Ranch? Where's the cattle? The barns and corrals?

Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005

And what kind of cowboy would paint his home pink? Or name it Wild Kat Ranch, Cottontail Ranch, Shady Lady Ranch or Bunny Ranch? Yep, brothels are legal and dot the roadsides.

Today I’m drove south on highways 395, 167, and 359 heading to Whiskey Flats RV Park in Hawthorne. My route took me into California for about 65 curvy mountain miles and two high passes – 7,519 and 8,138 feet – before stopping at a scenic overlook to ohh and ahh over the size of Mono Lake before turning back toward Nevada.

It was a fairly windy drive on highway 167/359, although mostly a tailwind. It was my kind of road – fifty miles, no towns, hardly any traffic – allowing me to drive down the center line until I reached the mountainous part of the road. Jeremiah took me up and over another high pass – 7,626 feet – before we reached Hawthorne.

Hawthorne is home to the U. S. Army Ammunition Plant and the U. S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center. Undersea? There’s no sea here but Walker Lake is nearby. Whiskey Flats is a nice, fairly new RV park. Mt. Grant, elevation 11,245 feet, is close. In fact, the town seems to be surrounded by mountains.

It was windy and too cold to do any walking; however I did brave the cold to take a sunset picture (see photo above). (The photo below was the sunrise on Sunday.)