Into Nevada Then Carson City Revisited

Not A Lot To See

US-395 S south of Lakeview

The breakfast area when I arrive about 20 minutes before it ends is almost devoid of food. I have to ask for yoghurt and luckily they have some in the store cupboard. The orange juice dispenser is empty, again asking for it to be refilled. I do manage to cobble something together. Looking last night at today’s route, where it’s Carson City revisited at the end, I had a feeling it might not be that good a drive. A lot of it looked very straight in an awful lot of places.

I drive off at 10.30 am with bright blue skies and warm at 70º F / 21º C. Once out of Lakeview a flat and straight road is ahead of me. There are hills to my left initially but these soon disappear. There are lots of ranches again along the road today. And even more cows in the fields. The fields however are not green, more of a pale yellow or beige colour. I’m guessing the sun has dried the grass out. There are a few wide bends every now and again as the road changes course but then it’s straight again. Towns, as yesterday, are scarce.

There’s nothing of interest to see either, other than farm or ranch buildings. There is little to recommend this drive so far. At one point I pass over the Sagehen Summit at 5555 feet but so innocuous is this drive that you don’t realise you’re climbing. Sure there are sections where there is a noticeable rise or fall but it’s generally so gradual, nothing extreme.

I do drive a descent towards Standish as a plain of land appears in the distance. There’s also a mountain range or hills rising up beyond it. I’m still over 110 miles from Carson City. But soon after turning left at Johnsonville, the road becomes a major 2-lane highway, not the one-by-one lane that US-395 has been to this point. But there’s still nothing to see or report.

“Memories” *

At some point I pass over a junction with Hwy 70 which has memories of a previous road trip. Approaching Reno the traffic starts to build up and then the road becomes an Interstate through the city, I-580 S, as well as US-395. I abandon my plan to take US-395 ALT S as I realise I’ve driven it before, albeit in a northerly direction. I also hadn’t realised when planning that I-580 was duelled with US-395.

I’d programmed a stop at a Walmart in Carson City as I need breakfast supplies for the next few days. But I wasn’t that impressed with their breakfast stuff in Seattle so I found a Smith’s supermarket just down the road.

In the UK, Maps had done its occasional screw-up of not allowing more than 4 or 5 stops on a route. Today’s journey ended up being four separate sections. The last section to Walmart then to the hotel was from ALT-395. So I wait until I’m past that turn-off on I-580 and then start the last section.

But I’m not convinced it’s picked up the Walmart stop first. From what I can see on the screen, the exit from I-580 is too far into Carson City, it looks like it wants to take me direct to the hotel. So I go rogue. I kill the route and see the next exit from I-580 is for ‘Business 395’. I take this. Pulling over into a parking lot, I voice input “Smith’s supermarket” into Maps – only to discover, in the business district of Carson City, on a road lined with shops, gas stations and hotels – that there is no cell phone signal!!!

I cannot believe this. Guessing that I’m heading downtown I drive on. Half a mile down the road, cell coverage returns. A route to Smith’s duly appears. I was heading in the right direction and I’m soon pulling up in the parking lot. Out of the car and into 89º F / 31º C heat. Not a cloud in the sky either.

I get what I need, load up the car and drive, via another voice input to Maps, to The Federal Hotel. Turns out it’s a casino as well with slots all over the ground floor right by reception. I can also tell they allow smoking on the casino floor. Not good.

Back to The Fox

The room is good, clean and roomy. I quickly fill up the fridge with my Smith’s bounty. After some diary and tomorrow’s review, I walk up the street to The Fox Brewpub. I was here on the Coast to Coast road trip in 2018. It doesn’t seem to have changed much, which is fine because it was good back then, hence my return (and there’s not much choice anyway).

I have The Fox’s Wings with Buffalo and Blue Cheese dressings plus some Hop Tahoe IPA beer. Both are good. There’s baseball on TV but no bar chat, mainly because I’m alone at the bar. Tonight’s server Breanne seems constantly busy despite very few customers in the bar. She’s pleasant when we do interact but she’s never stood still for any length of time to engage in any in-depth chat.

The pub closes very early these days at 9 pm, 10 pm on Friday and Saturday. Last time I left the place at 10.30 pm and I don’t remember it was closing at that time. Breanne has known no different timing since she’s worked there. I guess the pandemic changed things, as it did for everyone, and maybe customer volumes still haven’t recovered.

So at the witching hour I leave and walk back to the hotel. On check-in I was given two vouchers to use at the hotel bar for a free drink. There is a restriction for ‘domestic beer’ only but I decide to see what’s on offer. The only beer worth trying was a bottle of Miller Genuine Draft. Decades since I last drank one of those! It was however surprisingly good. So much so that I used my second voucher on another.

I got some diary done whilst supping my MGDs, and then do a bit more up in my room. Then it’s lights out.

I have hope that tomorrow’s last stint on US-395 will be better than what I’ve experienced so far. Today was not good. The first two days had a some sections that were good. These however, at this stage, do not make Pendleton to Carson City on US-395 S one of my better or more interesting road trips. In fact there has been hardly anything that was interesting. But as said before, I wouldn’t know that until I did it. I could have found a hidden gem of a trip, but so far, no.

* Memories by David Guetta ft. Kid Cudi