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PEGGY HUSTON

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2025 Road Trip: Chapter 1

  • Writer: Peggy Huston
    Peggy Huston
  • Nov 30, 2025
  • 3 min read

Greetings Family and Friends,


Welcome to my travel journal for Road Trip 2025. For those of you that are new to my travel journals, I started this many years ago to communicate with my family so that they know where I am on the planet when I am out on an adventure, that I am still alive, and to share my experiences. Should you not want to receive these emails, just let me know and I will stop adding to your inbox.


This road trip will take me as far east as South Dakota and will include a segment of the Lewis and Clark Trail. The first segment, as it is with any road trip heading east, is to get through Nevada. I decided I was going to cross our neighbor state with a mindset of curiosity rather than endurance. I crossed the state on Hwy 50 making several stops to see what NV has to offer. One of the first stops was Grimes Archaeological Area and Hidden Cave because who does not want to see a hidden cave. I hiked up the hill to find that the cave is only open for tours at specific times and I was not there at that time. What I could see a lot of was rocks. This area, in years past (about 21,000 years ago), was covered by Lake Lahontan, a salt water lake that covered a significant portion of NV, including the Great Basin, and a portion of CA. Some of the rocks, like the red ones in the photo below, were thrown from volcanoes, while others, like the whitish rock, were formed by the wave movement in the lake. The whitish rock looks like coral formations and gave me the sense of walking on the bottom of the ocean, which then made me think, am I looking at the past? Or at the future?


The drive includes vast playas interrupted by mountain passes.  The sand dunes pictured below are a nice interruption to the scenery.  This is Sand Mountain Recreation Area.  The whole of the area is about 4700 acres and the windblown sand collects here where it is blocked by the mountains to the north, east, and west.  
The drive includes vast playas interrupted by mountain passes.  The sand dunes pictured below are a nice interruption to the scenery.  This is Sand Mountain Recreation Area.  The whole of the area is about 4700 acres and the windblown sand collects here where it is blocked by the mountains to the north, east, and west.  
Middlegate is at the intersection of highways 50 and 722.  It was originally a stop on the Pony Express trail.  I had the Pony Express on my mind as I drove across the state as I recently read The Last Ride of the Pony Express by Will Grant, a great read! As Grant shares his experience of crossing the desert from Utah to the Sierras, he shares why the Pony Express was such a bad business model and only lasted 18 months.  There is a bar/restaurant/motel that makes up Middlegate and it is questionable, to say the least.  I read that Stephen King stayed here once and his experience was subsequently included in one of his novels.  I drove into the driveway and back out again and that was enough for me.  The most notable feature of Middlegate is the Shoe Tree.  There are several stories about how this tree started collecting shoes all based on a couple getting into a fight and one throws the other's shoes into the tree which has since inspired hundreds of passersby who are looking for something to do out here to stop and throw somebody's shoes into the tree.    
Middlegate is at the intersection of highways 50 and 722.  It was originally a stop on the Pony Express trail.  I had the Pony Express on my mind as I drove across the state as I recently read The Last Ride of the Pony Express by Will Grant, a great read! As Grant shares his experience of crossing the desert from Utah to the Sierras, he shares why the Pony Express was such a bad business model and only lasted 18 months.  There is a bar/restaurant/motel that makes up Middlegate and it is questionable, to say the least.  I read that Stephen King stayed here once and his experience was subsequently included in one of his novels.  I drove into the driveway and back out again and that was enough for me.  The most notable feature of Middlegate is the Shoe Tree.  There are several stories about how this tree started collecting shoes all based on a couple getting into a fight and one throws the other's shoes into the tree which has since inspired hundreds of passersby who are looking for something to do out here to stop and throw somebody's shoes into the tree.    
I took Hwy 722 to break up the monotony of Interstate 50. It offered a more scenic route. There were some great rock formations including these columnar rocks. I have had the opportunity to see columnar rocks in several places including the hexagon rocks in Ireland, Scotland, and Iceland. These formations happen when lava cools and contracts over time. I find it amazing how this shape occurs, and then that it has occurred in many locations around the world. Given all the different types of rock, I would think that Nevada is a geologist's dreamland.
I took Hwy 722 to break up the monotony of Interstate 50. It offered a more scenic route. There were some great rock formations including these columnar rocks. I have had the opportunity to see columnar rocks in several places including the hexagon rocks in Ireland, Scotland, and Iceland. These formations happen when lava cools and contracts over time. I find it amazing how this shape occurs, and then that it has occurred in many locations around the world. Given all the different types of rock, I would think that Nevada is a geologist's dreamland.
Hwy 50 is referred to as "the loneliest road in America."  While I have driven it many times, it did make it much more interesting to stop and see what's out there.  That said, that's Utah up ahead and I'm ready to be done with it.
Hwy 50 is referred to as "the loneliest road in America."  While I have driven it many times, it did make it much more interesting to stop and see what's out there.  That said, that's Utah up ahead and I'm ready to be done with it.


All the best,

Peggy/Mom/YaYa

 
 
 

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