This is the name given to US 50 by Life Magazine in July 1986. I saw this little booklet called, the Official Highway 50 Survivor Guide while browsing through various pamphlets in the Ely, Nevada Tourism Office.
In it is a story from the article quoting an AAA counselor, "It's totally empty. We don't recommend it. The 287 mile stretch of US 50 running from Ely to Fernley, Nevada passes 9 towns, 2 abandoned mining camps, a few gas pumps and the occasional coyote. We warn all motorists not to drive there, unless they are confident of their survival skills."
That did it -- I had to go!
Joan agreed to make the trip only after I vowed that I would throw my own body in front of any coyotes who dared to approach us. So off we went with a full tank of gas, 2 apples, chocolate and 2 bottles of water. What we saw was amazing, as we hope you can tell from the pictures. Mostly as we drove along and looked to the left, right or forward, we saw the same thing -- NOTHING! We did encounter a slice of normal life when we were stopped by a flag person in front of work being done on the road ahead and lost 1/2 hour.
In the little pamphlet that I carried with me, there were places to mark the 5 major towns along the way. In each one, I stopped at a designated location to get my booklet stamped and validated that I actually made the trip. This I will now mail in to the Nevada Commission on Tourism to have my Certificate of Completion mailed back to me.
This was our first glimpse of Lake Tahoe, California:
And (needless to say) I got a tee shirt!
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