MG Drive for CURE: What Happens in Nevada Stays in Nevada

Despite it's moniker as "The Loneliest Road in America," I found Rte 50 from Ely to Fallon to be one of the most magnificent stretches of scenery covered in this journey. When you ever so slowly cross the immense valleys, you are always looking ahead at snow-covered peaks, and as you crest repeated high passes, another huge valley stretches out beneath you at the end of a corkscrew of roadway. At times the low areas had unexplainable lakes, at others just dry salt or sand, as though the water had evaporated.

In July,1986, Life Magazine said U.S. 50 west of Ely was 287 miles of road with not a single attraction or point of interest and they recommended drivers have "survival skills" to travel the route. Sensing an opportunity to market their area, local Nevadans started to issue "The Official Highway 50 Survival Guide" to challenge travelers to learn for themselves. A sort of passport, you are encouraged to stop in the historic mining towns along the way and get the booklet stamped. This of course gets you to walk around a bit, buy a sandwich or a coffee or a trinket of some kind, but also gives you a chance to see up close the trail covered by the famous riders of the Pony Express as well as the Overland Stage.

We drove from Ely, home of the early Nevada Northern Railway, to Eureka with its picturesque courthouse and opera, to Austin and the abandoned tower of the Stokes Castle built by a long-departed silver mining baron, to Fallon and on to Carson City. There we met up with a contingent of MG cars from the Reno area and caravanned the final 28 miles in the "The Biggest Small City in America." Our parade under the Reno arch was filmed for a documentary movie and created quite the traffic jam in the center of town. I had again switched cars and was now in a 1962 MGA driven from Pittsburgh by George Kress. Life is good!