The next morning, we all meet in the Jailhouse hallway and walk over to the Hotel Nevada for breakfast. The special steak and eggs for me. Cheap. Blueberry pancakes for Bob. Jarrett gets his usual: raisin bran.
“Actually I’ll have two orders of raisin bran,” says Jarrett.
“You want four little boxes?” says the spry waitress. “One order gets you two.”
“Two is enough,” says Jarrett.
We don’t get back on the road immediately because Bob is trying to get his doctor to fax a prescription to the pharmacy here in Ely (“The first licensed pharmacy in Nevada”) because he’s taken all his migraine pills, and he doesn’t want to be without them. This seems an easy and logical place to take care of such a bit of practical business but of course there are a million complications.
Restless Bob has however already found a few “frames” he wants to grab while the pharmacy works, before we hit the road. One involves an old concrete Lincoln Highway marker that’s in the sidewalk outside the local White Pine County Chamber of Commerce. I stop in there and talk with C of C Director Evie Pinneo and I tell her how much I enjoyed my short visit to Ely.
When I complain that my only gripe was there was no free wireless internet at the Jailhouse, she offers to share hers, so Jarrrett and I both bring our computers in to take advantage momentarily of her kindness.
After Bob gets his prescription and I call home to check with our trusty WQED webmaster Joan Guerin (who adds the photos to this blog after I get the text up,) we finally head out of town on Nevada Route 50.
Nevada Route 50 is most of the path of the Lincoln Highway from Ely to Reno, and 287 of those miles, from Ely to Fernley, the road has become known as the “Loneliest Road in America.” Someone writing for LIFE magazine in July 1986 called it that, remarking on lack of services, attractions and points of interest, but some smart PR person there in Nevada decided to turn the sad name into a positive, a point of distinction, and the state has apparently had great success having some fun playing with the “loneliest” idea. They pass out little Official Survival Guides, and there are points in each of the towns along the way where you can get your Survival Guide stamped, and if you get a stamp in all five towns along the route, you get some sort of prize or certificate.
We knew we’d find lots of places to stop. Jarrett was driving as we left Ely. Nice morning light.