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This is the loneliest road in America
nationalgeographic.com ^ | 3/5/2019 | Hannah Lott-Schwartz

Posted on 03/05/2019 12:43:14 PM PST by rktman

Where the state of Nevada folds in half—from the elbow on its western arm at Lake Tahoe across to its Utah border—you’ll find the most direct route across the state. It crosses several communities, a handful of mountain ranges, a national park, and one reservoir, where bobcats, foxes, and wild horses roam free. There’s life, yes, but not a familiar way of life for many. It’s a place where the lines between John Wayne Westerns and everyday life blur, where ghost towns bleed into living ones. This is Route 50, the Loneliest Road in America.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalgeographic.com ...


TOPICS: Travel
KEYWORDS: highways; lonelee; nevada
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To: JeanLM

Hmmmm. Tops out at 200+. I don’t know if it will actually go that fast, or if I have the guts to find out.


121 posted on 03/05/2019 3:11:29 PM PST by IronJack
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To: Buckeye McFrog

The monties hated the dirty hippies and their drugs ...


122 posted on 03/05/2019 3:11:41 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: MeganC

“I grew up in LA and Sacramento and when we moved to Wyoming (we’re about 40 miles from Cody) the thing that I had to get used to the most was not just how dark it was at night, but how bright the stars were!”

My wife grew up in Semi Valley and I have the hardest time explaining how bright and how many stars are out there. Seems like every time we are out in the sticks and I take her out to show her, we are at or near a full moon. Amazing how much light pollution you can get just from a fullish moon!

It really is majestic to be out in the woods, where you have zero light pollution, zero city pollution, and no moon. The stars take on a whole new meaning. You can actually see depth to them, see how some look closer than others. And the milky way..... well that can light up the sky on its own!


123 posted on 03/05/2019 3:39:59 PM PST by walkingdead (It's easy, you just don't lead 'em as much....)
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To: Dr. Sivana

” It’s lonely because those sanctimonious Cartwrights take everything for themselves. Weird how their women always seem to die on them. “

….and yet, - Sheriff Coffee still has a job.


124 posted on 03/05/2019 3:47:07 PM PST by EnglishOnly (eWFight all out to win OR get out now. .)
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To: EnglishOnly
Talk about boonies... Try Highway 375 (the Extraterrestrial Highway) in northern NV for desolation. It is a place that you can zoom. Our Corvette club was headed to Reno. We actually saw a lone female cyclist out there in the middle of one of the big valleys on her way to Reno(?). That was years ago. I doubt if she has gotten there yet. For you "city folks"...there is LOTS of boonies all around...especially if you start driving the BLM dirt roads that are all over the place.
125 posted on 03/05/2019 3:53:23 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: walkingdead

It really is majestic to be out in the woods, where you have zero light pollution, zero city pollution, and no moon.


I was on vacation, driving at night just outside Needles, Arizona, when the night sky became so incredibly star-filled I had to pull over and get out of the car just to take it in.

The funny thing was, it wasn’t just me. There was at least one more car pulled off the highway in the area doing the same thing.


126 posted on 03/05/2019 3:57:23 PM PST by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Mineral county, Montana.
Population 1500 humans, 4500 elk.


127 posted on 03/05/2019 3:58:29 PM PST by axxmann (If McCain is conservative then I'm a freakin' anarchist.)
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To: dp0622

“really any”

Believe it or not, all over.

I lived near a search and rescue guy and asked him what he did most of the time, figuring it’d be an easy sit around most of the time.

But no, most common S&R was for cars lost in median strips or on edge of highway where no one has any idea where they are because the foliage is so high it completely obscures the vehicle.

And we lived in the Metro DC area.


128 posted on 03/05/2019 4:20:11 PM PST by fruser1
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To: Tijeras_Slim

New Mexico has possibly the most remote highway I have driven on, outside of Watson Lake to Ross River in Yukon.

The route from Magdalena to Pinos Altos was the least-improved numbered highway I have ever driven, and absolutely no traffic.


129 posted on 03/05/2019 4:30:28 PM PST by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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To: headsonpikes

I have driven both. The Alaska highway was a mess. Many small NM roads were close.


130 posted on 03/05/2019 4:34:37 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
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To: al_c

“Same thing goes for I-70 out of Denver and across Kansas.”

When I was driving long haul I drove I-70 all too frequently and agree that I-70 from Kansas City, MO to Denver, CO is the most boring stretch of highway in the country. Really, how many corn and sunflower fields and dry creek beds can you stand in one day?


131 posted on 03/05/2019 5:22:00 PM PST by oldvirginian ( Buckle up kids, rough road ahead.)
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To: jy8z

He probably took I-10 to Van Horn and then I-20 to Odessa.


132 posted on 03/05/2019 5:34:49 PM PST by octex
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To: octex
He probably took I-10 to Van Horn and then I-20 to Odessa.

Nailed it! Read on ... I did correct my post, thanks to my fellow watchful Texan.

133 posted on 03/05/2019 6:54:40 PM PST by al_c (https://conventionofstates.com)
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To: fruser1

Wow.

Crazy in this day and age but I bet there’s some dusty roads in the backwoods of PA a few hours away from here that probably don’t get much traffic.

Only 40 years ago on Staten Island it would have been possible. Not anymore with half a million people tilting it.


134 posted on 03/05/2019 7:18:13 PM PST by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: rktman

:)

I was a much tougher man when I drover livery overnight in my early 20s while going to school.

I could change a flat in no time.

Now after 20 plus years behind a desk, i have to call AAA to chance one!

And I have extra spares, but the’re around my waist!


135 posted on 03/05/2019 7:22:14 PM PST by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: dp0622
Is there really any road or highway left in the US where you would be in serious trouble if your car and cell phone died?

I mean any place where you might not see another car for a few days go by?/

I found a road above the Minisink Reservoir the NYC gets its' water supply from that would qualify.

But northern New Hampshire and Maine have real boonies roads in areas with no cell service.

A few years ago I was blocking a side road during a stage rally in northern NH.

An Irish team had a shifter cable break right in front of us.

I pulled their car out of the way, and after that stage was done was given permission to tow them back to the service area.

It was cold and snowing so the driver and navigator took turns in my Range Rover to warm up.

To avoid rally stages, I had to take a route through many miles of a maze of logging roads.

After about an hour, the driver asked me if I knew where I was going.

I told him, yes, exactly, and in another hour or so we would reach the service area.

I mentioned that had they taken a wrong turn, perhaps in a few years some logger or hunter might find their bones.

He asked the size of the forest, and when I told him, he was in shock, saying it was larger than Ireland.

When we go into those areas with our Unimogs, we carry our own extraction equipment, camping gear and food to last for a few weeks if needed, as well as the means to procure more food if needed.

Also a Rokon Trailbreaker as an emergency get out bike.

We have traveled there for three days of a holiday weekend and at times gone 2 days without seeing another pwerson, then only a very few.

I have been in places in the Sierras of California, the boonies of Nevada, Utah and Colorado that are the same, as well as in Pennsylvania.

Today I was in parts of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont on my Skidoo Expedition snowmobile where you could see by the snow from a storm 2 days ago, I was the first one since it, and will probably be the only one until the weekend.

Later this week I plan on going to even more remote areas of NH and VT.

I rode for about 2 hours without seeing another person today.

No cell service on most of it.

136 posted on 03/05/2019 7:33:39 PM PST by Mogger
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To: dp0622
I could change a flat in no time.

The tires on my Unimogs (including wheels) weigh 320 pounds each.

I carry a 300 foot pound torque wrench with me as that is what the lug nuts have to be torqued to.

It takes about half an hour to change one, including lowering the spare with a winch and raising the bad one.

137 posted on 03/05/2019 7:38:39 PM PST by Mogger
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To: dp0622
I bet there’s some dusty roads in the backwoods of PA a few hours away from here that probably don’t get much traffic.

Yes there are, I have been on some of them.

On December 24th a couple of years ago, I drove for over 2 hours on one, no cell service, saw nobody else and my tracks were the only ones in the snow.

That is about 3 hours from NYC.

To see some remote roads in PA, volunteer to help with the Susquehannock Performance Rally (STPR).

You will be briefed on what's going on, and convoy into remote areas.

Ditto for northern New Hampshire and Maine.

The New England Forest Rally (NEFR).

Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, ACP, etc race in them on closed dirt roads at up 130 MPH.

Some real boonies involved in each.

138 posted on 03/05/2019 7:46:58 PM PST by Mogger
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To: Mogger

Wow.

Thank for the info.

I had no idea.


139 posted on 03/05/2019 7:48:25 PM PST by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: rktman

Here’s a YT Video of travel on 50. You can watch the sped up video on lower speed if you’re using the desktop version of YT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTs55qzvcjE


140 posted on 03/06/2019 1:15:31 AM PST by Texan4Life
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