Thursday 9 August 2012

Day 46: Boise to Elko via Melba.

Greetings to everybody
Well an interesting day today as we first visited Melba, to take photos for D&D. We were up early at 6am to make the most of the early coolness. Breakfast at the hotel with a little fruit for morning tea and we were away up the freeway. All good with Karen telling us the way as we came off the freeway and onto a other road. The offramp was a little complex but I thought I had picked my right line when, all of a sudden like, a veritable avalanche of cars and huge trucks came hurtling towards me on the wrong side of the road. Can you believe that! What cretins! On the wrong side of the ...... Ummmmm ......whoops. Faster than a speeding bullet, I was back on the right (correct) side of the road with sphincter retightened and pulse settling.

It was a lovely ride to Melba, especially as I was now still alive. Very rural roads with maize, potatoes and sugar beet being grown along the side of the road. Lots of dairy cows, Freisians and Jerseys in feed lots with huge feeder stations. Lots of very complex irrigation. No photos I'm sorry.

As we came from Melba there was a huge roar overhead as a Cessna Agwagon came swooping down and sprayed the maize field right beside us. A lovely stall turn at the end of his (her?) run and then back the other way. Tumeke! Here's Diana's photo.



We then headed down Idaho 78 through Murphy and Grand View to Bruneau where
we stopped for an early lunch. I noticed this poster in the window and was intrigued. Apparently by buying (and presumably drinking) Budweiser you can help American military families. Seems an odd way of doing it somehow.



It certainly was an intriguing place with a very grumpy chef who made great sandwiches and breakfasts. We forgave him the abruptness. :-)



We retraced our route a little and went down Idaho 51 where we encountered some gravel. Interesting signs these because the gravel was really pretty minor.



A bit further down the road we stopped for a riddle in Widdle. Sorry, I mean a widdle in Riddle. She was a barren looking place. All the bowsers were padlocked and you had to go in to ask for them to be unlocked.



Kiwi was feeling a little warm so had a cooling sprinkle.



We then crossed into Nevada at Owyhee and gained an hour. We're now on Pacific Time! The road followed a lovely stream for a while and got quite twisty so I pulled off onto a side road to take a photo of the river.



As I did a deer jumped out of the undergrowth right in front of me. I was in the process of putting the camera away but got this shot! (expand it!)



And this one. (there she goes!)



Not too much else along the road so we stopped at the Lost Mountain bar and grill (I think) at Mountain City for a drink and a break. The barman was interesting. He made me a coke float (ie. spider) and chatted. As we did so he drank three shots of bourbon. Phew!



Kiwi checked on the coke float. Seemed ok.



And the deer's head. Seemed ok.



Pretty much a straight run then down Nevada 225 to Elko. I had keyed a Best Western into Karen and she took us straight there. We checked in and unpacked, had a swim and a shower (and did my washing!) and then I went for a walk. Elko is a casino town. Interesting in a kind of depressing way. The first thing you notice when you walk into a bar or restaurant is the smell of cigarettes. It is amazing how quickly you get used to not having tobacco smoke in places where you eat and drink but in Nevada casinos it is de rigueur. There were lots of people sitting on their own feeding cash into machines. There was not a huge amount of laughing and chatting. But plenty of exhaling.

I will have a quiet night tonight, catch up on some emails and write some letters.

Cheers.

Today's run : 438kms
Cumulative: 12,990kms
Tipovers: 2


Location:Elko, Nevada, USA

1 comment:

  1. Well Ken, you are now just a stone's throw from me. Glad you're not quite to Death Valley yet, it was 51c there yesterday! but it's starting to cool down. I'm told that they are racing at Bonneville this weekend. So, if that's your next stop, you're going to see some wild stuff.

    ReplyDelete