The Desert Sky
The 1st of March, 2025
Don’t worry, I’ll spare you the vacation photos.
This is a blog I’ve meant to type up for a little bit, but I did want to talk about traveling through the desert some. A few months ago, I visited Nevada, and it was a very unique experience; of course, when you think of Nevada, you think of Las Vegas, and of course, I went there and it’s probably the most amazing place I’ve ever been (other than home, of course), but I spent a lot of my trip in Nevada actually traveling through the desert and seeing the entire state. I even made it all the way up to Reno!
I feel like, while Vegas is very much a touristy hot spot, very few people actually travel through the desert and see the whole state in the way that I was lucky enough to have experienced it. Having experienced this seemingly unique thing, I figured I’d like to share some of my feelings about my journey through the desert with you all, dear readers!
Of course, Vegas is a lovely and very modern city. It feels like the biggest, loudest place on Earth when you are on the Strip, but the reality is that just a 30-minute drive away from that, you are in the middle of nowhere. It really is in a desert, huh! On the edges of Vegas, there are lots of fulfillment centers and things. No doubt from corpos who want to be near California but want to pay Nevada’s very low taxes. Did I mention all of Vegas is really cyberpunk feeling, by the way? After you pass all those facilities, you really are just out in the middle of nowhere. And this goes on. And on. and on. and on.
I’ll probably mention this a couple of times, but it’s hard to overstate the absolute emptiness of the desert. A lot of Nevada is just *nothing!* You can drive on these very high-speed roads for hours and hours without seeing a building. Sometimes you’ll see a place, and it’s all been boarded up and abandoned since 1992. It’s a very unique kind of thing that is unlike anything else I’ve ever known where I’m from. As such, out in the desert, you’ll find there are none of the typical comforts of travel, like fast food chains or public bathrooms. The beloved travelers’ respite of state-run bathrooms is exceedingly rare in Nevada as well, no doubt due to their right-leaning politics. In my time there, I only saw two on my travels, and don’t get too excited! When you go into them, they are literally just a room with a hole in the ground. It’s pretty wild!
When you do finally come to civilization, you come upon a place like Pioche. This was my first stop; it’s a tiny little town of about 1,000 people. It was once a little mining town many years ago, but now all that’s been boarded up, and it’s just a small little place in the middle of nowhere. The people seem happy enough, and the vibe in the saloon was pleasant. It was the kind of place that only served whiskey and beer and nothing else; everyone was smoking inside, and there were lots of revolvers on people’s hips. I can’t say much else other than it’s almost like a parody of itself. As if the entire town was just an elaborate joke being played upon me. At least that’s how it felt before I got to talk to the people that lived there and I started to understand the type of person such a place would appeal to. They are a very different type of person than me, dear reader! But I have a feeling you all know me well enough to understand that without me having to explain it. Coincidentally, I actually spent the night at that aforementioned saloon, a place called the Overland; it was a quaint little place that seemed like it was last remodeled in the 1970s. Of course, I mean that in a positive way. It had a lot of charm to it. Even shag carpets! The accommodations were comfortable, and I was sleeping well until I was awoken at 6 a.m. by the sound (and feeling) of dynamite. Apparently, this is a Labor Day tradition, but they wake everyone in the town with dynamite explosions at 6 a.m. to honor the legacy of the miners who helped found and build the town. It felt like that little old saloon was being hit by artillery shells or something; they also had the best fireworks show I’d ever seen on the night I stayed there. Thank you, Pioche.
After leaving Pioche, we took the extraterrestrial highway, named such because of its proximity to Area 51. Near the beginning of the highway, it’s a bit of a touristy thing. There were two cute little alien-themed shops that were very welcoming and sold various touristy knicknacks. I would highly recommend stopping at these, they are very charming!
After you reach the second of those little gift shops, that’s when it really gets desolate. It’s quite a while of driving out in the desert with no buildings or anything nearby. I believe the US government chose that location for Area 51 because it’s not near anything, and boy is that true! There’s nothing out there! No where to pee either! After traveling through the desert for a while, we came upon a little town called Rachel. It’s about 10 trailers! That’s the whole town! My readers who are educated on this sort of thing will know already what it’s famous for, but it’s where the Little Alien Inn is located. It’s a fun little place, but it’s very much a serious UFO conspiracy kind of thing, and it’s not like the other two little goofy gift shops that were located nearer to civilization. I didn’t spend a ton of time there other than considering buying my friend Rachel a Rachel Nevada trinket, and then it was back into the desert! After traveling through a vast landscape filled with rocks and sand and an infinite sky, I arrived in Tonopah!
Tonopah is another small population mining town in the heart of Nevada, but it’s a bit different from the last one. The city has an absolutely beautiful hotel called the Mizpah, which I was lucky enough to stay at as well! The Mizpah and the other hotel in the town are owned by the same guy; he also owns the bars and the eateries in the town. Basically, the whole town is owned by him. The only place I went that this guy didn’t own was the loathsome clown motel.
Tonopah is a small little place like the last town I was in, but it’s a whole lot more lively by merit of being the perfect travelers’ respite between Las Vegas and Reno. It’s the kind of place that’s great to spend a single night, with the lovely hotels and bars, karaoke, and casinos and things! I found myself really taking to the Mizpah; I think it was my favorite hotel I’ve ever been to. They had a lovely house wine called The Lady in Red inspired by a tragic thing that actually occurred there, where a lady of the night was murdered in one of the rooms in the 1800s. Barring the murder, of course, the house wine was delicious. Under the Mizpah, there’s a dungeon I was allowed to explore! In the wild west days, it was quite a dangerous place to be, so a tunnel network was built between important buildings so the upper class could travel safely underground. Pretty wild! For a simple travelers’ stop, I think this town is actually quite interesting, and the Mizpah earns my highest recommendation.
I’ve rambled for quite a bit, huh? I’ll return to you with part two to this tale at a later date; please await such a day warmly.