The Lincoln Highway runs through the emptiness of Nevada for 381 miles give or take, with only a handful of stops along the way. There are eight or nine towns, a park or two, and mile after mile of two-lane road. If you’re on your way somewhere else it can be a long and boring drive, BUT, if the road is your destination, then Highway 50 offers plenty of charm along the way.
In 1950 Life magazine named Highway 50 The Loneliest Road in America and probably it was. It was a road built before the Interstates, and it made its way through deserts, farmlands, and small towns, places the interstates do their best to pass by. As a result, Hwy 50 is a time capsule of the last century, a time before brands and franchises made every place look the same as every other — so for me, it is a road worth seeing.
We drove slowly, taking our time and getting out of the car to look around. There were mining towns to see and Pony Express stations, and old forts, all of them filled with the rich history of the west.
We spent a beautiful sunshiny morning walking the streets of Fallon Nevada with its hundred years of layered history, the twenties, thirties, and forties keeping each other company. Everywhere we looked there was evidence of an earlier time when places were made by people, not corporations.
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