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Bus Discussion => Bus Topics ( click here for quick start! ) => Topic started by: Cary and Don on August 15, 2015, 02:46:16 PM

Title: Highway 50
Post by: Cary and Don on August 15, 2015, 02:46:16 PM
Has anybody drove highway 50 from Reno to Utah?  It is so much shorter for us than going through Vegas, but how is that road?

Don and Cary
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: lostagain on August 15, 2015, 03:44:24 PM
Last I drove it was about 5-6 years ago. It is a very nice 2 lane, in good shape. Quiet. Lots of miles between towns. I enjoyed it. Historic.

JC
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: Cary and Don on August 15, 2015, 06:53:25 PM
Did you have any trouble finding spots to pull off for the night?  We don't mind staying in a pull out, it's just we are 40'. It looks like a nice trip to Utah that way. There didn't appear to be any climbs or anything nasty.

Don and Cary
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: digesterman on August 15, 2015, 06:58:26 PM
Plenty of places to pull over/off, nice road, nice scenery
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: lvmci on August 16, 2015, 07:24:31 AM
Wide open spaces, lvmci...
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: Mike in GA on August 16, 2015, 11:11:53 AM
Isn't this one called the loneliest highway in the states?  About 15 years ago we took it after visiting Lake Tahoe, enroute east to Denver. It was summer and the heat was brutal. Some good Samaritan had left 5 gallon jugs of water every 10-15 miles for folks with overheating problems. I also recall roadsigns that said "No gas/services next 50 miles." Or was it 100?
But very scenic and good road surface.
Don't break down.
Mike in GA
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: David Anderson on August 16, 2015, 12:50:20 PM
I did this route in the eagle 10 back in 2005.  U.S. 50 is like being on the moon.  I was driving along with no one for miles when all of the sudden an F16 strafed me head on.  My wife didn't see it, but heard it.  She thought our engine blew up.  It really woke me up.  Not a lot for those air force guys to see out there in that desert.  I was a big target.

I also passed a guy on a bicycle located in a position that the nearest town behind me was about 80 miles and the closest town in front was about 100 miles.  That blew me away. 
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: MC8Mike on August 16, 2015, 01:06:05 PM
We just did that trip in our bus, Fallon to Beaver Utah to visit friends, good 2 lane road but lots of up hill and down hill. Some real twisties east of Austin but we have done that trip before and enjoy it over the freeways.
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: luvrbus on August 16, 2015, 02:16:53 PM
We haven't done 50 in years is there cell service now it was spotty the last time we were across it after Middlegate,aren't the summits around 8,000 ft at the Toiyabe Range
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: Taibob on August 16, 2015, 02:51:33 PM

David,

All that loneliness out there on Rte 50,
and LOL
A. you got a photo of a woman protester carrying a sign?
B. Photo of a woman on a pilgrimage?

No offence
Some of us just travel on a different path
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: saddleup on August 16, 2015, 07:36:31 PM
iTS A GOOD WAY TO GO ,got about three pass that hit close to 8,000, but there not long pulls, once you get Austin behind you, the rest a piece of cake, we go over it twice a year in our bus no big deal, I lived in Eureka 15 years, lots of big places to pull over, be sure an top yours tank at Fallon, you don't want to be buyin fuel before you get to Utah...
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: luvrbus on August 16, 2015, 07:59:47 PM
Our 8v71N/A in the MCI would huff and puff with lots of black smoke but did fine
Title: Re: Highway 50
Post by: Iceni John on August 16, 2015, 09:25:59 PM
Quote from: David Anderson on August 16, 2015, 12:50:20 PM
I also passed a guy on a bicycle located in a position that the nearest town behind me was about 80 miles and the closest town in front was about 100 miles.  That blew me away. 
Don't worry about cyclists!   They can easily take care of themselves, even when stores are several days' ride away.   There are cyclists riding the Alaskan highways all the time (except in winter!), and they have to take several days' supplies with them.   When I rode my bicycle across country some years ago there were days in northern Colorado and Wyoming when I had to carry a few days of food with me.   Water is the bigger problem  -  I had a Katadyn filter so I could make safe drinking water from any source along the way, but if there's no water then you have to carry it all with you.   Cyclists have crossed the Sahara (even east-west!), the Gobi, the Simpson and other difficult areas  -  it just needs thorough preparation, and sometimes the kindness of strangers when in Africa and Asia.

I would feel more comfortable riding my bike along US50 than driving a complicated mechanical vehicle with lots to potentially go wrong, but that's just me!

John