Distance = 73 Miles; People Met = 3
To be honest we met Carol and Al Drayton, the two owners of Blackrock Station (Ranch), the day before we started our big push along US 6 to Ely. We stopped in to get water and to use their land line to contact Ky; cell phones are of no use in this area. Carol showed us the old Titus homestead in the back of their property, now on land owned by BLM. Titus and Lockes were the two ranch families in the area and they still come back to visit the property, particularly the graveyard.
ADT Titus Ranch House
The Draytons acquired Blackrock Ranch as a retirement move to get away from it all. The trouble was they became the only possible help for travelers between the 167 miles from Tonapah to Ely. They opened up Blackrock Station as a business to provide gas and other supplies to needy travelers in the area. Two years before we got there they closed down. We stayed on BLM property behind their home that evening.
ADT 73 Miles This Way, 94 Miles The Other Way!
Between US 50 and US 6 we’ve acquired a sense of how different motorists react to crazy people walking on highways in the middle of the desert. We felt a real kinship with truckers, who would give us a wide berth, wave and sometimes beep their horn. I think we could identify with each other going about their business while hitting the open road.
A lesser kinship was felt with motorcyclists, the difference perhaps being that most are out recreating and might not identify as much as truckers with two people withstanding the Nevada heat. It was hard to get a consistent read on people driving light trucks. Some would actually speed up as they passed us, as if to emphasize their status. Yet if we were in trouble you knew the most likely help was going to come from someone driving a light truck, like the Nevada DOT worker who filled our water bottles. About ten people went by when I held up my empty water bottle, the last one actually cheerfully waving at us. It dawned on me maybe people thought I was toasting them so I turned the water bottle over to demonstrate it was empty. Three cars later the DOT worker stopped.
Then there was the guy who stopped his truck and turned around to see if I was alright lying in the road when I was actually taking this picture:
ADT My First Scorpion!
People driving regular cars and minivans were the least likely to give us any kind of space as they went by. Of course, there is less need for them to do that, while the big trucks can actually blow the caps off our heads.
Hi Kirk. Have been following your progress, with a little envy. The picture of the scorpion on the road is fantastic, maybe award winning. Would love to hear Cindy’s thoughts now and then. Your voice sounds like you are in a very peaceful, balanced place inside.
Tom
Thanks Tom.
Hi Kirk,
Like Tom, would love to hear some thoughts from Cindy from time to time.
Greetings Lynn,
I’ve shared both yours and Tom’s sentiments. She’s not inclined to do that, but I’ll see if I can speak for her occasionally.
This is my grandma and grandpas place. Most of my favorite memories were made at this house. I am so happy that they get to share the place that my sisters and I enjoyed the most. I remember playing in the house in the above picture. We would play cowboys with our beebee guns or travel the near by road on my grandmothers four wheeler. I am very proud to say that I’m a Drayton and that I was lucky to have grown up in such a loving and fun environment.
Greetings Tessa,
Thank you for sharing that! They certainly were an oasis in the desert for us.
Kirk