure what defines that but I know as I travel that some places feel good and some do not. Elko is not cuted up in any way. There are 2 casinos, slot and electronic gaming machines in every locale, but it is a ranching and mining community.

The laundry room here has a number of signs with a prohibition against washing “diggers” in the machines and direction to a downtown business that takes care of “diggers”. I asked another person doing laundry what diggers were and she didn’t know. We guessed we didn’t have any since we didn’t know what they were…

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning. I’m getting to work as I want to have some time to explore Elko. There is the Chocolate Saloon, Cucina Fresca (kitchen stuff), a Mercantile, a Western goods store, the river area, several Basque restaurants, a Cornish restaurant that advertises pasties as the original mining food, several independent bookstores…it is that kind of small town that feels solid and rooted and also vital. Frontier Citywide provides Wi-Fi everywhere in town.

I’ll take time this week to explore Elko while parked at the Double Dice.

A wonderfully restful evening and night. It was cool and blustery last evening. Clouds moved in and it is a bit balmy this morning. Rain and maybe thunderstorms are in our path. It looks like an 8 a.m. departure will work best. Elko is to have some storms this morning, clearing and then late afternoon storms so leaving at 8 will hopefully get us there in the clear spot. As always, will just pull over and wait out anything unsafe to drive in.

I-80 East all the way from Fernley to Elko today.

Nevada morning…

…from this morning’s walk.

11:00 a.m. At a rest stop just west of Winnemucca for a break, walk and early lunch. Probably will not post another update until arrival as good signal, but “roaming”….and I’m only 150 miles from Elko. Will probably be leaving here 11:30ish, have a fuel stop at some point so hope to be parked 2:30-3:30 if no delays. So far weather looks fine and wind has not been bad.

3:00 p.m. We are arrived and plugged in. Today was the best travel day of any so far! Good roads, gorgeous desert scenery, cool air that smelled of sage and not too much wind. A little rain here and there. The wind is picking up now and dark clouds so will get final outside stuff hooked up and Karl for a walk in case we get thunder-lightning fun.

Crossing San Mateo Bridge – South Bay. Clouds lined the coast but lightened up as I headed east. I didn’t get photos as the traffic was heavy and there were no places to stop, but the valley was beautiful. It had been very hazy when I came through 2 weeks ago – today, the air was clear, the sky was blue and all of the greens, yellows and browns of the farms were vivid.

Part of the moth ball fleet in Benecia-Martinez.

Donner Pass on I-80 is in either poor condition or undergoing reconditioning. Both were tough driving. The areas being worked on had narrow lanes. The poor condition areas rattled everything on board. There was not a rest area open from the East Bay until Donner.

Our spot tonight – more room, more grass, more trees and quiet. It feels good to be here.

No one called me on my naming of this morning’s post “Westward” when I was physically headed East. The west coast states do not have the “wild west” feeling that the inland western states have. Even though I was heading in an eastern direction, I felt like I was heading back to the west.

Not foggy, but very thick, moist, heavy air this morning. Karl and I just returned from our morning stroll and I’m making final preparations to depart. We should be rolling within the 1/2 hour – by 7:15-7:30. Today’s semi-plan is Reno-Sparks area but pressure is off and we’ll do what we feel like. I want to enjoy Donner Pass and the mountains as after that it will be downhill and flat until we turn north next weekend.

Hwy 1 north to 280 south to 101 south across the San Mateo Bridge, out to Dublin and north on some X90 route to I-80 east is today’s route.

See you down the road!

Noon – just finishing a long break in the parking area of Weimar Country Store in Weimar, CA – just east of Auburn and West of Reno. Made a reservation in Fernley, NV 130 miles away – should arrive 3:30-4:30 vicinity and have a nice short day tomorrow.

Drive has been fine and pretty as the valley was clear, but there were NO, NADA, NONE rest areas and we got lucky with this stop. Carol, the proprietor ok’d our parking, a nice long walk for Karl and I acquired a wonderful roast beef, avocado, cheese and onion sandwich as well as fuel. Off we go now.

1:30 – an open rest area at Donner Summit, elev. 7227. Light rain, 42F and still a bit of snow on some of the rocks.

3:30 p.m. – arrived Desert Rose RV Park outside of Fernley, NV. All is well and cool at 52!