Winnemucca, Nevada

Good morning, my friends. We moved on from Ely to Winnemucca, Nevada, yesterday morning, and are we glad we did! We've stayed at this RV park before. It's fairly new, clean, and quiet. When I checked in, I had to wait for the woman to finish a telephone call, and so I snooped around their little gift shop. When I saw this, I knew I needed it. It's only my second shot glass of the trip.

When we awakened in Ely yesterday morning, it was to our neighbor's incredibly loud modified exhaust truck, created to be as loud as possible. And he started it up at 4:00 a.m. and let the engine idle for a full 15 minutes. Well. If we hadn't already decided to move along to Winnemucca, that would have been the clincher. We forfeited one night's stay there, but it was worth it to get a better night's sleep.

So, let's back up to yesterday's drive. It looked much like the day before. Driving across this part of Nevada, one might as well be on a different planet. There is almost nothing out here. We drove down arrow-straight roads, with only an upcoming ridge-line to break up the monotony.

On and on...

And on and on.

I amused myself with cloud formations.

Shortly after leaving Ely, we noticed this mining operation on the hillside. This is the Robinson mine. From what I can gather, they're mining for copper and gold.

As we neared the end of our journey, we saw another mining operation close to the town of Carlin. There is lots of mining in Nevada, and it seems to be mostly copper and gold.

We passed through the tiny town of Eureka.

This is one of those places where time seems to have stood still.

In our travels, we saw just one barn, although we saw plenty of open range cattle.

The area is so desolate that we saw only just a few abandoned homesteads. 

Apparently the homesteaders could see this land was no good for growing any sort of crop.

The last 80 miles or so of our trip into Winnemucca were on I-80 where we found a nice rest area. There were crabapple trees loaded with crabapples. It made me wish I had a bucket...and my canning supplies...and my jars...and everything else associated with making jelly.

Also, I noticed this sign indicating we were on the "California Trail." I forget there were other trails aside from the Oregon Trail.

This is a nice idea.

Here is the associated map, and you can see the stars indicating other historic markers.

Here's what it said about the California Trail:

Also, this sign indicating the road we were traveling is the Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway in honor of his being remembered as the "Father of the Interstate Highway System."

It was only another hour or so until we reached our final stop of the day. This tree is growing at our site and at all the other sites I can see. I don't recognize it. These little "fruits" are about the size of marbles.

A friend we used to visit had a tree with similar "fruits." If it's the same tree, they will eventually turn a color that makes them look like miniature apples. Maybe one of you knows what it is.

So, okay. We've had breakfast, and we're spending another night here in Winnemucca. We're just two sleeps away from home. Today we'll just have a day to relax before the big push (nearly 600 miles) to home. We'll spend the day reading, stitching, walking, and resting. I'll be starting dinner in the slow cooker soon, and then I'll spend a good amount of time slow-stitching my Kitten block. It's going to be a nice day. I hope y'all have a nice day planned for yourselves too.