TRAVEL FEATURE - USA
ANDREW BEATTIE
B & T U T S C H C C A S S I D Y
HE HADY OURT
N
evada may be the Silver State,
but it’s the gold that everyone’s
after. Nevada is the leading
gold-producing state in the
United States, extracting 71 per cent
of the gold in the country and 5.6 per
cent of global volume in 2017. Most
of Nevada’s nearly 30 mines are locat-
ed in the northern part of the state;
exactly where I was headed.
The best part of my stay in Tahoe
turned out to be my departure. I’d
had such a lousy sleep, I was up early
to get my fix from Starbucks and was
able to hit the road before the traffic.
Boy was I happy I did.
The ride down to the desert was a
lot of fun — all the twists and turns
without the tourist traffic slowing
you down. When I left Tahoe, the
temperature was cool and in the low
teens. Before long, I was carving the
hill like the slalom skiing that Tahoe,
in the winter, is known for, leaning
into the hairpin turns. With adren-
aline running high I didn’t feel cold
TRAVERSE 81
at all. When I got into the desert, I
realized how warm it was.
After the fun from the descent it
was a long ride through the desert to
Winnemucca. There were stretches
of highway where no one was around.
When I ran into Dan, stranded with
his girlfriend on the side of the high-
way, I pulled over and offered to help.
Dan was riding west and was 50
kilometres away from the closest
town. He was trying to fix his bike.
Dan was older, probably in his late
60s, though his tanned, weathered
face and long grey hair made it hard
to tell his actual age. Walking ap-
peared to be a bit of a struggle for
him. His girlfriend was about the
same age, wearing jeans, black tank
top and bandanna covering most of
her blonde hair. She was as dusty as
he and clearly not happy that they
had broken down.
As I approached, I’d noticed that
Dan was holstering a 9mm pistol. I
laughed to myself as I wondered why