A road trip is one of the great joys of my life. It is more about the journey than the destination. The destination is usually the excuse for the road trip. Gotta have a reason to justify loading up the car and driving off into the wild blue. Oh hell, I don’t need much of an excuse. Any will do. Just enough to justify the gas and the obligations left behind. Sometimes the excuse is just that: to leave obligations behind.
Road trip routes are important. Without a good route, it becomes destination-oriented. “Gotta hurry up and get off this interstate.” “Where are we going to stay?” Bah! There is always some place to stay if you pick a good road trip route, even if it is just a deserted pullout next to a gravel pit. More importantly, does the route make you smile, make you anticipate the next bend? Is there adventure ahead? A road not traveled before? No road signs? Should we go over that pass without chains? Where’s my damn camera? OMG, look at those antelopes!
I travel in Nevada a lot. GREAT state for road trips. Miles and miles of long, straight roads in the middle of nowhere. And the Basin and Range topography provides a special Nevada perspective for drivers. It’s called “with the grain or against the grain.” With the grain is when you drive up or down the length of a basin (valley). Against the grain is when you drive over ranges and through valleys. In Nevada, with the grain is mostly north/south, while against the grain is mostly east/west. Perhaps the greatest against-the-grain highway in Nevada is Highway 50, known as The Loneliest Highway in America. I love that highway. It speaks to me. It shouts to me. I’ve been on it so many times, I KNOW what is over the next pass. But that doesn’t matter. I live each moment on that road as though it is my first, while at the same time greeting familiar landmarks as old friends.
Highway 50, given that it runs right through the middle of the state, is also a perfect jump-off road to explore the many other great roads running with the grain. Highway 95 has spectacular scenery, and is a great way to get to places like Death Valley. On the way you can stop for great Thai food in Hawthorne. Luning and Mina provide bathroom pitstop, lobster crossing, and, a few miles off the highway, that gravel pit sleep spot. Tonopah has great Mexican food, and it’s fun to watch people get pulled over for not obeying the 25mph speed limit. Goldfield is a crumbling old mining town and the county seat of Esmerelda County. I’ve always wanted to buy the old Goldfield Hotel. South of Goldfield you can spot one of Nevada’s famous old brothels. I think it is Cottonwood Ranch, but I get them mixed up from having driven by so many. Then you have options to go to Death Valley, whether via Scotty’s Junction, Beatty, or Amargosa Junction. Beatty is a funny little town. Good Mexican food there too, at the south end of town. And if you head toward Death Valley, you can see a special desert treat like no other. Just a few miles out of town is the old ghost town, Rhyolite. The ghost town itself is worth the stop, but to me the special desert artwork outside the town is even better. There you will find the Venus of the Desert, a towering pink and yellow lady standing tall over the landscape. She got a new coat of paint a few years ago and is looking mighty fine.
I have only touched on a handful of road trip routes and highlights, just in Nevada. There are so many roads, so many states. I grew up in the driving generation, and while I try to restrict my driving at home, due to pollution and the cost of gas, I cannot help myself is somebody utters the magic words: ROAD TRIP!
No one should ever need justification for a road trip. Needing to taste locally caught lobster is a good reason for a 7000 mi road trip.