Extra Terrestrial Highway

The wind kicked up in the night and kept Liz and I awake for some time since both of our beds are at each end of the trailer, then fold out and are covered with heavy canvas which really whips in the wind.  Helen sleeps in the third bed within hard-sided walls, and she heard the wind, but her new memory foam bed was so comfortable that she immediately fell back to sleep.

The next morning we left Cedar City, heading west.  We planned to stop at Cathedral Gorge State Park in Panaca, NV, and we did. It is an interesting park, well maintained, protecting these eroded clay barrens that looked almost like miniature reddish hoodoos of Utah.

After filling up with gas in Panaca, we drove the few miles to Caliente, NV, and continued east to connect to the Extraterrestrial Highway, route 375.  A tall statute of a Roswellian ET stands by a roadside business (seemed closed) just as you embark on the highway.

Several small communities were dotted along the map of our route, and we planned to get gasoline halfway, when my tank would be slightly over 1/2 full.  Nowhere did we see any sign that no services would be available until Tonopah, our destination, and about 170 miles from Panaca.  Generally, I can count on about a 200 mile range pulling the trailer, unless there are several passes or long grades that reduces the mileage from an average of 10-11 mpg, to about 6-7 mpg.

The first  inkling of concern came when one of the little communities on the map was no longer even a remnant on the highway,  and major concern hit when we pulled into the gas stop halfway along the route and the pumps were still showing gas at $2.33/gal and the associated rustic minimart, which sported a sign saying it was open, was locked and the shelves inside were empty.  A dried up mop lay scattered on the floor.  I had a little over half a tank and we had 115 miles to go to Tonopah. Then the climbs through about 1/2 dozen passes began and my tank dropped more quickly than I liked. We were in a real desert  now, with cactus instead of pinyon pine and juniper. Few if any cars passed us, and only one or two were encountered going the other direction.  The highway is remote and lightly traveled through a very dry desert. It was time to be nervous.

Our plan was to go as far as we could, but when the gauge showed 1/8th of a tank, we would drop the trailer and continue without it to get gas and then return to the trailer. Liz had spotted a campground icon on the map that seemed suitable.  That probably would have worked well if we hadn't hit a spot of road construction with a pilot car.  The bottom line was that we were at a lot less than 1/8th of a tank when we hit the rest area (which appeared to allow overnight camping).  Of course, we had not had cell service for some time.

Liz stayed with the trailer, while Helen and I headed down the highway for the last 25 miles to Tonopah.  I was now averaging 23 mpg, but the gauge was very low, and about 5 miles outside of Tonopah the empty fuel gauge warning light came on.  It was on E but on a downhill portion of yet another pass, the light went off, so there was clearly enough gas to slosh around still.  We had just seen signs of the far outskirts of Tonopah when the warning light again appeared, but despite this we made it at last to a Shell station and re-filled.  It took 20.12 gallons, more than I had ever put in before.

We reversed course to return for Liz and the trailer, and in this direction there WAS a sign that said no services for 169 miles.  They need to put one on the other end, too.

We were worried about Liz all alone at a remote rest stop in the middle of the Nevada desert, so I went as fast as I could back to where we had left her.  She was fine--reported that no cars but two had gone by in the hour we had been gone.  One, a trucker, had stopped and used the rest area.  Another, an elderly lady who could barely walk, had stopped and said she was nearly out of gas and she was praying she could make Tonopah.  Liz had told her our story, and why she couldn't help. We didn't see her car along the side of the highway later, so she must have made it.

We were so tired that we camped in the Tonopah Ramada Casino RV "park"--full hookups behind the casino/hotel.  Not too pretty, a little noisy, but good enough. Quite an experience.  This morning we headed to Carson City across some pretty dry and desolate desert.  Tomorrow we will tour Virginia City; at least that is the plan.