a Brush With the Law... West of the Pecos

Well I know you're dying to know if I made it to Dryden.  I had reduced my speed to 40, I know if you drive slow you burn less fuel right?  A little history about Dryden.  Dryden is here due to the Railroads being built through this area.  In 1882 when the San Antonio Railroad was built in Terrell County, they built a post office, a general store, and a couple of Adobe homes for the Pecos Land and Cattle Co. owner and then later in the early 1900's a hotel, school, church.

 In 1912 Ben Kilpatrick ,who ran with the likes of Butch Cassidy, along with Ole Hobek decided to hold up the #9 train between Dryden and Sanderson.  David Trousdale, a Wells Fargo Express Agent, was onboard.  When Kilpatrick took $60,000 from the safe Trousdale hit him in the head killing him  and later he shot his partner Hobek with Kilpatrick's gun... SO the 2 outlaw bandits were killed in Dryden and their bodies were hauled to Sanderson on the #9, where they ended up being buried!! 

                                                                    Center o f Dryden. 

Wish I had known all that when I drove  into Dryden, population of 13 souls.... a GHOST TOWN!! SO as the towns along the highway in NV's loneliest highway dried up when the mines went bust, the towns along the TX RR went bust when the trains stopped coming!!  Dryden has been dying since the  RR closed the depot in the 1930's SO NO GAS!! SO yes I made it to Dryden, but found no gas, I saw the sign for Pumpville, but here was my dilemma , should I use what bit of gas I have to go check out Pumpville, or try to make it to Sanderson, the next dot of a town on the map? What if Sanderson is also a Ghost Town??

Then what? Okay I have roadside assistance so I figured that would be my last ditch effort to keep moving if the need be.  Then realized I had not had cell phone service for a couple days checked and yep...NO service!! Great can't call for help.  So I slowed even more.  I was barely crawling as images of me stranded for days waiting  to be rescued in the Chihuahuan Desert slide-showed through my mind.  OMG, okay I had enough food and water and had my shelter so really I would have been able to live there for at least a week!! Set up housekeeping right there on Highway 90...just waiting.  John Wayne where are you?

So it was when I saw the sign Sanderson 20 miles, that I crossed my fingers and said a prayer.  Those were the longest 20 miles I drove on this journey!! My first glimpse of Sanderson was as it appeared from around a curve and it was the prettiest and the most welcomed sight ever.  Right there on the right side of the road...a little ALON gas station. 

It had 2 pumps outside and inside a little cafe counter, a bathroom with hand made dollies on the back of the tank, and a smiling Texan lady to take my money. I would have paid $8 a gallon if asked. SO I filled it up!! My tank holds 25 gallons, I put 23 gallons in the tank...I was 2 gallons away from stranded.  

So happy to have gas, I peeled outta there with a squeal and hit the highway!! I hadn't gone 100 ft when I saw a cop do a U-turn and put on his lights...OMG!! This can't be happening...but he was right behind me, the ME who had not driven over the speed limit all these thousands of miles I had driven when the TX road speed limit signs were posted at 75 mph I did 65 mph, I always slow for roadwork, I never speed...NEVER...till now.  

So...as I peeled out of the station I crossed the town line, without knowing it...meaning the speed limit had dropped to 30 instantly.... I was doing 40! So deputy Fife (jk) announced as he explained why he pulled me over.  I told him I didn't realize I was in the town yet! I did not say that to be derogatory...I was being honest. Sanderson is 2 blocks long! 

Goog

          Google Maps Photo

SO he gave me my warning and told me to have a nice day...omg--- 20 or so more miles from Sanderson is the town of Marathon.  I did NOT have enough gas to make it to Marathon, so I was sooooo thrilled to find gas when I did...Here is the map between the two..

                                                            Google Maps 

 A warning ticket as I said...I have this habit of talking to myself...usually it's Casey but he wasn't there so I was giving myself a little speech....I fear officer Who-ever saw me in my large side mirrors when he handed me my ticket and license he asked...."Are you alone in the vehicle m'am?" 

"Yes Sir... I am Alone in the Vehicle"!!

What an afternoon

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

The Loneliest Highway in America!

 Nevada is to me a spectacular state...this section I traveled on this trip is through some Flat looking country with views as far as your eye can see...yet you are up over 7,000 ft a lot of the time...and one of the first things I saw was a mirage!

that gleam and glitter that may convince you water is there waiting for you to have a drink...but nope there is no water...I am writing a fiction novel been working on it since I lived in NYC...it may never get completed...but I chose NV as the backdrop to my book! Its the perfect spot for a budding geologist who has to strip her way through college...lol the title of the book is
 Montana Briscoe Diaries Book One: The Desert Stalker  what a thrill I had to be there and get the real feel of this land...I have been through this state before way back in the 90's and it impressed me then too..

SO the Loneliest Highway In America, Hwy 50, is rightly named. its a 380 mile section between Carson City to the Great Basin and the Utah Border....some stretches have nothing for over a hundred miles...make sure you have gas, food and water before you head out.  I had plenty of all that so had no worries...and the small towns you will encounter are priceless! The first one I stopped in was Eureka!  They did what my small town did, they created a Historical self guided walking tour phamplet and they numbered each stop...this is the old Opera House and Jackson House Saloon & Hotel..1877

Flickr ate my Photo

I hear you can still get rooms there! It has that old west feel this sweet town...and here is the 1879 Court house. 

Geologically speaking it has so much variation...just this photo shows how diverse the terrain is..

A mostly arid climate keeps it a bit baren of vegetation, but there are trees!  I got this blurb  from the UVNV website..." Working its way through Congress right now is a bill that will create Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument along the northern edge of Las Vegas Valley. This unit of the National Park Service will be dedicated to the study and interpretation of Ice Age animals, providing an opportunity for all of us to learn about one of the most recent dramatic events that shaped the Nevada landscape."

SO be on the lookout for that!! Between the towns you can see some ghost towns...mostly due to mines that went boom then bust..I didnt catch the name of this settlement but here's some cool things I saw there...

Mining is still a really big deal there with the one of the largest copper mines in the world!!

Robinson Mine

The small town of Ely is an historic mining town...

Hotel Nevada 1929 

check out the hours on this thrift store...now that's small town life! 

The Pony Express went right along this same way from 1860-61 I stopped at the location marker and this kiosk of the old Coldsprings Station...

Where one rider, Pony Bob  rode up to find the station burned to the ground the support staff murdered and the horses stolen by Indians...so he made an epic ride of 380 miles in 36 hrs! Can you imagine that??  I would want to know the  names of the horses he rode.

Pronghorn herd

I found a great camp in Bob Scott Campground...it has about 10 primitive sites and a flush toilet, water, and trash cans. Its $5 with your senior card. 

And then I continued on toward the Great Basin NP.  Long stretches of the highway were completely  barren...this shot shows that diverse landscape in one shot...

As I got closer to the state line I found this interesting side trip...7 miles down a gravel road, the Ward Charcoal Ovens! 

The sign says it takes 13 days and 32 cords of wood to make a load of charcoal...

This was a pay site $7 and there is camping nearby for $14.  I didn't camp I wish I had,  it was very cool to see these beautifully made ovens!

Not long after this side trip I was climbing one of the many steep grades when suddenly a bell went off on my dashboard and it said "check gauges" I did and saw my oil pressure was at zero!  HOLY COW...I couldn't pull over that moment but my turn off for Great Basin was right there so I turned and pulled to the side...my engine was clunking loudly!! In the middle of nowhere!!

I didn't panic I drove slowly 5 miles an hr and limped to where I saw 2 buildings one was the US Post Office of Baker, NV. it is directly across the turn off for the VC of the Great Basin NP a man was on his way in and I asked if he knew of any GARAGES IN THE AREA...yeah 75 miles west of here...YIKES.

Then he asked why... I told him what happened.  The weird thing is I had my oil changed the day before in CA. I wondered if the guy didn't fill my oil pan, it takes 5 qts of oil! So we check it and I added a Qt of oil.  I had no phone service and no net service but the Post office had a phone if I needed to use it...SO after putting the oil in I cranked the pressure went to normal and the engine sounded okay...but I was shaken for sure.  I asked him how far to the Great Basin camp ground he said its at least 5 miles and its a steep grade ..He suggested I go to the Bordertown nearby and get a room, there was a restaurant,  rooms, phones. and the only civilization for a LONG ways..and it was getting into late afternoon.  So I followed his car it was about 2 miles away...I got a room and in the morning I made the decision to make a ditch effort and drive the 450 miles to my sisters home in Silt, CO.  I did call her from the motel and I left early I took it easy and didnt push the van, it never happened again tho, SO I was mad that I made the decision to go ahead and leave MY thinking was I could at least get close enough to her house if I broke down she could come get me!! Of course I have Coachnet coverage but NO phone service so I told her I may be able to text her and she could call them for me if need be.  So sadly I left the area....it was 86 miles to the first  town of Delta Utah and the nada in between!! I said a prayer, checked my oil, and left!

But I sure wanted to stay.....

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Ants in my Pants!

Back in June when I went tripping, I told y'all I followed the SC Heritage Corridor, here is the blurb from the webpage:

The South Carolina National Heritage Corridor (SCNHC) was designated by Congress in 1996 as a National Heritage Area (a program of the National Parks Service). Stretching 17 counties and 320 miles across South Carolina, the SCNHC is committed to promoting and preserving the cultural, natural and historic resources of South Carolina. 

The best part about it is the old is preserved although there may be some strip malls on the outskirts of each town and a Walmart tossed in here and there mostly its the old way of life still going on...

It's divided into 4 regions. so far I've explored regions 1 & 2...I'm itching to do 3 & 4. It's lots of side of the road beauty...

           Country Stores full of locally grown produce and honey and jams and jellies...

AND Ghost TOWNS..the south has plenty  they are much older and have more ghosts than the ghost towns of the west! This abandoned community is on Hwy 28, Mount Carmel....near the site of the Long Canes Massacre of 1760!. Can you imgine SPENDING A NIGHT IN THIS OLD HOUSE? I don't think I'd want to!! I would want to do a quick walk through just to see the old beauty of the place...I see 2 fireplaces and its upstairs Its weird that staircase on the porch going up to the second balcony?  Could be an old 2 family house?

and an old church is across the street..

Dilapidated homes line the abandoned streets at this cross road ...

... the massacre occurred when Cherokee Indians attacked a wagon trail of settlers leaving to get away form the violence of the Cherokee Indian War of 1760 no reason to try and see this old Fort Charlotte, because its now under the water of Lake Strom Thurmond! Ghosts under water? EERIE

and the old train depot now boarded up makes me wonder of the travelers who came to this area to start a new life...or flee a failed one!! History is all around, but I didn't see many people just other cars passing through on their way to someplace else.  

so much to explore so little un-tethered  time...

...soon as he weather cools I want to plan to continue on this Corridor right where I LEFT OFF...and follow it to the coast gotta get together with my sis and see when Mom can come stay a while with them so I can take off, can you tell I'm getting itchy??

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.