If you are seeing this message, I am dead. Or maybe just lazy. Whichever you would consider to be an appropriate excuse for going nearly a week without posting when there is active travel to tell you about.

Day 9:

At the end of my last post, I mentioned that I didn’t know what I’d be doing on Day 9. Whelp, the weather decided for me. I woke up to a snowstorm. Not a blizzard, the actual amount of snowfall wasn’t much, but there was some snow falling and still with the biting wind. So, I decided to spend the day writing up the previous few days’ activities and gambling. The gambling didn’t keep me entertained for long, though. Thanks mostly to two four-of-a-kinds (fours-of-a-kind?), I quickly doubled the money in my gambling fund and cashed out. So, I headed downtown for some lunch. Now folks, being a midwestern boy, I have eaten many a chicken- / country-fried steak, in many places all over the U.S.A. The one that I ordered at the restaurant inside Jailhouse Casino (I believe the restaurant is called Smash N Grab) was No Kiddin’ the best I’ve ever had. The meat was gloriously tender and juicy, the breading was delectable in its own right, and the white gravy was exceptionally flavorful.

After lunch I took a quick look around downtown Ely. There are a few interesting old buildings, but nothing that inspired me to break out the camera. So, back to the hotel I went, and back to the keyboard.

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Day 10:

Good day, and welcome to Day 10, eh! I hay Today, y I get to ride the Nevada Northern historic / scenic railroad. (Let me know if you understand the previous sentence. I sure as Hell don’t.) So, um, yes.

Day 10 started with a visit to the Nevada Northern Railroad’s museum, located on the second floor of the old East Ely passenger depot (current ticket handling takes place on the first floor). This is a pretty good little museum. Lots of info about the local populace and the role played by the railroad. I learned that this part of Nevada had a lot of copper mining, which was critical to the U.S.A. during the World Wars. In fact, copper is still being mined in this area today! Sadly, the railroad (which had been completed in 1908) was abandoned in 1982; current mining depends on trucks to haul ore and supplies.

After a non-descript lunch, I took a ride on the Nevada Northern Railway. This turned out to be one that’s definitely more about history than scenery. In other words, I didn’t take many pictures, but I’ll share the ones I did take. First, some shots at the station before boarding the train:

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This train ride did not have assigned seats. I sat down at the first available window seat to enjoy the ride out of town. Despite the cold weather, I did what I always do on historic train rides: when we reached the end of the line and turned around, I moved to the open-air car to get better pictures, like these:

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There is more to be seen here beyond the old station and the train ride. The old shops and some other buildings are open to be explored, so that you can experience a real working railroad. Unfortunately the time spent in the open-air car, combined with overdue meds, convinced me that I should just go back to the hotel and get thawed. Also, I needed to get prepared for the next day’s journey…the loneliest road in the U.S.A.