Cowboys in Virginia City, Nevada.Credit: Ben Groundwater
The old pick-up truck rumbles down the street, a set of bullhorns fixed to its faded bonnet, a cigarette drooping from the driver's mouth, his wide-brimmed hat clamped on tight. As the car rolls past it reveals a bumper sticker on the back: "I killed a six-pack, just to watch it die."
You get the feeling that's not all this guy has killed. The original owner of those bullhorns would be a good start. And maybe an errant cowboy or two. Eventually the truck pulls away and the rumble fades, and it's all quiet once again on the western front.
There's only one busy street in the town of Beatty, Nevada, and right now there's not a soul on it, pedestrian or car. It's lunchtime, and the few inhabitants of this tiny outpost are eating sandwiches at KC's saloon. The sun beats down hard as folks talk about farmin' and huntin', while the few passersby talk mostly about drivin'.
Country music is the only possible soundtrack to a lonely road in Nevada.Credit: Enrico Gandolfo
See, you have to drive a long way to get to Beatty, Nevada. You have to drive down arrow-straight highways that cut through the endless desert, past ghost towns and places that look like they're only a couple of abandonments away from becoming ghost towns. There are boarded up windows in these places; old RVs rusting away in yards; waist-high weeds growing in old drive-in theatres.
This is the wild, wild west. The far west of the United States, an arid and unforgiving land, a place of cowboys and their "floozies", of hats on heads and six-shooters on hips, of old mining towns, of haunted hotels, of weather-beaten local faces, of cold beer and a warm welcome.
There's only one way to see the Wild West, to experience all it has to offer, and that's with a road trip, the American tradition, the best way to tackle the long distances and barren terrain. That's how I got here to Beatty, the halfway point on my Wild West adventure, a road journey that will take me from the historic town of Virginia City in the north to the lights and glamour of Las Vegas in the south.
Remnants of the mining boom in Virginia City.Credit: Ben Groundwater
I began a few days ago at Gold Hill Hotel, one of the state's oldest and most famous places to lay your head. Perched on a rise next to an old gold mine, the hotel's doors have been swinging open since 1861, and the place has seen its share of history – most notably, and frighteningly, a fire that trapped and killed 37 miners in that shaft right next door, way back in the late 1800s.
It's because of those miners that this hotel is known as one of the most haunted places in America. Things have happened here. Pieces of furniture have been moved in the night. Locked doors have opened and swung in non-existent winds. Playing cards have been rearranged.
It's a quaint, rickety old place that suddenly becomes ominous once the fire has died down, the embers have faded and your room turns to an inky black. Every scrape and scratch and bump in the night sounds grotesquely magnified when you're sleeping in a haunted house. It's an interesting way to begin the journey.
Red Dog Saloon, Virginia City, Nevada Credit: Ben Groundwater
As the sun rises the next day, however, those cares go away, and my road trip begins. First, a short tour of Virginia City, the town that flourished after silver was discovered in 1859, and which hangs onto its history today. The wooden boardwalks remain on the old main street, and a few locals still get around in period costume on occasion.
Tourists, meanwhile, can choose to gamble at the Delta Saloon, or drink at the Bucket of Blood Saloon, or wander through Mackay Mansion, a restored house. However, I'm keen for the open road, so I jump in my typically huge American car and point its nose south.
The first part of the drive to Tonopah is on Highway 50, named "The World's Loneliest Road" by the AAA. There's barely a soul out here – just tarmac, fresh air, an endless blue sky, and the sound of spinning wheels.
Four hours down those dead-straight highways and I've finally reached Tonopah, another mining town that blossomed back in the early 1900s with the discovery of silver. There are still working mines here, though most of the structures that now dot the barren horizon are more historical pieces than operating machinery.
Tonight I'm staying at the Mizpah Hotel, a 107-year-old establishment that has stood witness to Tonopah's glory days. There's history here, living, and dead. The main lift door still has a bullet hole it in. And there's the famous tale of the "Lady in Red", a call girl who was strangled to death on the top floor early in the hotel's history. I, of course, have been given the room in which it happened.
It's a beautiful place, too, with a four-poster bed and a claw-foot bath, but you can't help the niggling feeling as you switch off the light that something scary is going to happen tonight.
Inevitably, and fortunately, it doesn't, and I'm refreshed the next morning and ready to continue the journey through this wild country. First, a visit to Tonopah Historic Mining Park, a museum set on one of the old mines used during the silver rush of the early 1900s. It feels like the mine closed just yesterday, with huge pieces of machinery standing stoic against the elements.
And then it's back on the road, another hour-and-a-half of flat, straight highway down to Beatty, the one-horse cowboy town with no visible horse, but plenty of cowboys.
"Oh the cowboys and the floozies will be out tonight," says Debbie, who works at the town's Chamber of Commerce, which should more accurately be called the Wooden Shack of Commerce, a tiny hut by the side of the highway. "They'll be wearin' their cowboy clothes, and you know why that is? Cos they ain't changed in a hundred years!"
She's right, too – they are wearing their cowboy clothes. When I head back to KC's saloon that night for a bite to eat it's full of moustachioed men in big hats and long coats, and women in tight leather and tassels. Saturday night is karaoke night at KC's, and there are two types of music you're likely to hear: country, and western.
I relax at the bar with a beer while guys with six-shooters on their hips work their way through the full repertoire. There's a nagging feeling you get in Beatty, one that's never been stronger than it is right now: Where the hell am I?
Next day I'm not even in Nevada anymore – I've crossed the state border into California, going from the high plains of Beatty to the low, low depths of Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth. It's amazing to watch the dashboard: the outside temperature steadily rising as the car steadily descends.
There's time to explore this rocky, barren national park before climbing back up to the plateau, back into Nevada and onwards to Pahrump, a large town of weatherboard houses and glittering casinos. I spend the night in one of the latter monstrosities before hitting the road once again the next morning, pointing my way south, driving down more straight roads that become ever busier until eventually I round a corner in the hills and there, laid out in sparkling glory on the valley floor below, is Las Vegas. Civilisation.
Pretty soon I'll be checked into a plush room at Caesar's Palace. I'll be marvelling at the contrast between singing karaoke with cowboys in Beatty one night, and play blackjack at a swim-up table in the Caesar's pool 48 hours later. I'll be dining on a breakfast buffet with a choice of more than 700 foods.
It will be completely different, and yet still the same. It's the Wild, Wild West.
The writer was a guest of Travel Nevada and Fiji Airways
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
Fiji Airways flies daily from Melbourne and Sydney to Los Angeles, via Nadi, with onward connections available to Reno and Las Vegas. For bookings and information call 1800 230 150 or go to fijiairways.com.
STAYING THERE
Double rooms at the Gold Hill Hotel in Virginia City start from US$85 – see goldhillhotel.net. In Tonopah, rooms at the Mizpah Hotel start from $US99. Go to mizpahhotel.net. Rooms at the Stagecoach Hotel in Beatty cost US$67.95 – see bestdeathvalleyhotels.com. The Pahrump Nugget has double rooms from US$69.99 a night. See pahrumpnugget.com. And in Las Vegas, Caesar's Palace has plush, spacious rooms from US$215 a night. Go to caesarspalace.com.
SEE + DO
Enterprise has hire cars that can be picked up in Reno and dropped off in Las Vegas. A word of warning though – GPS units are often unavailable. See enterprise.com. Walking tours at the Tonopah Historic Mining Park cost US$5. Go to tonopahhistoricminingpark.com.
FIVE ESSENTIALS FOR A NEVADA ROAD TRIP
MAP
It might seem hard to get lost in Nevada, because there just aren't many roads. Still, in such isolated country it's necessary to have a good map, and to know exactly where you want to go. Best to let others know your plans in advance as well.
WATER
As with driving in outback Australia, there are plenty of stretches of hot, dry nothingness in Nevada, and if your car breaks down, you'll absolutely need to have water with you. It might be a while before a car comes past to flag down.
COUNTRY MUSIC
While not quite as essential as water and a map, if you want to really appreciate a drive through cowboy country you need the right soundtrack – we'd suggest an iPod loaded up with rootin', tootin' country and western songs. And maybe something else when you need a break.
MOBILE PHONE
It doesn't matter if you don't have an American SIM card – even an Australian phone will connect to the local signals and allow you call for help if something goes wrong while you're in the middle of nowhere.
A FULL TANK OF FUEL
Every Nevadan will tell you: fill up the tank when you get the chance. Doesn't matter if you're still nudging three-quarters full – it might be a long while before you find the next service station, and it's always better to be on the safe side.
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