In this next installment from Jocelyn's journal of our trip across the USA, we are still in Nevada. We arrived late at the Ruby Mountains...
September 10, 2005
We camped the night at Thomas Canyon Campground in Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby mountains; yet another of Nevada's treasures. We enjoyed the campground, despite the noisy generator by the camp host, we were able to have a good campfire and just relax over some hot dogs and chili. By this time we were getting good at setting up camp in Dusty but we still have a lot to learn.
I can't believe Aaron and I are married. It is weird all the talk and build up to the wedding date and then it is over in a heartbeat. Now I am Jocelyn Fabbri, crazy but amazing I love being married to Aaron. I know not every moment is smooth but we are working on our relationship everyday and with this trip getting even better.
Again back to our trip...
The next morning, after Aaron cooked pancakes, we set off for a day hike to Lamoille Lake and Liberty Pass. At the trail head, the elevation was 8800 feet, I believe at the Lake it was around 9700 feet, at the pass it was 10450 feet. It was about four miles of hiking one way. It was breathtaking scenery. We have a lot of pictures to prove this. We collected quite a few rocks on this hike, quartz and hematite, to add to my collection.
After the hike we decided to go to the southern part the Ruby mountains, and up through a pass to find some free camping. Once we got to Harrison Pass, the pavement ended and Dusty got her wish of being back on dirt roads.
September 11, 2005
After about 30-40 miles of dirt roads, we passed the Wildlife Refugee at Ruby Lake, and headed on through Shantytown (yes there is a place called that). We continue on to the Long Valley, which was just that, LONG. Nothing in sight for as far as the eyes can see. Aaron decided just to pull off to the side of the road for lunch: Trader Joe's chicken stew (quite good in the middle of the desert).
We hopped back into dusty, after doing the dishes and we're off to Route 50 again. It was all just a little side trip off the Loniest Highway in the United States. Next we headed into Ely, NV, pronounced E-LEE. First stop, the library so Aaron can try to download our Italian lessons. Of course it was taking forever and we decided to stay at the only hotel in town with Internet service, the Bristlecone Hotel. Yay, a shower after four days of roughing it! Now Aaron can start putting some of our pictures on the computer, this was only after needing the “repair man” to get the Internet connection working.
We decided to walk down the road to get some food, on the way we stopped at TrueValue which was the largest store in town. We has a great dinner at the Silver State Restaurant. A half-rack of ribs, a bacon cheeseburger, some fries, potato salad, baked beans, and a slice of banana cream pie. We were fully enjoying our vacation/honeymoon. We waddled our bodies back to the hotel which was probably a mile away. Aaron stayed up until almost 1 AM working on the computer while I was quickly off to la la land (thanks to a wonderful Naple trait).
The next morning after sleeping in late, we were nearly kicked out of the hotel at exactly 11AM. We back-tracked just a bit to Hotel Nevada; a historic hotel and gambling hall just a little different from the bright lights of Reno or Las Vegas. We had breakfast, Starbucks coffee, (yes, Starbucks has made it all the way to Ely, NV) and of course some slots. After donating twenty dollars to Nevada Gaming we were back on the road. The next destination being the Great Basin National Park.
