Aug 23 Day 03 - The Old Spanish Trail - Ely, NV

First things first this morning, breakfast at the motel was OATMEAL (yaaay!) with yogurt and orange juice. I had coffee in my room so no need to gargle any more down right now. I expect I'll be in a good mood all day just because of that.

It's another nice sunny day out and you can see the mountains easily in spite of the smoke lingering from the fires. I zipped the liner back into my jacket as it's a bit on the nippy side this morning.

Walmart awaits my return, the Bonnie's loaded up and ready to go. No need to gas up as I did that part on the way into town yesterday.

Well shoot, Walmart was easy, no one seemed at all concerned about my returning the GPS so that's a done-deal. At least I know where I can get one if I need it in a hurry. 

Leaving Winnemucca I rode SE on highway 80, missed the exit at Battle Mountain and caught the next one at Carlin. There I'd take NV 278 to Eureka which would put me back on track. I'd only gone a couple of miles down 278 when it occurred to me how fast I'd been riding on I-80, they have a posted limit of 70 mph so naturally  that's what I did. I decided to ride back to Carlin and fill up which would be enough for the ride to Eureka.

With that out of the way I hit the road heading south again only to be corralled by a freight train, one of the longest buggers I've seen. I sat and waited for what seemed a very long time and no one else showed up until the train was just getting by, then a lone pickup pulled up.

 Watching this train lumber by turned out to be the most exciting thing I'd see all day. 

Looking to the left

Looking to the right

Horses are a big deal in Nevada and today I saw lots of them on ranches along the way. No people, just horses and the occasional bovine.

Nevada 278 must run a close 2nd to 50 as the loneliest highway in America, it was nearly devoid of traffic the whole way today. I kinda like that but parts of it are really boring unless sage brush is your deal.

Saw another wreck today, looked fairly recent and from the looks of the skid marks it was a one-car accident. This area is so boring  I'll bet drivers fall asleep and just run off the road. 

No bodies anywhere. Maybe aliens got 'em

I didn't realize it but I'm on part of the Lincoln Highway. That's been another one of my goals, to ride it coast to coast. This is the stretch leading into Eureka which you can see in the distance.

I think I parked a bit too close to the traffic lane. The local cop was eyeballing me from his car down the road.

Eureka's such a neat little town, most of the historic buildings are restored and in great condition. I thought about staying the night there but it was just a little early to hang it up.

The main drag through town

Information station for touristas

 For some reason it seemed a lot warmer when I reached Ely so I decided to find a place for the night. I rode through town, then doubled back to the Prospector Hotel and Gambling Hall. They have some old bikes in their lobby plus they welcome dogs so they're my kind of people. I scored the best room I've had in ages, so nice in fact I thought I'd post a couple of pics of it. Unfortunately both came out super fuzzy but I'll post them anyway so you can see how nice it is and only $88.91 with the AAA discount.

The hotel's also got a Mexican restaurant so I'm going to head that way for dinner. I've already done my laundry, socks, shorts, & T-shirt in the luverly hi-class bathroom sink but I've decided you don't need to see those so I'll close.

Oh well, if you insist...

That'll do it.  Oh, around 300 miles today.

LL