Leaving Fallon yesterday, I changed direction and headed south for Tonopah directly, bypassing Ely and Elko and cutting a couple hundred empty miles driving off of the trip. Looking at Google Earth on the iPad (Thanks, Al Gore!) I saw some promising areas to check out around Tonopah, and I rolled down to poke around back out in the desert above town. I found a lot of old mines, but alas, all either bat-gated or vertical shafts which I'm not prepared for. Got a bit more target shooting in, in particular with some shots at an old abandoned engine block with both .38 and .357 rounds--and there is a difference--and after dinner in town I found a nice secluded campsite on the mountain above it and settled in for the night as dusk fell.
It's morning now, and having been stirred from my sleep by two damned jackrabbits racing through my campsite at dawn, I've come down for breakfast. Now I aim to poke around a bit more than begin my drift back towards Carson City and Reno.
And I seriously need to wash this Jeep before I turn it back in. It was Charcoal Gray but it blends with the desert quite well now.
Best roadside sign seen so far: "Will Rodgers never met Harry Reid!"
There are lots of good places to poke around near Tonopah. Plenty of good places to shoot as well. There are several old mining towns within an hour or so that are interesting as well. Belmont is one that comes to mind. Manhattan too.
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