B to C: Willits, CA to Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Site, NV

7.18.10

This trip is our third time driving across the country, the second time in the Annie the van. Besides a few detours off the main road on the return leg of our 2009/2010 Winter Road Trip, our routes have been mainly on the US Interstate System. Although quicker and (sometimes) more direct than secondary roads, we found that it was more difficult to find interesting towns and destinations and we were eating a whole lot of fast food. While researching the myriad of routes for this trip, Emily stumbled upon www.roadtripusa.com 's article on "US 50", which connects San Francisco and Ocean City, MD in an almost straight line through the center of the country. It seemed perfect! As we only had a limited time to do the driving, we figured we could sight see from the car and hopefully find more interesting things to do and visit than we would from the Interstate. Also, Annie doesn't get great gas mileage to begin with, so the prospect of a slower speed limit seemed to be cost effective decision. We ordered the book from Amazon in time for it to arrive before we left and sketched out a route that would take us first through Nevada's section of US 50, more recently dubbed the "Loneliest Road in America." The Nevada Board of Tourism has a "passport" that you can get stamped at the towns along the way, yes, Emily ordered it free online before the trip. She likes to get mail.

We first had to get US 50 from Willits, though, so we opted to drive south on Highway 101 to US 20 around Clear Lake, crossing I-5 towards Grass Valley. We were making great time and thinking about stopping for lunch, when Max noticed that the temperature gauge indicated that we were overheating and decided to pull over. We exited the highway in Nevada City, managed to find a parking lot with a scrap of shade and popped the hood. Max thought perhaps the coolant-water mix in the radiator was too coolant heavy, remembering that the radiator froze the last time we drove across country, and the local mechanics in Wyoming thought it would be best to fill it with 100% coolant. He siphoned out a gallon of coolant and replaced it with water while Emily found a yummy, yet pricey hamburger around the corner ($15?!).

Hoping that fix would help us cross the desert, we set off again but stopped at the top of a pass before reaching I-80, which would connect us to US-50. Buzz seemed to like the scenery, so she took a little stroll, impressing other road-trippers. "Really? You travel with your cat?"

We skirted Reno and then met up with US-50 in Fallon, NV. They weren't kidding about this stretch being a lonely road. One more dialysis treatment on Annie kept her cool enough to get by but not at anything above 60 MPH for any length of time. She would need a radiator flush at the least. Cars coming from the other direction were few and far between. The desert seemed to stretch on forever. Our goal for the day was Hickison Petroglyph Area, a free BLM campsite past Austin, NV. The overheating issue kept us from arriving until after dark, so it was hard to see much of the empty campsite, yet alone petroglyphs.

Links: Loneliest Road Survival Guide, Hickison Petroglyph Recreation Site

<<<<< Previous - Summer Road Trip Home - Next >>>>>