We did make it back up the hill to see the famous Virginia City of the old west, but before we got there we went into Fallon to visit their museum. It was like stepping back into the past and living as someone who lived in Fallon from the late 1800’s on to today. I almost expected to see something about Ernie and Sheila in there (the newer items anyway…). It was a very nice museum and well taken care of. They should be proud. Then we were off to back track from our trip last night. As I mentioned earlier, Virginia City is about an hours drive from Fallon, so seeing as we had visited the museum and driven for another hour, it was lunch time when we got there. First and foremost I wanted to eat. We found a parking place right at the beginning of town and then proceeded to walk the wood plank sidewalks in search of “just the right restaurant”. After walking ¾ of one side of the town we found that right spot to eat. It was in a bar that had some tables set aside for those that really wanted to eat, and that was us… Either the food was really good or it was that we were really hungry…we ate just about everything (we left about 2/3 the fries…aren’t we good???). Now we could go out and enjoy the sites of Virginia City. At one time there was over 30,000 people, more than 100 saloons, a very few churches, and many, many mines. The Comstock Lode had been one of those mines that made good, shall we say $234 million good ??? Mark Twain was also one of those that made a mark here. He started out in Virginia City as a reporter for one of the local newspapers (one of the newspapers in Virginia City was the first newspaper in the state of Nevada). From a newspaper reporter that no one would have remembered to one of the most read non-fiction writers of his day…
17 October ‘06
We did make it back up the hill to see the famous Virginia City of the old west, but before we got there we went into Fallon to visit their museum. It was like stepping back into the past and living as someone who lived in Fallon from the late 1800’s on to today. I almost expected to see something about Ernie and Sheila in there (the newer items anyway…). It was a very nice museum and well taken care of. They should be proud. Then we were off to back track from our trip last night. As I mentioned earlier, Virginia City is about an hours drive from Fallon, so seeing as we had visited the museum and driven for another hour, it was lunch time when we got there. First and foremost I wanted to eat. We found a parking place right at the beginning of town and then proceeded to walk the wood plank sidewalks in search of “just the right restaurant”. After walking ¾ of one side of the town we found that right spot to eat. It was in a bar that had some tables set aside for those that really wanted to eat, and that was us… Either the food was really good or it was that we were really hungry…we ate just about everything (we left about 2/3 the fries…aren’t we good???). Now we could go out and enjoy the sites of Virginia City. At one time there was over 30,000 people, more than 100 saloons, a very few churches, and many, many mines. The Comstock Lode had been one of those mines that made good, shall we say $234 million good ??? Mark Twain was also one of those that made a mark here. He started out in Virginia City as a reporter for one of the local newspapers (one of the newspapers in Virginia City was the first newspaper in the state of Nevada). From a newspaper reporter that no one would have remembered to one of the most read non-fiction writers of his day…
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16 October ‘06 This morning we took the “toad” and headed for Carson City and then onto Reno. While we were in Europe we either loaded the VW back up with all our goods for travel, or caught a bus, tram, or train to make a side trip like this one today. Over all we probably covered 125 miles round trip. It’s very interesting to see these different cities that have all the “Western” history that I’ve always heard of or read about, as I was growing up as a kid. Leaving the history lesson of the towns and cities for a few hours, we went to Reno for another type of “looking at history”. We had read and were told over and over, that The Harrah National Automobile Museum is a “must see”. As we drove into Reno, I thought we should grab the first parking lot at a casino that offered free parking, so we pulled into Circus Circus when we saw the “Free Parking” sign. Now to find Harrah’s and the museum. We chose this day to see the museum because it was forecast that it was going to be a cold, blowing, and light rainy day…what a better day than this to do a museum???. Well, Circus Circus just isn’t right around the corner from the museum, it’s about a 15 minute walk and it’s not quite miserable, but close to it. When we found the museum we found that they also offered free parking …bummer… Now inside, we wondered around looking at some of those beautiful collector cars when it was announced that there was going to be a tour guide giving a very exciting free tour that we “just couldn’t miss”. At this point we met Mike Thomas and, we became very informed about these incredible collector cars over the next 3 hours. I must admit that this stop was much more than I could have ever imagined…it was great. Unfortunately Louise had chosen to wear her cowgirl boots so she was suffering a little, not bad, but a little. Now it was off to one of our favorite grocery stores…Trader Joe’s. This was our first since leaving the Seattle area and we were looking forward to shopping. With the car full and the pocket book empty, we headed up and over the mountain to historic Virginia City. It was after 6 and getting dark, but we still wanted to make the drive. The 2 lane road was winding, twisting, and climbing for the clouds. The lights of Reno and the surrounding towns were beautiful as we climbed. Once we arrived at Virginia City we realized that it was too late and too dark to really enjoy, so we’ve just got to make the drive again tomorrow. 15 October ‘06 McCall, back to Highway 95, and a long ride through 2 states and into a third. Not too much to tell about this part of the drive, except to say it was long. We did find this part of 95 was a highway for the truckers. I don’t think we have seen so many trucks on any one road before. I’m sure this will continue all the way to Las Vegas and most likely further. The destination for the day was Winnemucca Nevada. After spending the night we were back on the road and heading for Fallon. The sights along the way weren’t too exciting until we turned off of 95 Alt and onto 95. There the roadbed was raised, narrow and without a shoulder. Throughout the rest of the drive, which was as straight as I have ever seen, we overlooked a very large area of small sand dunes, sage brush, and spotted with small lakes for bird migrations. I had pushed on from Winnemucca without topping off the gas tank on the coach and by the time we were pulling into Fallon I had just about soaked my shirt with sweat. I’ve got to quit passing that dag-nab gas pump looking for a few pennies off the price of the last pump. Well we made it…and we did find gas…and in Nevada we’ve found the prices 20 to 30 cents a gallon higher than Idaho’s. We were able to meet with Ernie and Sheila today. This is a very uncommon thing to do seeing as they are the traveling couple of the millennium. They had just gotten back from a cruise through the Panama Canal and the Caribbean. Ernie was already repacking for another trip on Tuesday down to Cabo. They have a beautiful home here and are wonderful hosts to all of us vagabonds who traipse through. |
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