Winnemucca, Nevada

Whoever dubbed U.S. 50 “the loneliest road in America” has apparently not traveled U.S. 95 between Boise, Idaho and Winnemucca, Nevada.  There’s not much traffic, few towns and not much in the way of scenery unless you are into minimalist landscapes.  Just bare hills and/or mountains and sagebrush.

Along the way, in the southeast corner of Oregon, is a wide spot in the road called Rome which consists of one small all-purpose building – grocery, gas station, maybe even the post office.  One truck was parked in front but we didn’t see any people.  There was, however, a government-issued sign announcing CONGESTION.  Unfortunately there wasn’t a space wide enough for us to make a U-turn to go back to photograph it.   You’ll have to take  our word for it.

We are now wrapping up a week here in Winnemucca.  It just seems longer.  The car museum we had planned to visit has apparently  disappeared, leaving only the empty Flying A gas station which once housed it.  The city’s convention center has three mini-museums: several cases of minerals and gemstones mined here in Nevada, a display of various game animals (all dead) and The Buckaroo Hall of Fame.  And then there’s the Humboldt County Museum, housed in a modern two-story building.  It has a small collection of very old cars and memorabilia from the town’s early years.  The featured exhibit is a collection of mastodon bones discovered nearby.  Whether it was by design or due to budget constraints, the displays were dimly lit or not lit at all which made it difficult to appreciate them.  

Several people had suggested that we should sample Basque cuisine while we were in this neighborhood.  Always eager to try the local specialties, we headed to a restaurant recommended by the campground manager.  We ordered a “family style” meal which featured three different entrees, along with soup, salad and wine.  While we have not yet formed an opinion about Basque food, we can say that such a meal will cause you to gain exactly 3 1/2 pounds and that weight gain will remain with you at least three days.  Longer if you actually eat all that you carted home in the doggie bag.

For obvious reasons, this will be a really short entry.