Team Blog

“Keep on Trucking” said by a truck driver hanging out his window giving us a thumbs up….

Posted on Jul 7th, 2009 at 1:52 am by team

July 2nd, 2009

At 9:15 am we rolled out of Ely, NV with Wilhelm and Hans in the Spyker, Anne and Bill in the Regal, and Lil and Don Ritchey. We thought we were in for a hot Nevada desert day on highway 50, but it was quite the contrary. In fact, we had the top and many layers on due to rain and cool temperatures.

Emily and Sally on the loneliest highway in America.

We were still rolling on the loneliest highway in america and loving it! This might have been one of our most fun days on the entire trip! Not only were we thinking it would be a scorcher, we had also heard so much about the 6 mountain passes we needed to take on that we were just a touch worried that we were going to be on the road late into the night. We were pleasantly surprised on both levels.
Within the first 80 miles of our 150 mile day we went up and over 4 passes! The first pass was Robinson Pass at 7,316 feet, next was Little Antelope pass at 7438 ft, Pancake Pass at 6,517 feet and Pinto Pass at 7,376 feet.

Sally and Bill in the Regal overtaking the Maxwell on a descent

We arrived in Eureka, NV the “friendliest town on the loneliest highway in America” where we decided to stop for lunch. Alice stopped in Eureka, NV as well. We all thought it was fascinating that a lot of the buildings that greeted Alice are still standing today. Eureka, NV is a mining town that boomed around the years of 1870 to 1891. Once home to 10,000 people, Eureka currently has a population of 1,900 (in the county). We learned from Wally Cuchine that there are still two functioning mines in the area. One is 93 miles to the north and the other is 93 miles south. Apparently, they are the two largest and wealthiest gold mines in the country. Cool. We truly LOVE the stories that made this country what is today!

Eureka, NV in front of the Opera house and the Jackson House. The Jackson House was The Brown Hotel when Alice passed through Eureka, NV. It is believed that the ladies stayed there.

We had a long stop in Eureka and by the time we were ready to go there were blue skies ahead. We took the top down and headed out on the open road. Not 5 miles outside of town we were pulled over by two police cars. We were surrounded by cops. Bengt…..did you do this? was the first thing we thought. However, when Deputy Neil Terry told us he has been getting complaints about us impeding traffic all the way from Ely, we became concerned. He was firm, but seemed truly sorry to have to pull us over and ran off with Emily’s license. The previously evening, Rich was pulled over in Ely for driving without lights. Did the Ely Police tip off the Eureka police? Man, it was like high school all over again! The whole process took about 20 minutes and while Emily was shaking in her boots Rich and I put the top back up, as the doom sky seemed to be returning. Since Emily had a perfect driving record, it was a sad moment when Deputy Terry handed Emily a ticket for her to sign.

Lt. Rob Cutler, Christie, Emily, Sgt. Kenny Sanders, Bengt and Deputy Neil Terry after being pulled oevr outside of Eureka, NV

Fortunately, when Em signed her almost tears were replaced by a large smile when she noticed that Deputy Terry had written that she should thank her brother Bengt. Driving record still flawless. We were punked. Thank you gentlemen! That was fun.

The skies ahead were dark and there was lightning in the distance every direction we turned. We had left off the windshield, but were thrilled that we stopped to put it back on when we did. The rain started coming down hard and Babbs was catching huge gusts of winds. Suddenly, Emily said what I thought was the weirdest thing. ”I hope it doesn’t start hailing”. Why would it hail in the middle of July? I haven’t seen hail since 2004. Sure enough, we turned the corner to descend Hickison Pass (6,564 feet) and the hail came down in buckets. It was hailing sideways- hard. The wind was coming in from the north, which meant Emily’s accelerator leg was taking the brunt of the hail. What a chaotic few minutes! Through the Eisenglass, it looked like there was a skating rink in front of us and the 6% grade looked very daunting. Meanwhile, the film crew, once again were standing in the elements shielding the cameras and each other from the golfball sized condensation that was falling out of the sky.

View through the Eisenglass with dark skies above.

The last pass of the day was Austin Pass was at 7,484 feet. We crested what we thought was the summit and stopped to check the brakes. What seemed to be an out of control truck was coming at us head on as we sat in the turn out. A gentleman in full army attire popped out of the car and came running at us, in what we thought was a state of distress. He did not identify himself and was informing us that the lightning was striking at the top of the pass and the Spyker team was VERY nervous for our well being. We weren’t real sure what was happening so we continued to climb since we learned that we were not yet at the top of the pass.

We got to the summit and stopped for another brake check. This time our friend in green jumped out of his truck in front of Babbs, wielding a camera and forced our 100 year old car with wet brakes to pose for a photo. Emily and I had been in hysterics since the hail and at this point it was really tough to get a clear handle on the chaos that was happening around us.

Em and Christie bundled up driving down Route 50

We were so happy when we pulled into Austin! The whole town is basically built on a hill, so we had awesome views coming down from the summit. You could see the town and the mountains in the distance. Beautiful! We had a big group dinner at the Toiyabe Cafe and crashed for the night. Some of the team slept at the Pony Canyon Motel and others were welcomed into the homes of Sharon Tremayne and Frank Whitman. Thank you for sharing your homes with us! We felt extremely welcome in Austin, NV and we believe what we read on the back page your local paper that “quality of life is your greatest asset!”

This is how we felt when we reached Austin, NV!

The loneliest road in America

Vote for our picture!

9 Comments

  1. Just enough time here right now to let you know I’m still thinking of you guys, and SOOOO proud of you for making it this far! Cheering you on with only 2 more days to go! UNBELIEVABLE! I’ll be there in spirit to welcome you to SF! CAn’t wait to touch base and find out how everything ends up. Still very, very fun to read these blog entries! You’re amazing, you guys, really amazing! Have fun and be safe! Love to you from the Sather clan!

    Martha Sather on July 7th, 2009 at 8:32 pm #

  2. Hi there the nice young fellow in the green that gave you the ticket is my nephew i am very proud of him , I hope you enjoy your travels it sounds fun i wish you good luck . Bob Terry ,Delta UT

    Bob Terry on July 7th, 2009 at 8:49 pm #

  3. Hard to believe its been almost a month since you started the great adventure and its comming to a close. I’m off for my own adventure today from Schoahrie County (Cobleskill). Only 650 miles to western Ohio for the 40th Anniversary of the Crosley Automobile Club and my car is only 57 yearts old! I’ll still be watching the oil pressure pretty closely!

    It sure has benn fun and interesting following your trip!! Can’t wait to see the documentary.

    Jim Batsford on July 8th, 2009 at 5:26 am #

  4. What a great adventure! I first read about your intended trip in the May-June 2009 issue of ‘Journey’, the magazine for AAA members. Tripple A wrote a great article about your trip. Does anyone know if there are any books written about Alice Ramsey’s journey? All I can find in our library is one for children/young adults. You are probably close to the finish, good luck and happy trails. CS

    Carole Schroeder on July 8th, 2009 at 7:53 am #

  5. I just want to say how thrilled I was to be able to be a part of the tour from Reno to Lake Tahoe. Your team is the best and it was one memorable day. I can imagine what a blast it must have been to travel all the way across country. I was truely sad to leave you. And I’m so glad you enjoyed my home state Nevada. (even with the ticket, haha). This is my account of the day in the back seat of my friend’s (Al & Linda, thanks!) 1915 Model T:

    We left around 9:30 from the National Automobile Museum parking lot but the Maxwell was acting up making the worst car sound I’ve ever heard. Stopped, adjusted the brakes and off we went. The little 1915 Model T I was in can move along very nicely at around 50 mph so we had to keep our speed down for the Maxwell. On and off we had about 7 vintage cars in the parade including a Pierce Arrow and Oakland. Traveled down 395 and then pulled off for a delightful ride down Franktown. On through Carson City and up Spooner Summit. The tour were strung out but they all made it up and over the hill! On into the Lake Tahoe basin. The sweet smell of pine trees and the clear blue sky added to the day. Stopped at Zephyr Cove for a break and photo op but there were too many people and we couldn’t get the cars close enough to the Lake. On to Meyers for food at Bobdogs Pizza. Poor guys running the place; all these crazy, hungry people coming in all at once in these crazy cars! But they were truely troopers to get all that food out. Sadly, we had to leave the tour, bid our goodbyes and off we went and off they went to Sacramento!

    Life is good anyday riding in a vintage automobile,
    Cindy Ainsworth

    Cindy Ainsworth on July 8th, 2009 at 2:28 pm #

  6. H Carloe,
    Alice’s book is for sale on the website: http://aliceramsey.org/store/. Thank you so much for keeping up with us and for the good wishes! Have a wonderful day, Christie (co-pilot)

    Emily on July 8th, 2009 at 11:40 pm #

  7. Another place to look for information on Alice Ramsey, might be the archives of your city or town library, or by contacting the New York Times (NYT) itself. The Sunday edition of the NYT for June 7, 1959 had a piece in it by Joseph C. Ingraham on the 50th anniversary of Alice Ramsey’s journey.

    Alice was still alive then and Mr. Ingraham interviewed her, for his piece.

    Great photos posted from this segment of Emily’s journey.

    I just wish there was one of that trucker giving you the thumbs up, Emily. You are indeed the part of America we all lovest best, to (once again) employ a phrase Richard Hugo used for a poem. Or as they used to say in the 1960s, “Right on!”

    Terry Parkhurst on July 8th, 2009 at 11:49 pm #

  8. So today will be your final leg of a very long journey. I’m sure you’ll be glad to get home, but I’ll miss the reports and the adventure-by-proxy I’ve enjoyed this past month. May you have sunshine and smooth roads all the way to the St. James Hotel! Pat Babbs for me - she’s done a heck of a job. Oh, and give all of your crew a giant “Ya-hoo” from us, too. We’re looking forward to the video when it’s done.

    Terry Huston on July 9th, 2009 at 5:53 am #

  9. was so upset when I heard you got a ticket. I couldn’t believe that they would pull you over and actually GIVE YOU A TICKET!!! Then I read a little further and found it had been a prank! It restored my faith in the local police department!!

    Toni Catania on July 9th, 2009 at 10:42 am #