The Loneliest Road in America

Typical Eastern Oregon Scenery

Our second day through eastern Oregon and into Nevada was much sunnier! Yeah!!  The weather was still on the cool side, the night in Burns was in the mid 30's. As Mark started the driving this morning, I found the opportunity to take a quick nap. I grew weary of watching the side of the road for ground squirrels who were ready to dart across the road, right into our path. Mark couldn't see them quick enough to avoid hitting them. I love all wildlife and hate to see any die, so for a while I was on edge looking out for them. But as the day progressed, I resigned myself that if a few died, it would be population control as there are many squirrels out there. As it happened, we didn't hit a single one, mainly for the blessing that when one darts out, they usually head straight across the road and don't turn back into the cars path. The only one I almost hit did just that, it stopped in the path of the car and headed back from where it came from.

Back to my nap: I was suddenly awakened by Mark letting out a strangled cry and a little veer to the right. As I sat up, Mark exclaimed that he had almost hit a deer. It had jumped out in front of him and he had missed it by very little. I am so glad that hitting the deer hadn't been on the menu for this day.

We finally found our

selves on Hwy 50, in Nevada, dubbed "The Loneliest Road in America." Along this route, we came across this really cool structure that we figured must have been a pony express stop at one time. It was too small to be a house, but would have made a perfect way station for tired horses and riders. We had to take down a gate to gain access to this structure, but since there were no signs against trespassing, we went for it. It was cool to see what kind of nails were used and how this whole building was put together. When we were done, we put the gate back up and continued on this hwy. 

We can see how this hwy got it's name, it was a very lonely road for miles on end. There was very little services, so don't head out on this road unless you have a full tank of gas. There is literally nothing out here but cows.

It has been very interesting to see a part of Oregon and Nevada we have never seen before. We ended our day in Ely (pronounced Elee) and declared this day a great day!