Rolling Along The Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway was the first transcontinental auto route, and we've been following it from Carson City to Ely. It was dedicated in 1913, in the early days of automobiles. In Nevada, at least, the towns along it are few and far between, and the usage is low. It follows what were originally wagon routes, so at least the grades aren't too steep ( less than 7% ). These wagon roads were laid out in about 1860 to facilitate travel for military, miners and other pioneers.


We saw quite a few of these modern signs in the towns along the way, as they're proud of their heritage.

The original highway markers were concrete posts, and had a brass medallion of Abraham Lincoln. They are harder to find, and this was the only one I saw with the medallion left on it.

Austin is one of the more interesting little towns along the way, beacause not much has changed there for a long time, including their well worn billboard.

The next phase of highway development was the US Hwy system, and here in Nevada they overlayed US 50 onto the Lincoln Highway, and it aptly earns the nickname of "The Loneliest Road."

When we would stop for a break in the early morning, before the wind picks up, the silence was unbelievable. You could hear a pin drop.

But the wind eventually does pick up, as does the temperature. For this stretch it was blowing our way. We've learned from experience that when you've got a tailwind, don't stop.

Some nice stonework that I'm sure lasted many years, but nothing lasts forever.

There are more mountain ranges in Nevada than you would ever imagine. The road builders tried to avoid them as much as possible, but we still seemed to average crossing over about four a day. Thankfully, this wasn't one of them.

Still early, on Eric's last day. He's still smiling. Later in the day, it would turn to a grimace and then to fear that he couldn't make it the last 9 miles into Ely. The pain from his injury was getting progressively worse from day to day, and he could tolerate it for four or five hours; but not ten. Nor was it medically advisable to even try to do so. I give him a tremendous amount of credit for toughing it out as long as he did. At some point he maybe only kept going because he didn't want to let other people down, and considering his condition,

that's not a strong enough reason.

I've taken a rest day here in Ely, in case Eric needed help with his travel logistics for getting himself and the bike home. I'm strongly motivated to carry on, and my body is not objecting. So I'll take it one day at a time, remembering all the advice I've gleaned from Ian and Eric and Angela. Eric was able to teach me some invaluable climbing techniques yesterday, and I didn't feel all that tired after over 4,000 ft of it. Good thing, because there's alot more ahead.