Saturday September 28, Forest Camp East of Austin Nevada

Today we have done 220 miles, the biggest daily mileage of the trip, but with straight roads that go on forever, it is much easier driving than on the roads we have done on the coast and around Yosemite in the last few weeks.  Enjoyed our overnight camp by the river, and headed off soon after nine on another stunning morning.

Immediately we drove through the canyon with just enough room for the road and the river then it opened out to huge plains and the town of Yerington. A real country town, topped up our supplies a really good supermarket. Poor old Ruakiwi was looking the worse for wear, she hadn’t had a wash all trip and after the dusty drive into Bodie yesterday, when we saw a car wash in town decided it was time!

We took Route 95 into Fallon, through huge barren open country surrounded by mountains.

The town had a population of over 8000 and hoped that I might find a store to get some walking shoes…with this cooler weather I can see I am going to need them, but there were plenty of casinos (not sure why Nevada has so many casinos!), food places and cheap shoe stores but really just a service town.

All afternoon have had 4G wifi on my hotspot which has been great, had a chat with the family and caught up on the news.

We were now on Route 5, the Old Pony Express Route and commonly known as the “Loneliest Road in America”! Have really enjoyed the afternoons drive, huge country, ranches (how they feed the cattle we don’t know) and vast landscapes. The roads are straight with a speed limit of 70mph, Ian enjoys travelling at 55mph so that he can enjoy looking around, so the small amount of traffic that was on the road had no problem passing us.

Stopped in the small town of Austin, an old mining town which appears to be only just surviving. We topped up our fuel and continued on for 7 miles to a really nice forest camp we had read about. It was almost 6 when we pulled in and were able to enjoy the last of the sun. Noticing how the days are getting much shorter, it was really dark by 7.15.

Route 50...The Loneliest Road in America