Robert

I ate some burrito in California at Palo Alto. It will be a long journey until I get my food at the Middlegate Station in Nevada.

It was an almost 8 hours journey via Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe has some snow.

Luckily, I was able to have my dinner at the Middlegate station. A gentleman was playing guitar there.

Then I headed east on US-50. When I arrived at Austin, NV, it was close to the 12 mid-night. I stopped at the small gas station and was trying to pump gas, but the pump was not working. The gas station was closed and no one was out there. Suddenly, a gentleman came out of an adjacent motel and pressed a switch on the pump. He smiled at me and said, "Here you go”. The gas started to flow.

?I said, “Thanks".

?The man asked me, “Where are you heading?"

?I answered, “Eureka”.

?He said, “Drive carefully”.

?I asked, “What is your name, sir?”

?He smiled again and said, “Robert. I love to help people. How did you end up in the Desert"?

I conveyed, "Adventure".

He smirked. Then he went back to the motel.

?I started driving. It was pitch dark. After some time, I stopped at the lonely roadside to check if the road had snow. I needed to exercise also. It was right at the desolate Bob Scott campground. I had a downloaded-video about the Round Mountain gold mine on my phone. I started to play it but did not finish watching it. I started driving again.

At night, the desert had no lights, only the milky way shining above in the sky. Great Basin is a cold desert. Were there cows in the desert? I could not see anything. I saw them the next day during my return journey in the daytime. I also found snow at the Bob Scott campground.

Anyway, I will continue with my night journey. I arrived at Eureka around 1:45 am. There was not even an insect roaming the downtown streets. I stopped near the Jackson House hotel. I heard some kids laughing. But there was no one to be seen. I found out that the Hotel was closed for renovation or something. I sat on the bench near the adjacent post office and started to eat the fish and chips, which I bought in the Middlegate station, with some juice that I bought in Palo Alto, California. I was pretty happy that I was having a fish snack in the desert. I started to play the rest of the video about Round Mountain.

Towards the end of the video, it showed a roadside grave. A cross was facing towards the Palo Alto Hill there. Someone by the name "Robert" died in an automobile accident in 2018 at Round Mountain! It was his gravesite. Robert loved to help people.

?I jumped out of the bench and started to drive towards Ely. There were absolutely no cars on this stretch of the road. As soon as I reached Great Basin National Park, I searched about the Jackson House hotel. It said that the hotel is haunted!

Anyway, I went to sleep at the Great Basin National Park. I was extremely exhausted. However, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning. It was colder due to elevation. Therefore, I cannot sleep further. I saw the stars fading away up above the vast sky. I went inside the national park office and brushed my teeth. I sat on the porch. The desert garden was pleasing. Some eerie sounds of birds flew through the air. There is a small forest in front of the park. It is not dense. I can see in the distance that a deer is strolling through the forest.

I drove to the tiny town of Baker, which has a population of 21. No one was still awake. I roamed around some streets of the town. I saw an elementary school, some small restaurants, and a rural gas station. A camper trailer attached to a pickup truck was parked at the side of the gas station. A child came out of the camper with a folding chair and set it up along the side of the camper. He then went in and came with a book. He sat on the chair, looked around a little bit, and started to read the book immediately afterward.

I felt ashamed. If a kid can be so studious in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, why am I roaming like a vagabond? I must do more studies on my trade instead. I said to myself, "Correct your attitude”!

I did have a video of a computer course downloaded on my phone many months ago. I did not finish it due to my laziness. I drove to a general store parking lot and started to play the course! After 45 minutes, I finished the course. But the store still did not open. It was 8 am. I waited 15 more minutes. Then I decided to drive towards the Utah border.

Finally, I inferred that I should drive back to the Bay Area because the national park is actually closed.

I reached Ely, filled the tank with gas, got some food, and drove again. I saw some active mines in the Ely area. I passed the desert and the mountains and arrived at Eureka.

I passed the Jackson House Hotel again and took a stop at the west side of the town. It was my longest stop as I rested on the nice bench of a grocery store deli. It appears that it was the only grocery store on the main street of Eureka.?I purchased some fresh tamales and asked the checkout boy if the Jackson House Hotel was open. He said, "It is closed for a while"!

?After the full meal, I headed to Austin. The desert and mountains made me tired. I pulled my car to the roadside wide-space and tried to take a nap. Oncoming cars were infrequent, so it was quiet. There was a forest on the roadside.

Suddenly, a red sedan showed up and pulled next to my car.

?A man came out of the car. He asked me, “Are you okay?”

?I said, “Yes. Happy new year!”

?The man said, “Same to you”. Then he quickly drove away. I could not ask his name. I felt great that I was at least able to talk to one person on this lonely road. At the same time, I was feeling strange about his driving away quickly.

?After a half hour of rest, I arrived in Austin. It was daytime, but the town was still quiet.

I found the gas store is open now.

?I filled up my tank and asked the cashier lady, “Does anyone by the name Robert work here”?

?The cashier said, “No”.

The motel was 10 feet away. I went to the motel and asked the attendant at the office, "Was someone by the name of Robert staying here yesterday"?

The attendant replied, "I am not aware".

Then I asked, "Does anyone work here by that name"?

The attendant confirmed, “No”.