Nevada - Day 24 - to West Wendover

West Wendover KOA, West Wendover

Sunday, 24 April 2022

today's route

The snow had almost entirely melted in the campground during yesterday, with no ice that I could see despite the low temperatures, so I wasn't too worried about driving today.  And in fact it turned out fine.

Driving through Ely I saw multiple billboards that suggested people not use pot.  Lots of different approaches, not just some guilt trip focus.  But I wondered why so many in this particular place?

On the road north we passed snow-topped mountains on both sides of the road, and I don't know if it's because they're usually like that or because of the snowstorm.

The town of McGill, elev. 6,193', had a 2020 population of 905.  It has a Greek Orthodox Church that had cars out front (this being a Sunday).  I passed the McGill Warm Springs Pool, which is apparently a large natural warm springs lake that the town has converted into its aquatic center.

I passed a turn for Cherry Creek, which is a ghost town, and its museum, presumably documenting its past.

The highway I took, ALT US-93 (regular US-93 heads northwest, while I wanted to go northeast), is designated part of the Pony Express Trail as well as the Lincoln Highway, which I've met before in various states.  That was the first coast-to-coast road built for automobiles.

I came to White Horse Pass, elev. 6,025', which was the pass I didn't want to go through on Friday on account of the snow.   And seeing it now, I'm glad I waited.

I'd figured I was in open range country because every now and then there were cattle guards across the road.  Then I saw a warning sign for a horse:

but the sign I saw had been altered to include a stick-figure person standing on the horse's back.  Like I said - real jokers around here.

I came over a high hill and had a view of a broad flat plain with many small lakes and ponds.  The largest seemed to be very blue, an unusual shade of blue.  And sure enough, after a while I passed a sign saying I could turn and go to Blue Lake.  All those little lakes, including Blue Lake, are fed by hot springs.  The lake is accessible to the public but it's on US Air Force property - the Utah Test and Training Range - so they limit the access.

West Wendover, elev. 4,315', was just a few more miles down the road, and I stopped at the Nevada Welcome Center there.  Not particularly welcoming, though, because a sign said I couldn't park longer than 20 minutes.  But I ignored it because only one other vehicle was in that parking lot with me, and it seemed to have car trouble.

The dogs and I walked around and found an unusual memorial to something I hadn't heard about.

This is the memorial (see below).

This is the medallion on the memorial.

And this is the plaque on the memorial.

None of this was enlightening to me, having never heard of the 509th Composite Group.  Fortunately, there was an explanation on the back of the monument.

Wendover, UT, is directly across the state line from West Wendover, NV.

In fact, as far as I can tell, the town of West Wendover, 2020 population of 4,512, was created especially to cash in on the avoidance-of-sin attitudes in Utah.  This small town has several casinos and a very large liquor store.  It's the only place in Nevada that's on Mountain Time, presumably to keep pace with Utah.

We got into town at 11:15 (12:15 their time), which was too early to check into the campground, so we drove around a bit.  I saw Wendover Will, a local landmark.

He stands on the west end of town, and you can see there's nothing much beyond him.

Tonight's campground was a little strange, being almost without staff except for a couple of hours a day.  Also being almost without campers, for some reason.  There was nothing really wrong with the campground - it was entirely gravel, which Gracie doesn't like (I think it hurts her feet), but had 2 small dog parks and, thanks to few people, lots of room for us to walk around.  And the wifi was actually adequate, for a change.  Too bad we're only staying one night.