June 30, 2015 Susanville, California to Fallon, Nevada

After Lassen we went to Susanville, California. Susan is kind of like Sue.   It was founded by Isaac Roop in  1854 and named for his daughter and the town lies in the Susan River Canyon.

The Susan river runs through Susanville. I love the Susanville Ford. Of course John wanted to go to the local brewery. Lawson Ale Works, it is in the old Pioneer building which was a Saloon in  1892..

The old historic bar at Lawson Ale Works. The beer was good, but we had to wait one and a half hours for our dinner. Service was way too slow. They ended up paying for our drinks to make us happier. After Susanville were hot  plains.  100 degrees.

Into Nevada. We went onto highway 50, the Loneliest Road in America.

We passed the shoe tree. The legend was that it was started by a young couple on their honeymoon. They got in a spat and she was going to walk the rest of the way back. The husband took her shoes and threw them  to the top of the tree. The couple made up and every year they came back and threw another pair up there.  These blue signs are Nevada historical markers.

 

We stayed in Fallon, Nevada. Outside of Fallon is Grimes Point Archeological Area.  There are over 1000 pieces of ancient rock art, making it one of the most important  archeological sites in the Great Basin.  Some of them are over 7000 years old. Petroglyphs are made by chipping off the black patina coating on the rocks, which is made over hundreds of years of rain and hot sun, so they are white in the black background. These are so old that the patina is starting to  cover up the glyphs, they are kind of hard to see. There is also a hidden cave with Indian artifacts in it. It is closed, except for every other Sat with a guide.

 

But the ones we could see were cool. It was 103 today. We only spent about 20 minutes out in the heat to see these. This Hwy 50 sign is at our hotel.  I found out there is a survival guide that if you get it stamped at 8 different spots on the highway you get a certificate that says you survived the highway signed by the governor and a hwy 50 pin.  Of course we did not know about it in time to get one and John won’t go back and get it. Life Magazine in 1986  described hwy 50 as the ‘Loneliest Road in America’ and said there were no attractions or of points of interest along the road and recommended that driver have ‘survival skills’ to travel the route. Nevada fought back with the Survival guide with lots of attractions.

Fallon is the headquarters for the Naval Strike and Air War Warfare Center, home to the flight school commonly known as ‘TOP GUN’.  Hwy 50 follows the pony express route for the next 20 miles, with a few  pony express stations.

The next morning John went to the chamber of commerce in Fallon and got me a Survival guide.

These photos are the guide and the route. It now has 6 stamps on it, I will get the certificate! What a man John is.