Nevada is the land of mountain ranges. We decided to drive the Loneliest Road of America, U.S. Route 50 into Nevada from Utah. Apparently, Route 50 follows the path of the Pony Express riders. There's almost a demoralizing quality to picking the loneliest road, but in fact, it proved to be absolutely gorgeous and we had it all to ourselves and with little concerns about the lack of service on long stretches of road. We also gained an hour of lives back when we made it to Nevada out of the Mountain standard time zone. However, they might want to rethink that! Mountain range after mountain range provoked us. Antelope Range. Cherry Creek Range holding lots of snow. Grant Range.Monitor Range. Shoshone Range.
I think when you are on the open road, two things happen. You really get to know yourself and the people you are traveling with because there's no time to put on a face or hide behind craft, personality, language or a door. It's raw unimpeded terrain and you grow to love each other more every moment because it bothers you when you don't understand each other or yourself and so you try harder. It's hard to be superficial on the open road. Throughout the trip, a more open satisfying feeling started to emerge from me that yanked me from under the thumb of the trappings of anyone else, from under the trappings of life that could without this time to wander and explore burn holes in our minds to only focus on the deplorable, the fears, the reasons to loathe, instead of the reasons to grow, love and expand our minds. I am no longer running in place it feels.
It's great to see the feelings associated with relaxation emerge from my family and live alongside of each other with them raw, sharing our space, our thoughts, our feelings, and expressing our concerns and admirations to find that it takes a lot of work and time, space and relaxation to shed inhibitions. Being ourselves, unfiltered and there only to prove we can be open and individual and protect our own identities look toward what lies ahead. There are never guarantees to the future, we cannot force outcomes in order to fear it less, rather we can embrace that even if we want a certain outcome, it's still not so just because we practice our intent, since so much is possible and many factors emerge. Still, we hold on firmly and open our minds to the possibilities that work their way in your thoughts when you give it some space and leave the well worn path out of your comfort zone into a world outside of your finger tips. How was all this shaped?
Then we made it to Austin, NV. Why there? We had considered checking out the Spencer Hot Spings in the area, but later it turned out that they would be found down a rather unnerving road filled with gravel that our RV likely would not enjoy. We stopped at blog-worldwide known "The International" in Austin, NV because from reading about it, we would be able to meet someone who believed that the great silver mother lode hadn't yet been found and would someday. That's a hopeful spirit! After figuring out where our RV site was, located at a Baptist church in town, we headed over to The International. I walked in and the bartender told the three men sitting at the bar that he was glad that the dancing girls had finally arrived. I told him that I'd dance, but that the rest of the dancing girls were in the RV and I would have to get them, but first I needed to know what time they closed. It was only 6:15 and they closed at 7:30 pm so we were in good shape. I told them I'd be right back with the other dancing girls. I grabbed Justin, while Marilyn primped. When Justin and I walked in together, I introduced Justin as my other dancing girl. As soon as Marilyn walked in, I introduced my third dancing girl. We got ourselves some laughs and escaped having to dance on the bar. Vic is the bartender. He's quite a character, but more importantly it turns out that he's actually the person at the bar who believes that the motherlode of silver still hasn't been discovered in Austin.
Austin, NV used to be the silver capital of Nevada in the 1860s and now it's better known for its turquoise although officially its called a living ghost town. It's basically a ghost town, but there is still a downtown and it's at a prominent juncture on the Loneliest road in America so it gets traffic from everyone looking to be a loner in Nevada for a few days. There we were and Vic made joke after joke using material of current events to keep people sitting at the bar on their toes. It turns out Vic is Serbian and quite a ham. He and his wife have lived there for a few years. We stepped out of the bar and had a great dinner in the dining room. We played two games of pool and got our pictures taken with Vic behind his bar. I don't drink the hard stuff, but sometimes it's just fun to pose, rarely, but in this case, yeah, ok.
We made our way to our RV site at the Baptist church and in the morning showered, before we headed out toward Virginia City and Carson City! I couldn't wait to try out the Carson City hot springs and to see the historic Virginia City where silver and gold once came out of the hills. We had already decided to forgo these hot springs and come back when the weather was nice and we had a smaller vehicle. So, off to the Carson City Hot Springs we drove, along with the hopes of getting some amazing pictures of Virginia City, NV.
On the way to Virginia City, right before we got there, we saw wild horses playing just outside someone's fenced in property. It was such a site to see. There is something that just unleashes our inhibitions when we see wild horses in a herd completely untethered.
And we made it to Virginia City! Biggest highlight for me is to stand where Mark Twain used to write for the Territorial Enterprise. Yes, you guessed it, I will certainly be trying to write him into a story soon, and trying to get my hands on the Territorial Enterprise. The lady at the saloon right next door to where the Territorial Enterprise used to be, shared stories about how there used to be a wall between that saloon and the newspaper offices.
You can see the line in the floor in the saloon below.
No doubt that Mark Twain came over to that very saloon regularly.
Highlight of our time there? The Carson City Hot Springs!!! It's a must. Relaxed us and we were pudding the rest of the day. Afterwards, I wrote a draft of my first short story in years while we all ate lunch at a very hip local hot spot called Comma Coffee, found right across the street from Nevada's State Assembly. We attended a photo showing. We walked all around Carson City. The first night, we decided to gamble using only small change. None of us really hit any sort of jackpot, but we laughed at the intensity of some of the frowns of people at the slot machines.
However, we bowled and suddenly it became a family tradition, because it turns out, I'm pretty good at it. So is Marilyn. Justin is better at golf, but he's willing to give it more tries in the future because we all ended up having a great time.
We traveled snowy Interstate 80 into California. We arrived in Alameda County and one of the first things we saw was a triple rainbow. Ok, really? That's an awesome welcome back home, California!!!! The rainbow made us all feel great!
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