The Lonliest Road in America

That would be Highway 50 which runs right outside the door at my shop. It runs coast to coast but the “loneliest” part is considered to be from Delta, UT to Carson City, NV. Last week I mentioned that I was headed to Reno, NV on the Harley with a few other folks for a photo shoot at the Californios Ranch Roping and Stock Horse Contest. We took Hwy 50 both ways.


I suppose you’d have to define what “lonely” is but considering that we only encountered 6 vehicles in the 150 or so miles between Delta, UT and Ely, NV, I’d say the traffic wasn’t very thick. That’s only one vehicle every 25 miles and two of those were traveling together. There was equally sparse traffic between the other little towns of Eureka and Austin and it didn’t really increase by much until we were near Fallon, NV some 380 miles from Delta, UT.

We spent the first night in Ely, NV and ate at the Cell Block Steakhouse which is so named because the dining area is in what used to be the old jail. The booths are built right into the cells which is kind of neat and colorful. I highly recommend the steak.

The next morning we rode on to Eureka, NV, some 70 miles or so down the road for breakfast at the Owl Saloon and Café. This is a really cool original. On one side is the café and through the opening in the wall is the saloon. Shortly after we sat down and ordered, a rather colorful older couple came in. The waitress called out “coffee”? The wife nodded and the gent hollered back “Budweiser”. He looked over at me and shrugged his shoulders. Darn good omelet and hash browns there.

I think the best part of the trip was Louis’ Basque Corner in Reno. This place is in the old downtown area just off of Virginia Street. It was within hiking distance of our motel although we did have to walk through what might be called a questionable neighborhood and old warehouse district to get there. On the way we walked around some doubtful items in a plastic bag on the sidewalk. One of the members of our party commented that it looked like a potential bag of evidence. That kind of neighborhood. We were in numbers and sporting our leather jackets so we were good. No trouble.

Time and space is limited here so I’ll tell you more about Louis’s next week. It’s worth tuning back in for. Since I was going out there to photograph the Californio event I need to report that I did. See you downtown.

This article is reposted from a column I write every week for the Montrose Daily Press.