Last year Bridget, Lisa, and I decided to travel eastward down Highway 50. However, this Memorial day we decided to go a bit more north and discover i80 East.

Day 1

  • Gerlach – We decided to first head over to Gerlach to explore the fuming, 5 foot  Fly Geyser. Gerlach itself is less than 1000 people, and it’s a turning point to Burning Man. But, we traveled 20 miles past the village to get to our destination. Fly Geyser is on private land, yet it can be seen from the highway. However, once we did arrive, we saw someone blocking the gate to the entrance. “Hello, I’m part of ‘Friends of the Black Rock’ and if you’d like to see this geyser, you’ll need to sign up for our club. It’s $50 per person.” What? You want me to spend $150 to see a geyser. I wouldn’t have minded spending a bit less, but that’s a costly ticket, and that club doesn’t have the best reputation. So, we grabbed the binoculars and watched from the outside.
  • Lovelock – A town of 2000 strong, Lovelock is surprisingly charming. Bridget and I decided to follow an ancient Lovelock custom:
    “Locking your love is the ancient Chinese custom of symbolically locking one’s love on a never-ending chain. You can forever lock your love with a soul mate, family member, friend or anyone else who is important in your life. This ultimate romantic gift idea takes place at Lovers Lock Plaza, in Lovelock Nevada.”
    And so we did. We went to a local store and bought a lock, which Bridget engraved our names:  “Andy and Bridget 08.08.08”. We then went to Lovers Lock Plaza to lock our love. After finding the perfect spot, and a few fun photos, we locked our padlock to the chain . I then made it official and submitted our love story. We left our love print in Lovelock and continued our journey.
  • Winnemucca – A biker event was happening in Winnemucca when we drove by – “Running a ‘Mucca in Winnemucca”. With a wind storm trailing us behind, we stormed a grassy park to look at the Pioneer Park statue. This was a bronze statue that honored young children who had left the world too soon. On our way back, we would also eat lunch at Ceci’s, a Mexican restaurant with a very nice owner who gave us a free dessert for our ride home.
  • Battle Mountain – We drove through Battle Mountain and grabbed gas. I wasn’t too impressed with the city, and then later found out that people had unfairly named Battle Mountain the “Armpit of America.” Yikes.
  • Elko – We rolled into Elko a bit late after 10 hours on the road. We were looking for dinner, and found a good Mexican food restaurant (Sergio’s), who was playing an old Danny Glover/Michael Landon film in Spanish. Awesome! We then decided to go on a small, bar crawl. The first place, G-Spot, was a non-smoking bar with a bachelorette party. After pleading Lisa and Bridget to dance with them (and politely declining), we finished our Maker’s Mark and coke and moved ahead. Next, we found a new bar, the Tiki Bar, a smokey, cowboy bar that was a complete change of scenery. Another Maker’s Mark, another bar. We then decided to stop at one more bar… The Office. You can’t not go there. Think of a small town club, in the environment pillars and old buildings. A very cool bar, and good time to call it a night.
Day 2
  • Ruby Mountain Adventure – The main reason we decided to go this route was because of the Ruby Mountains. We heard they were stunning, and they didn’t disappoint.  The rain clouds surrounded the mountain peaks, the shadows forming interesting marks across the greenery. Instead of the Sierra pines filling the mountains, the Ruby Mountains held young aspens across the rocky, craggy mountain base.  Along the way through Spring Creek to the mountains, we found a small village filled with B&Bs that will need a return trip to experience. We also uncovered a dirt road along our search for Ruby Lake, which unveiled a ghost town and old, abandoned cars. After a few pictures, we continued our journey to Ruby Lake, which was more or less a refuge than a lake. We then traveled back, through the dirt roads, among the mountains, back through Elko, onto home. Another great, Nevada adventure in the books.