Nevada
“Cowboy Corridor”
Reno to West Wendover
**We were heading from California to Idaho. Cutting across Nevada was the quickest way to get there. As we drove through this portion of Nevada I found myself doing double takes at the beauty and history of this dessert. Sorry to admit that I thought this was just going to be a an ugly boring drive to get to our final destination. This drive reminded me to slow down, enjoy the ride, and everything is beautiful in it’s own way.
Interstate 80 is a transcontinental freeway running between San Francisco and New York City. I traveled along the area between Reno and West Wendover Nevada. This stretch of I-80 has been called the “Cowboy Corridor”. Along this portion of the freeway the speed limit can reach 80mph. You may feel like you should put the pedal to the metal and race through Nevada because it may seem so barren. However, there is much to experience on this stretch of freeway.
On I-80, Boomtown is the first stop coming out of the Sierra Nevada mountain range from California. It is the first place with a casino if you cannot wait the extra 10 minutes it will take you to get to Reno.
Reno is known as “The Biggest Little City in The World”. Here we simply drove down Virginia street to take in the sights of the large casinos and view the famous Reno arch.
From Reno you travel east on I-80 to the town of Fernley through the Truckee River Canyon. Fernley is where you can take the NV-447 route that leads to Black Rock Desert. Home to the annual Burning Man community gathering.
The Humboldt Sink is visible from I-80. The Humboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed that has no natural outlet and the salt marsh is a striking view, even from the car that’s traveling super duper fast.
Continuing eastbound is the town of Lovelock. Many couples stop off here to profess their undying love for each other by adding a lock to the collection of many other locks that have been left here. Or you can do as we did, we simply admired these love symbols, professed our love for each other, and then hit the road again.
Side Note: We were travelling on “Dia De Los Muertos” (Day of the Dead) which is a Mexican holiday. Being Mexican myself I wanted to capture some desert pictures to remember my family members that have passed. We stopped at the Rye Patch State Recreation Area.
Next up on I-80 was the city of Winnemucca. Winnemucca is one of the oldest settlements in all of Nevada. Here you can visit the Buckaroo Hall of Fame & Heritage Museum as well as take in the small casinos for a little bit of gambling while in Nevada.
Battle Mountain, NV
Something about this pic screams “Joe Dirt”
Later we arrived in the “Heart of Northeast Nevada” otherwise known as Elko. Here we wished to visit the California Trail Interpretive Center but it was closed. According to the website it should have been open. Bummer dude we drove all this way!
The last place on this section of the I-80 corridor is West Wendover. West Wendover sits on the Nevada side and the other half of the city, Wendover, sits in Utah. West Wendover is famous for Wendover Will who is a 63ft tall neon man who used to welcome you into Nevada or send you on your way as you drove into Utah on I-80. Wendover Will has now been moved from I-80 to the town center and is a registered trade mark of the City of West Wendover. He’s an interesting landmark to see and I believe he looks best at night.
I wish I had planned more time for this portion of our drive and I hope to travel this stretch of I-80 again. I feel like I have missed out on so much here.
Nevada’s Interstate 80 may lie in the driest state in all of the United States but it is drenched with history and unassuming beauty everywhere you turn.
