The Loneliest Highway in America – Nevada Route 50

“The Loneliest Highway in America.“ We didn’t make up that name. Life Magazine dubbed it thus back in the 50s when they wrote a story about it. Nevada adopted the name in hopes it would attract tourists to the state. It worked! Route 50 runs from Lake Tahoe all the way across Nevada and into Utah. We picked it up in Austin and traveled as far as Ely where we turned south on Route 93 and ended our day in Pioche. It’s cool and quiet here, and we plan to sleep good tonight.

Today on “The Loneliest Highway in America,” we saw about six cars, two motorcycles, a truck, and for some strange reason, a bicyclist! We all got together and formed a support group for lonely drivers with annual meetings to be held in Austin, Nevada. We bought a bottle of champagne to be opened by the last surviving member of the group.

In actuality, Route 50 is incredibly beautiful with rolling hills, giant mountains and a few exceptional twisty-turny roads like you’ll find up around Jerome. There are all sorts of small towns full of buildings that hark back to the days of the Pony Express. In fact, this road follows the Pony Express Routes very closely. We can’t imagine how the riders rode a 10- mile leg followed by a four-minute horse change and continued this routine for 10 hours a day.

We had breakfast in Eureka and went through the town museum full of old newspaper equipment housed in the Nevada Sentinel newspaper building, and dating back to 1864. It produced papers using hot lead and flatbed presses up until the 1960s. Then it was on to Ely where we visited the old train depot and saw an amazing old steam engine chugging away on the tracks next to the station. We even got see the stoker shoveling the coal into the firebox and hear the wail of the whistle!

So here we sit in Pioche (Pee oach). It’s a little town firmly caught in the middle of a time warp, half 1800s and half 21st Century. It’s absolutely fascinating to drive from one end of town to the other and see the centuries change!

Love from the Whistle-Stop Kid, Lucy the Loose Caboose, and Peanut the Hobo Wonder Pup