Pretty much most Nevadans agree that if it weren’t for mining and gambling, Nevada would be an empty state…well that and legal prostitution! Yesterday, I stopped in the middle of nowhere Nevada to get gas and catch the I-80 and was promptly met by a local to tell me that there were two houses of ill repute behind the station. It was a truck stop (duh) and had only one hotel….hmmm. I was tired but decided that one hotel wasn’t for me! LOL I pushed my way on toward Winnemucca.
Who knew that Winnemucca had a great little place for breakfast? It’s called “The Griddle.” It’s a cute 1950’s diner feel with great food. Other than that, there’s just gambling! To be honest, they say there’s some mining done there too but I never could find out what they mined there!
Over the last seven years when I was traveling, I’d traveled most of Nevada but somehow missed the northwest corner…until today. I’m so glad I had a chance to experience the wonderment of it from prairie lands, to salt flats, to sand flats, to painted rock, and, finally, to an oasis. Enjoy it with me!
You, literally, can drive a hundred miles without seeing more than a handful of vehicles or an exit. However, I found two exits within my first hundred miles this morning that only had a single dilapidated building at the end of that ramp! One such exit was Jesup, NV.
How did I happen to notice these? I took off from Winnemucca without filling up with gas and there wasn’t so much of an “authorized vehicle” median turn out to go back or anything until I saw a glimmer in the distance which looked like it might be a truck stop of some sort. As I got off the I-80, there was a faded fifty year old wooden sign notifying the weary traveler, “Welcome to Puckerbrush!” As I was solely focused on getting gas and getting on up the road, I didn’t go back for that money shot! I’ll have to get a photo of it next time I’m up there!
This is that exit for Jesup. Look at the cloud patterns in the sky! Looks like airplane patterns but there were no airplanes…or trucks or cars, for that matter!
Then there were sand flats on the left side of the highway…
Followed by salt flats on the left side…
Then both…
And, all the while, prairie lands on the right side of the road.
As the left side of the highway evolves into prairie, salt, sand and water!
Ultimately becoming an oasis!
And painted rocks on the right side…
With prairie lands on the left!
Until, it’s only prairie on both sides of the highway with mountains in the distance.
And an oasis with running water on the left.
The contrasts between states has never been more stark in comparison as it was between Nevada and California when crossing the state line from Reno! BAM! Now it’s all GREEN! And SNOW!
I didn’t see this much snow at 7000 feet in Glacier National Park! Heck, I didn’t see any snow at Glacier much more than a light dusting on the trees for about 50 feet!
Although I prefer the back roads for my travel joy, I gotta say I-80 wasn’t bad at all. I’d so traverse this route again but West to East next time!
I’ll be in the same place for the next few days so I won’t have much to post but keep tuned in as I’ll be headed to LA next!
HAPPY TAILS!
from a Friend 
Wow Donna you get great photos!!! Love them!!!
Thank you!
You are really putting together a great travelogue! Oddly, I esp. love this one! You ought to post some of the commercial places you like on Trip Advisor & earn some points (though I don’t know yet what the points are good for; but it’s fun; I have more than 1200 readers of my San Fran posts). As to Nevada, (1) I wonder what they are trying to fence out (or in) in the desolate fenced areas you photographed??? (2) Begs the famous questions (attributed to Chief Seattle): Who owns the land? (3) How do the locals make a livable income in Winnemucca & those environs? (You got to love that name.) (4) Also surprised to see power lines given all of the above, given the sparcity of locals, travelers, & resources. Seems like those setting up shop at the end of an occasional exit ram would be running off generators or even better, solar!
Thank you! I’ve enjoyed doing this for years but don’t really spend enough time in one place to dig deeper. I figure if people get interested in an area because of my posts, they can do the digging! I like to do the superficial explorations!