Our 2025 Great Lakes Trip is on!

Friday, August 1, 2025

We’ve been planning this trip for many months. It didn’t used to be that way but the COVID panic seems to have changed traveling in an RV forever. The travel part really hasn’t changed, the camping part has radically changed. More people have found that they can work remotely from an RV as long as the internet is available so they do- and they bring their young family’s along. We used to camp during the shoulder season meaning most kids are back in school and their parents are back home. The old way we traveled is that we would decide on a destination/route but where we’d stay along the way was done on the fly. When we decided to stop for the evening we’d just call an RV park up and make reservation. “Sure come on in!” would be the reply. Now we plan a place we’d like to visit and make reservations months in advance, even less popular places. This trip we booked RV parks for August and a half of September three to four months ago………all the way to Milwaukee……..

Truckee River East of Reno, NV

Leaving Reno/Sparks Nevada we head east on I80. Today we’ll “stage” in Winnemucca passing some interesting places on the way. The highway follows the Truckee River for many miles until the river turns north on its way to Pyramid Lake. Not long after parting ways with the Truckee we arrive in Fernley.

Fernley is the seventh largest city in Nevada at 22,900 souls.

Nearby is the Naval Air Warfare Center and TOPGUN in Fallon. Ya, I know- what’s the Navy doing so far inland. You’d have to ask the Navy……. Fernley is home to the world’s first Tesla Gigafactory. The town was established in 1904 as a agricultural and ranhing community.

Forty Mile Desert

Just east of Fernley is the area dreaded by emigrants following the Callifornia Trail in the 1800’s as they headed west by wagon train- the forty Mile Desert. They had to cross this desert with their wagons and teams of oxen with no water available for themselves and their livestock except what they could carry until they crossed this 40 miles of hell.

A bizillion padlocks displayed in Lovelock park

We like to stop and take a break in Lovelock when heading east. It’s municipal park invites everyone to add a padlock of some sort to the chain of locks already there- a play on its name. As we approach the small park we notice lots of different colored objects- sun shades, lots of pop up sun shades. The community is having some sort of affair on Friday afternoon. Our mutzos would be overwhelmed if we attended the gathering. Besides, there is no place to park 60 feet of rolling stock so we find a place to park next to the old railroad depot and take the boys out for a stretch. Lovelock gets its agricultural water from Rye Patch Reservoir which is supplied by the Humboldt River.

Thunder Mountain Monument, Imlay NV

About a hundred miles east of Fernley is the burg of Imlay, 171 souls. Despite it’s size it sports an elementary school, general store, post office and trading post. It is a nearly abandoned railroad town. Imlay’s most notable feature is Thunder Mountain Monument created by Frank Van Zant. Van Zant was born on a Creek Indian reservation in Oklahoma and identified himself as Creek. He made ready for the coming his perceived apocalypse by making a de facto spiritual haven for spiritual seekers of the hippie era. Not much remains of the Thunder Mountain Monument complex yet it remains a popular tourist attraction.

Geothermal Plant along I-80

As we travel along Interstate 80 several geothermal works appear. There is also the Eagle Salt Mine. Mining salt in Nevada is a real deal. We pass a large hill that must have minerals of value as trucks trundle along its steep slopes to be loaded with something of value- I just don’t know what.

East of Imlay there are areas that have enough water to grow hay or alfalfa. I-80 follows the shoulder of a steep sloped range for a while. A few folks choose to live here in small communities, most of which are not named along the interstate. There are some places named along the highway that don’t have a building, a town, nor people yet Google Maps shows the places’ border. Strange……

We drive to east side of Winnemucca where we’ll be spending the night at the New Frontier RV Park. I think its the newest park in the area. The trees are still less than 15 feet tall and offer zero shade. Luckily the temperature today is in the 80’s. This is our jump off place. We’ will be heading north to Caldwell, ID tomorrow. We are 171 miles from home and its 250 to Caldwell from Winnemucca- too far for us senior citizens to travel to Caldwell from Reno in one day.

Downtown Winnemucca NV

Winnemucca is known for its cowboy culture and Basque cuisine. When the continental railroad reached the town many about 400 Chinese railroad workers decided to stay building. The city of 8481 souls is an important regional transportation center along I-80 and US 95. The city is the seat of Humboldt County and the only incorporated town in this county. The city was named for Chief Winnemucca of the Northern Paiute tribe.

Until next time……………