Desert trip day two began at the point we ended yesterday along the Tonopah and Tidewater rail bed. However, today we are driving on the rail bed itself as there is no road paralleling the bed. When I say driving I really mean going forward until a washout is in our path which means driving off the rail bed until we get around the washout. This occurs every few minutes which means progress is very slow.
We came across our first wooden culvert today. Most of these culverts have long ago been washed out and have disappeared with time.
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Our travels eventually reached Hwy 95 and continued on. We again drove some good and some very bad road bed. One of the Jeeps picked up a large nail in a tire so the spare was put on. Within a mile the other Jeep had a leak in a tire so its spare was put on. At that point we decided to have lunch and discuss our options.
After lunch the Jeeps decided to drive to Tonopah to a tire shop for repairs while the Pathfinder group drove past Bonnie Claire of yesterday to visit what we call the “Castle”.
Actually it is called “The Hard luck Castle” by its owner. After a mile drive on a very good road we arrived to find a sign which said “Gone for water – be back in an hour”.
We took a few pictures and returned to the RV Park.
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The rest of the group got back from Tonopah after not having any luck with the tire repairs. A storm front was rapidly approaching with projected rain and winds of 40 – 50 MPH. We gathered up the loose gear and decided to eat indoors tonight. It did rain a little and the wind did blow but not at the extremes predicted. I think we are at the southern edge of the front.
