Driving an RV Along The Loneliest Highway in America

Scenic Rest Stop!

After picking up our trailer from it's storage location and enjoying a fabulous time in California catching up with friends for a few weeks, it was time to make our way to our main destination for the summer... Colorado. We had decided last year that it was time to pay Colorado some attention. Although we had spent a few days in Durango in 2014 Colorado is our most neglected western state. This summer is the time to rectify that.



When we first thought of our route from Bakersfield to Colorado, where the Airstream was stored during our overseas adventures, we knew crossing Utah and Nevada in July may be a little warm so we decided to search for altitude. We settled on heading up through Tahoe and across Nevada and Utah on Interstate 50 AKA The Loneliest Highway in America.

After a few days in Truckee, we decided on a re-positioning route to Grand Junction, CO that would take us 4 days and 3 nights. Not too onerous for us as we only had to cover 770 miles. That fits well within our no more than 200 miles / 4 hours a day driving limit.

We did our research about fueling up and were not too worried as we read there were regular gas stations along the route. We decided to fill up whenever we reached a town even if we no where near empty. We found gas stations selling diesel in many towns along the way. We filled up in Fallon, Austin, Ely in Nevada and in Delta, Utah.

In terms of overnight stops we stayed in three campgrounds along the way. The first night we stayed a Bob Scott's Campground; a cute, scenic campground just outside Austin. It was a busy stop with lots of folks pulling overnight to take a rest from the relentless driving on the 50.

Overnight stop at Bob Scott's Nr Austin

The second night we made the most of our need to rest, and stayed at the Great Basin National Park on the eastern edge of Nevada. We got in early enough to take the last tour of the day of the Lehman Caves, underground caves are always cool, and these were no exception. We got up early the next morning to take a hike at 10,000 feet in the shadow of Wheeler's Peak. A welcome respite from all the miles of asphalt.

Morning hike in Great Basin National Park

Our final night was a spectacular campground called Maple Grove in Utah. We were the only people other than the host at the campground and we settled into easily the largest spot we have ever styayed. We could have invited all of our friends, and they could have brought their friends. Scenic, peaceful a great way top spend the end of a traveling day.

Spectacular and huge camping spot at Maple Grove

The road itself was beautiful, and the great thing about taking the 50, instead of the 80 up through Salt Lake was no big ass trucks rushing by.  Most of the time it was just lil' old us trundling across the beautiful landscape. The Loneliest Road in America definitely lived up to its name.

Views from the truck on the Loneliest Road in America