Pulled out of Tonopah, Nevada early this morning, when you stay in a Clown Motel, there is bound to be a lot of clowns and they were noisy all night, nothing noisier than a bunch a clowns that have been partying.Only covered 358.9 miles today, bringing our run up to 8,562.9 miles but we did see a variety landscapes. Early this morning, it was much the same as yesterday, prairie covered with sagebrush and an occasional wild burro. Most of the small towns on this route are basically ghost towns showing signs that the mining played out many years ago. However, I did find a business opportunity that has potential for growth in the libation industry with perhaps a small brothel on the side. 
You cannot make out the name of this establishment from the picture, the name of this bar and brothel is he Long Branch Saloon. There is a "For Sale" sign on the building, but I could not find anyone that looked like Miss Kitty and evidently Matt Dillon was out of town as cars were speeding through town. Looked for Festus, I think I found his mule, perhaps, burro but not him nor Doc. As you can see from the second picture, it is a "fixer upper"but a great way to build instant equity. As you can see, it has some great highway frontage, about two feet off the highway so you will need to buy the adjacent
vacant lot so truckers could pull in, I am sure a good number of them would be ready for a brothel and a stiff drink after driving this lonesome route. Did not see anyone else in town so you could set up your own government.
Arriving in Gardnerville, Nevada we started seeing the scene change to agriculture in nature, however as we left town we immediately started gaining altitude from about 4,000 feet to 9,000 foot pass, heavily wooded with Ponderosa Pine. Reaching the peak of the pass, it was an immediate decline down the other side with a view of Lake Tahoe and the valley. A beautiful drive. Arriving in South Lake Tahoe, Terry wanted to spend a couple hours shopping. I had no choice, shop or go to a casino. Wanting to spend some quality shopping time with her, but knowing she preferred to shop by herself so she could take her time, I made the sacrifice and sought the refuge of Harrah's Casino. During her absence, I nursed three free rum and cokes and played conservatively with a $50.00 tab. Upon her return,my $50.00 investment was down to $18.00. My next pull, I pulled it up to $32.00 so she suggested we leave at that point, "ah, come on, just a couple of more pulls", on the third pull I finally hit a triple and cashed in my check for $245.00. My net winnings of $195.00 almost covered her shopping spree. Best of all, I left Nevada a winner from Laughlin and Tahoe!
The drive around the South End of Lake Tahoe was beautiful, no sign of the fire that swept through this area. We did spend about five minutes on the interstate, just long enough to catch a secondary road that will take us across California in a NW direction and right through the center of the Sierra's. Our decision was good, as soon as we got off the interstate, we had no traffic. The landscape is rolling hills and smaller mountains heavily forested by huge Sugar Pine. Dropping into the valleys, the communities are small and predominantly ranching areas with large cattle ranches, expect to see the Cartwrights come riding out of the trees at anytime. This part of California is livable, appears to be relatively untouched with large developments. Looking forward to the trip tomorrow, the Sierra's should be beautiful as we have Lassen Volcanic National Park, perhaps Shasta National Park to visit. If we do not get tied up touring the parks and enjoying the scenery, we should make the Pacific Coast by evening. We will hit the coast at McKinleyville, California to start our trek up Highway 101 to visit friends. We have made the 101 trip several times, you can never get tired of this drive.
The next time, you hear someone mention that we are running out of military and munitions, ask them to visit Hawthorne Nevada. I have passed through here before, it is a non descript little town out in the prairie of Nevada. For twenty five miles, you drive through the explosive ordinance storage area. They are all bunkers, built to ground level and covered with dirt, rows of them as far as the eye can see on both sides of the road. The Navy Undersea Warfare training detachment is also here. In the middle of Nevada and dessert area. However, there is a huge lake (which Dutch went swimming in) that I assume they use for training. Some how, they got the word that a retired Chief was in town because they gave me a military escort as I left town. I assume it was a convoy for me, I passed a Humve with two battle dressed soldiers standing up in the rear looking over the top of the driver. Going back into my lane after passing, I am behind another army truck - I was inside their convoy! Not desiring to have any part of what the Army was doing, I put the petal to the metal and pulled out of the convoy leaving them in my rear view mirror. However,I did not exceed my highest posted speed of the trip. See you on up the road and the coast.
