2003/10 Lassen Peak trip - Virginia City |
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As soon as the conference closed that evening I was off again, this time in the other direction, to Virginia City. Yes, this is the Virginia City of Bonanza, still much as it probably was a hundred years ago, with ramshackle wooden sidewalks and haphazard shops and bars. However, I think that the producers of the TV series took some liberties with the geography, as it’s a really long way from the Ponderosa to Virginia city, even by car. By the time Little Joe had ridden across two mountain ranges to pick up the groceries and got back to the ranch he’d have been Old Joe.
Virginia City is much higher than Reno, and the road snakes up and over the mountains. I’m glad to see they have some guardrails now on the road, and it isn’t quite as lethal as last time I made the trip. The wild horses still wander up and down the road though so there’s plenty of opportunity for a disaster. The town dates from the big silver strikes of the Comstock Lode, and it’s still surrounded by heaps of tailings from the mines. Today the silver is all gone, and the town is just a tourist trap.
As I drove into town a guy staggered out of the Bucket of Blood saloon into the middle of the road in front of me and fell face down on the road. His girl friend kicked him, then picked him up by his armpits and dragged him to the sidewalk and dropped him. I’d wondered whether they were actors, but the blood on his face looked real enough.
Back at the Hilton in Reno, the parking lot was already filling up with Harleys. Reno was hosting the Street Vibrations bike rally at the weekend, and already had a whole section of the town’s streets closed down for the rally.