Death Valley MLK Recon Ride Tale (zweiter Teil!)

[KMG_365]

Are you still reading these??

 

 

 

Well okay then! After much public clamoring (thanks, Jack! ), I present to you the next installment of the Recon-Ride Tale for the "Longstreet to Death Valley on MLK Weekend" Ride! (sorry it's so late . . . . )

 

Edit: here is a link to Part One--in case you missed it!

 

When we last left our heroes, they were dining in opulant splendor on the patio at the Longstreet Inn and Casino watching the beautiful sunset and swapping lies . . . and then we went inside to eat dinner!

 

BTW, have you seen my favorite pic of the weekend?

 

 

 

 

So . . . the actual dinner was pretty fair to middling, and I guess it's a good thing we didn't ride seven hours just for the food. It might've been a lot better had we not just stuffed ourselves outside on the patio with flyingreg's wonderful assortment of hors d'oeuvres! As the German's say: "Hunger ist der Beste Koch!" . . . and none of us were very hungry.

 

Unfortunately, it's been so long now I don't remember what all we had (perhaps other recon-riders will chime in here and help me out! ), but I seem to remember the onion rings were not bad and the fried mushroom appetizer was also quite yummy. The salads and steaks were pretty generic. The portions were ample and the prices were moderate. Here's a recap for you:

 

 

 

 

The restaurant has enough variety and is of basic minimum quality as to remove the "need" to ride elsewhere for dinner--and it sure is convenient! If you need an excuse though, the WaterRock Station in northern Pahrump is worth a visit--but I'd keep my sense of humor handy as the hostess is a real character! Here's a shot from last year's Sunday night dinner ride:

 

 

 

They had Karaoke Night in the bar/restaurant/casino and despite some false starts and broken promises by my fellow recon-riders--ONLY I was brave enough to stand up--warts and all--before the throngs of adoring fans (most of which were old enough to be my grandparents) and thrill them with my rendition of "Jambalaya!", which I dedicated to the gulf coast victims of the hurricanes. Having lived in lake Charles, LA for a few months in my mis-spent youth I did a passable job of some creole patois, and I tell you there wasn't a dry eye (or unplugged ear) in the whole place!

 

So far, there aren't any hard-and-fast dinner plans that I know of for Saturday or Sunday night, but in addition to the WaterRock, there is another place in Pahrump that is supposed to have even better BBQ, but I don't know if I ever caught the name (any help out there recon-riders or locals?). I hope folks with some good ideas will post them to the excited chatter and like-minded individuals can hook up and make firmer plans.

 

Recon-rider "JoeG" had done some preliminary research and found out that the moon will be FULL on Saturday night the 14th! Also, Marta Beckett is STILL performing Saturday nights at the old Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction. I've never been inside the Amargosa Opera House to see the murals as it's always been closed when I've been through. That sounds like a really fun Saturday evening: catch her unique show (before she dies--she's in her 70's and still going! ), then drop into the valley and go for a hike down on the salt flats by the light of the full moon! If you've never ridden the desert at midnight under a full moon, you're in for a real treat!!

 

Back to the tale: The "town" of Amargosa Valley is not very large (1800 people) and it's very spread out: over 545 square miles! The Longstreet itself is located at the far southern end right on the stateline to California to catch the Californian tourists on their way to Vegas to gamble. Here's the rest of the part of "town" right near the State line--you can just pick out the original "Stateline Saloon and Gaming Hall" across the street on the left and the "gas" station on the right:

 

 

 

 

Detail of the old Saloon--we heard the old lady who originally owned it died just a few months ago and no one knows what will become of it:

 

 

 

 

Detail of "Mom's", the only "gas" south of "town". She didn't happen to have any gas when we were there as this was shortly on the heels of the Hurricane induced shortage and price gouging and she didn't even know when to expect the next truck. I'm assuming this will all be straightened out by January . . . .

 

 

 

 

The next gas is south to Shoshone (35 miles--south on NV 373 to CA-127 through Death Valley Junction, you can enter the south end of the park here in Shoshone and come up through Badwater) or Furnace Creek (35 miles--south on NV 373 to CA-127 to Death Valley Junction, west on CA-190)--both are California gas: oxygenated and expensive or for Nevada gas: Lathrop Wells (14 miles--north on NV-373 to Route 95), or over to Pahrump (35 miles--south on NV-373 to Death Valley Junction, east on Ash Meadows to Bell Vista and south on NV-160).

 

"Gaming" is legal in Nevada, but was not previously legal in California, before the State lottery and Indian gaming took over. The big Vegas casinos tried to kill the explosive growth of Indian Gaming in California in the 1990's. This unsuccessful tack cost them a small fortune in advertizing and lobbying money. They finally learned the truth in a paraphrase of the old adage: "If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em! ( . . . at their own game, of course! ). At first it was just the few large California reservations that had set up gaming and called all the shots in "the territory", but now the Vegas casinos have gone to EVERY little podunk remnant of a tribe (some with as few as four members still remaining on the rolls) and "made them an offer they couldn't refuse"! Vegas-style casinos are popping up (or in the works) on every little postage stamp piece of Reservation land in the state! This is totally ruining all the great old two-lane country motorcycling roads as they get clogged with RV's and old men in hats and tipsy blue-hairs careening around in huge Detroit passenger barges going to and from bingo games.

 

Some tourists to Nevada came to partake of "other" sinful pleasures. State regulated prostitution is legal in Nye county, but not in Clark county--where Las Vegas is (go figure, huh! ). Nye county was probably the last hold-out of the old Wild West. The first white settlement in the area near Ash Meadows Spring (now a national Wildlife Preserve) in 1905 had a pretty lawless reputation and even the Nye County Sherriff didn't want to have to go there until the late 1930's. Real development of the area didn't start until the 1950's and they didn't even have electricity (other than self-generated) until 1963!

Here's a link with some interesting historical info on the Amargosa Valley area.

 

Recon-rider "George_LT" (Formerly "George_RT" until he got seduced by the "Large Side"! ) and his wife Joan live in Lone Pine, CA on the eastern slope of the Sierras and just west of Death Valley at about 3700 feet. The rest of the recon-riders had planned to swing up through Beatty and check out what had become of the town, cut across the Valley and meet up with them for lunch in LP, then all ride back to the Longstreet together for Saturday night. It's only 155 miles to LP via the northern route (Lathrop Wells, Beatty, Daylight Pass into the Valley, by Stovepipe Wells, Emigrant Junction, Towne Pass, and the awesome part of CA-190 past Panamint Springs! ).

 

We breakfasted out on the patio--which was very nice, but I imagine might be a bit colder in January. They don't normally serve breakfast out on the patio, but we had befriended one of the local wait staff "Donna" on Friday night, and she brought everything out to us!

 

We set out north the 14 miles to Lathrop Wells and all gassed up. We then headed up to Beatty to make sure we could cancel everyone's reservations since we decided to move the ride to the Longstreet. We stopped by the Stagecoach Hotel and Casino which was Ed Ringle's (an ambitious developer from California) initial toe-hold on the town:

 

 

 

 

The Stagecoach sits on prime real estate on the trucking Route 95 and while it looks very nice from the road, inside it feels like a prison yard--cold, sterile and industrial with tall iron bars separating the walkways from the dirty pool giving the whole compound a depressed look. The hired help that have given in to the "Dark Side" also have the same look of resignation on their faces and are almost uniformly sullen, if not downright rude. The rooms show the same lack of pride in their work and the on-site restaurant is purported to have the worst food in the county. I don't think I'd trust food from a disgruntled chef, anyway!

 

The story of the rise and fall of Beatty, NV reads like an old western melodrama complete with carpetbagger villains, local would-be heroes, rallying townsfolk, acrimonious town hall meetings, accusations of influence peddling and corruption, evil bankers, foreclosures and buy-outs, "mysteriously" set fires burning businesses to the ground, nuclear waste disposal site studies (Yucca Mountain is right here), mines paying out and shutting down, military and other government contracts (Nellis Air Force Base and Nuclear Testing Site practically buts up against Beatty's town timits), environmental activism and all manner of political intrigue. Ringle is trying to get a "Stuntman Hall of Fame" museum built in Beatty.

 

Ringle and his local henchmen are busily buying up the rest of the older business in town which have fallen on hard times since the closure of the Bullfrog Mine--a major source of jobs in the Beatty area. Unfortunately, there appears to be no love lost between this new interloper (who still lives in California) and the long time residents who have bristled at his "acerbic" personality and frank claims that he will run all dissenters to his "Master Plan for Beatty" out of town on a rail. When the Bank of America talked about closing the local branch ( and, it was rumored, refused to give him a construction loan), he plastered one of his huge, gaudy bill-boards in town with disparaging remarks about B of A. It really gave the town a nice, welcoming, "homey" feel!

 

He bought the Motel 6 franchise right next-door and slowly bought out almost all of the other hotels in town--including our beloved "Exchange Club"--except for the really small ones that he didn't think posed any threat to his dominance or were too run-down or poorly situated to justify any investment. But prior to buying up the hotel competition in the older, central part of town, he first bought up many other businesses right nearby, half-demolished the structures and then let them sit like an eyesore for years to further drive customers to his place on the north end and drive real estate values down. Then he went to "help out" the other failing business owners by offering to take their worthless property off their hands for "more than they were really worth". Now the Burro Inn is being torn down and will soon be re-opened as a Best Western franchise, the Exchange Club restaurant, casino, and antique bar sits boarded up and the rooms used merely as overflow when his Stagecoach fills up.

 

The man obviously has an inflated sense of self as his self-proclaimed: "Most Beautiful Gas Station in the WORLD!" is called "Eddie's World" and their company logo is a cute little grade-school picture of the darling "Eddie" smiling innocently for the camera.

 

 

 

 

Wow, that's got to be the World's MOST beautiful Gas Station! I mean, I've seen some lovely Gas Stations in my day, but that one has got to take the cake!

There is also an ice cream shop (with mediocre ice cream) and a nut and candy shop selling re-packaged, marked-up bulk candy and nuts.

 

 

We stopped by the Exchange Club and talked to the current new manager installed since the take-over. Turns out she was a former assistant manager at the Longstreet, and he wooed her away to Beatty with an offer of her own place to manage. It was kind of sad in a way, as with the boarded-up restaurant, bar and casino, not many people realize it's really open and the place just sits empty most of the time except when there's something going on in the area that fills up the local places. I felt kind of bad watching her cross out all of our names in her largely blank reservation book.

 

Well, trying to put that depressing scene behind us, we headed west out of town heading for Death Valley. On the way into town earlier I had gotten a strong radar hit, but we hadn't seen the local constabulary in awhile as we were leaving. The speed limit doesn't change for a mile or so after leaving town--even though there's literally NOTHING around, and it makes for a nice revenue generating "Cherry Patch" (not that kind, the LEO kind! ) I'm taking point as we head for Daylight Pass and I'm taking it slow, sure enough, over the rise my V-1 shrieks: "INSTANT ON!!!!!" in my ears. I'm sure the guy saw us and thought: "Hah! That gaggle of Beemers! Jackpot! I'll get that toaster for sure now!" He had seen us coming into town as we were driving around stopping taking pictures and he was lying in wait for us in his favorite snare: a few hundred feet in front of the "Limit: 55" sign (where the limit is still 35 mph ). "What the . . . ? 37 mph!!??" Ooooh, wasn't he ever disappointed! I gave him my usual, casual, friendly wave (I always give LEO's a friendly wave! ) as we pass . . . while all the while Mr. Valentine is screaming in my ears: "Danger, Will Robinson! DANGER!!"

 

The road from Beatty (3,300 feet) into Death Valley (elevation +5 to -282 feet BELOW sea level) over Daylight Pass (4,300 feet) is a very nice ride. You head up into the mountains just west of Beatty and then wend your way along some nice easy twisties, come around a corner and all of a sudden the mountains part and you're out in the open. You look to your left and gasp! All at once you realize you're up at the top of a big alluvial fan and you can see the whole valley for almost ONE HUNDRED miles in front of you and the road slowly descending to the salt flats below and eventually to the mountains on the far horizon! It's just one of the MANY pretty cool views in this area! Here's a very poor quality taste:

 

 

There's a better panorama here.

 

 

 

We flew down the hillside, across the valley floor (a few hundred feet below sea level), by the beautiful sand dunes at Stovepipe Wells, over the rollercoaster dips and turns up to Towne Pass (~5,000 feet), stopped at the restaurant at Panamint Springs for a pee stop, a stretch break and to stock up on some Arrogant Bastard Ale (they didn't have any at the Longstreet), and on up through the awesome twisty passes of the Argus Range (ask AzAl to show you his videos sometime! ) and back down to Owen's Valley and the picturesque little burg of Lone Pine, CA.

 

Lone Pine is a favorite place for shooting old western movies. The cool little town with the one main street and the backdrop of the snow covered Sierra's is a pretty nice setting for a western! Here's a shot from our ride in January 2004 on the way in to Lone Pine coming down out of the Panamints and onto the Owen's Valley Flats:

 

 

 

 

 

And here we are parked to meet up with George_TL and Joan:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's George and Joan (and Leslie):

 

 

 

 

We ate lunch at the "Bonanza" restaurant (which, BTW, was NOT an accurate depiction of the old west! ). The food was pretty okay, but I guess I'm spoiled living 10 minutes from Mexico here in San Diego!

 

 

 

 

We ate at the "High Sierra Cafe" in 2004 and I'd have to say I preferred the food there, but that WAS two years ago.

 

 

 

 

After lunch we blasted back down into the valley to try to catch the late afternoon sun at The Artist's Palette. The low afternoon sun brings out the richness of the colors in the west-facing sandstone formations and brings the color to life. It's really hard for me to capture them on film to share, so I'm hoping one of the photo caravan groups with much better cameras than I can get some good shots here. Here's my feeble attempt:

 

 

 

 

We arrived back at the Longstreet just about dark (about 350 miles on the day) and cleaned up to meet the others for dinner. We got all gussied up a bit early and decided to hit the patio for a bit before dinner. When we got there we weren't the only ones who had this great idea. It's a very nice view and an even more relaxing setting. Amargosa Valley brags that it has "Champagne Air and Million Dollar Sunsets"! I guess that since most of the visitors come from either Los Angeles and/or Las Vegas--the competition in the air quality race isn't very stiff! And the sunsets really were "million dollar" ones!

 

We finally all met up on the patio and moved inside to get a table for dinner. Jack Reeves and his band were playing and it was an INTERESTING slice of culture that none of us will soon forget! Here's Donna again rushing around and tending to our every whim:

 

 

 

 

The bar itself starts where the people behind flyingreg are standing and curves around further straight back in this shot forming a sort of "orchestra pit" in the front of the stage. The elevated stage is actually behind and above Phil's head, but you can't see it too well as it projects out into a large bay window looking out on the lagoon. The Casino is all the way behind and off to the right of the shot. Here's the happy group enjoying the melodious sounds and engaging stories of Jack Reeves!

 

 

 

 

We had a great night talking and getting to know each other better--or even at all--many of us had only just met! But like so many of these "gatherings", the kind of folks who drive 100's of miles to show up, ride a few hundred miles more, talk bikes and share the awesome scenery and the great outdoors are some of the nicest and most interesting people I've had the pleasure to get to know!

 

We closed the restaurant and bar down--at 10:00pm! --and moved back out onto the patio to finish off the night and a bottle of good cheer. The hardcore ones stayed until waaaay late, but Leslie, Phil, Todd, and I had made plans to get an early start, so Leslie and I said our goodbyes and trundled off to bed. Phil is an inveterate early riser and we awoke to the unmistakable sound of a hippo being flogged hard out of the parking lot. "Hmmmmmm. I thought we'd all gas up together in Shoshone on the way out."

 

We got packed and out to the bike and found a note from Phil. He'd already been up for over an hour and was antsy to get going as he had just moved into their new house and had a LONG list of things to try to punch out when he got back. No worries, Phil. You know we understand. We were loading up our bikes in the parking lot and JoeG who had planned to ride back with flyingreg could find no sign of him and no answer on the phone in his room. Just as Todd, Leslie and I were about to pull out, we see a bleary-eyed Greg poke his head out of his window and wave to us. I guess he had a hard time figuring out his alarm clock.

 

The three of us got on the road and headed on down to Shoshone for breakfast and gas, with Todd's Gray Hippo safely enveloped in the cloak of dual V-1's point and sweep. We got there right as they opened and had a nice breakfast. Afterwards Todd said he thought he forgot his cell phone at the hotel, so he took his leave of us, sent us on alone and headed back north to the Longstreet (38 miles). We continued on south to Baker via CA-127--a notorious LEO "cherry patch" (not that one, the OTHER kind! ) Within miles it seemed I got the familiar Ka--"Braadaap!", but just a chirp. We slowed to the rediculous revenue generating speed limit of 55mph--in the middle of freakin' nowhere!

 

We soon saw the lion whose roar we'd heard from afar: on the right shoulder feeding happily on the remains of a poor motorist who had never heard the gospel of Mike Valentine. The thought went fleeting through my mind that now Todd is flying solo at least an hour or so behind us and there's no way to contact him. Oh well, I think: he's a big boy and an experienced rider, he'll probably be fine as long as he doesn't try some fool-headed scheme like trying to catch back up to us!!

 

We only learned later to our dismay that Todd, cruising along at the speeds at which Beemers like to run, got a performance award by the very same LEO that we had passed! And to add insult to injury, he had indeed misplaced his cell phone: in his own pocket!

 

So, needless to say, Todd will be your point man for the SLOW "smell the flowers" group to really enjoy the beautiful scenery with lots of stops for pics! And I bet I know what he's asking Santa for for Christmas this year!

 

 

 

Leslie and I, blissfully ignorant of poor Todd's fate, continued down to Baker and on back to the train station from Part One of this tale. We wanted to spend a bit more time looking at the exhibits and watching the interpretive film. It is an unwritten law that I will certainly get my head nailed to a coffee table if I were ever to pass by an open Visitors Center without stopping! It is well worth the stop if you're into Visitors Centers, exploring Nature's bounty, local history, anthropolgy, old trains, desert flora and fauna, etc.

 

We continued on to Twenty-Nine Palms via Amboy Rd., but this time instead of taking our normal route straight south through Joshua Tree National Park, we continued on west on CA-62 to the little town of "Joshua Tree" and entered the park from the North-West entrance. The whole park is great, but this piece of road from the NW entrance to the intersection of the other N-S road has some of the densest stands of Joshua Trees in the park, some of the most striking boulder formations, and the most interesting landscapes--unfortunately it is also more heavily trafficked. We zipped around a few rolling roadblocks out for their Sunday ride and soon had long stretches to ourselves. As we came around one corner we were incredibly lucky to spot a rarely seen and endangered Desert Tortoise! We slowed quickly to a stop and I pulled out my camera to grab a shot while Leslie (her former State Park Ranger training kicking in) quickly parked her bike, dismounted and grabbed this big guy out of the middle of the road right before two large RV's coming from opposite directions passed us! In all my years of desert driving (and fewer of desert riding) I've never had the chance to see one in the wild. He was happily enjoying basking in the warmth of the sun on the fresh asphalt--unfortunately, he picked a very bad spot to do it! It's hard for you to tell scale from this shot, but I'd guess his carapace was about 12" (30cm) across!

 

 

 

 

We continued on a few miles more and found another specimen. Now, I've stopped for many a fanbelt-snake in my travels, but every once in awhile you're rewarded with an actual snake. This one looked like a Desert Racer, but we didn't know at the time, so I just christened this one a "Slow Snake", as he didn't quite make it to the other side. Now we'll never know "why the snake crossed the road"!

 

 

 

 

We continued out the other end of the park and headed for Box Canyon, but at the I-10 junction there was a sign saying the road was closed ahead, so we got on the I-10 and headed west to the 86-S and south along the western edge of the Salton Sea to S-22 and home through the Anza Borrego Desert State Park (via Montezuma Grade again! ) and home.

 

It was a great trip and an even better time with friends in some of the most strikingly majestic country to be found anywhere. It is such a nice break from the Koyaanisqatsi of the "madding crowd" to get out into the "empty" desert. It is pure joy to commune here with other riders in the deserts' atmosphere of peace and quiet--with the silence broken only by the whirring of finely tuned motors--barely restrained horses driving our magnificent machines down open and empty stretches of road . . . straining for that next horizon!

 

See you all in January!

[Dances_With_Wiener_Dogs]

Jamie...how long does it take you to write up a tale like this??

 

Next time you're in Pahrump, here's a good photo op.

[Francois_Dumas]

Very interesting story...... very depressing as well (that first part)... really reads like something you only see in films..... The Dukes of Hazard came to mind with Boss Hog being the rendition of the little-town-tycoon

 

Wonderful story, lots of information too..... thanks for all the work typing it up !!!!

[1MPH]

Thanks Jamie, It was well worth the wait. The bit about Beatty was very interesting. Perhaps Jim "the bartender"

at the Exchange club went to Goldfield and bought that

motel he was talking about. Anyways thanks for the great

write up. Maybe you should write a "Motorcycle Diary".

 

Jack

[KMG_365]

Perhaps Jim "the bartender" at the Exchange club went to Goldfield and bought that

motel he was talking about.

Actually, I heard from the owner of the Amargosa Toad in Beatty that he did just that!

 

We might have to check out his place in Goldfield as a possible location for some future gathering. I wonder if he bought that really old fancy one in the middle of town that Roosevelt stayed in? I think Goldfield's actually the county seat for (smallish) Esmeralda County, and it doesn't look like much, but it might be worth checking out. I'm tryin' to remember if I've ever been through there.

 

 

Steve,

These things take me HOURS and HOURS, but it's fun and I like to think they're worth it. I don't know if it's the lasting effects of the chemo or just turning 40, but my brain just doesn't work like it used to. Unfortunately, I still have pretty high standards for my writing and just the link pasting and proofreading (on this old, slow, tiny 12" monitor) takes me a couple of hours!

 

Glad you enjoyed the tale, and we saw that road on the recon ride! It's actually a pretty main thoroughfare in town.

 

BTW, are you coming down to join us this trip? You could even try to hook up with Steve Reinig and A-Red-Bill!

[Tank]

Jamie, Your gift to tell the zweiter teil is worth the wait of a couple of hours. Seems like to me that the posting of even a simple responce like this takes me forever, hoping that my spelling and puntuation is up to the usual standards of this board.

[Dances_With_Wiener_Dogs]

BTW, are you coming down to join us this trip? You could even try to hook up with Steve Reinig and A-Red-Bill!

Gosh, I'd love to, but I have a show going to NYC in early Feb and another show going to Frankfurt during the same period. I hope to be in Gunnison though!

[KMG_365]

I'd love to, but I have a show going to NYC in early Feb and another show going to Frankfurt during the same period. I hope to be in Gunnison though!

Rats!

 

Uh . . . I mean: Wow! NYC and Frankfurt??!! How cool is that??

 

Wait . . . what do you mean, "You HOPE to be in Gunnison??!!"

 

You'd dang well BETTER be there buddy--cause I owe you a beer!!

 

 

 

 

And Tank:

. . . is worth the wait of a couple of hours

Actually, I kept you waiting a few days!

The whole thing took me about eight hours to write--the two hours was just the proofreading--but I had fun doing it! It's nice being able to share the beauty of the area not just with those who will be joining us, but also with our friends who can't as well as those all over the globe who live too far away to join us!

 

Fortunately, I was at work for 75 hours Monday through Thursday morning and knocked out a wee bit of it then in the evening (between calls). Then I got lucky and it was really slow on Friday--the busiest shopping day of the year (since there are no malls in Coronado! ). We were on "holiday routine" all day (after the broken hydrant and the sink-hole from which threatened to swallow up a few houses! ) so I was being paid to write the rest of it!

 

It has been so much fun planning this ride with Phil, Leslie and the rest of this awesome team! I hope I can last until January!

 

For the rest of you hurting for awesome rides in CA, Phil and I are already working on a fun ride in the end of March up in the Monterey area! Keep an eye out in Ride Planning for details!

[1MPH]

 

 

 

For the rest of you hurting for awesome rides in CA, Phil and I are already working on a fun ride in the end of March up in the Monterey area! Keep an eye out in Ride Planning for details!

 

Just like Jimmy Stewart in "Fools Parade".

 

As far as Goldfield goes not much there and the motel Jim

bought only has about 9 units.

 

Jack

[ednap]

A really nice read and some great shots too. Thanks for taking time to post. Much appreciated.

[KMG_365]

Just like Jimmy Stewart in "Fools Parade".

Hmmmmmmm, never saw that one.

As far as Goldfield goes not much there and the motel Jim bought only has about 9 units.

Well, if you think there's not much in Goldfield, you're in for a real surprise at the Longstreet!

 

BTW, do you know the particular motel Jim was talking about? I was thinking (hoping) it might've been the Nixon-Wingate Hotel!

[1MPH]

Hmmmmmmm, never saw that one.

 

In the movie Jimmy Stewart takes his eye ball out.

 

 

Well, if you think there's not much in Goldfield, you're in for a real surprise at the Longstreet!

 

BTW, do you know the particular motel Jim was talking about? I was thinking (hoping) it might've been the Nixon-Wingate Hotel!

 

I've been to the Longstreet. Way better!!!!

 

The motel Jim bought is a small unit on the way into Goldfield from Beatty.

 

Jack

[GS_George]

Does Jim's place in Goldfield have a watering hole? Hmmm, sounds like another recon trip to me.

[1MPH]

Pretty sure Jims' place does not have a bar.

 

When I passed through I was told the Santa Fe saloon motel and casino was best (only) place in town. While I didn't

go there I was told the saloon is worth a visit, very old

western. Would be a nice side trip.

 

Jack

[Tom P]

I've got to get out West one of these days! Great write up and pics Jamie.

[KMG_365]

I've got to get out West one of these days!

Hey, I think I know a way to make that happen!

 

Lookie here!!

[MikesToy]

Jim Marsh's place in Gold Field is called the Santa Fe and it does have a bar. One of the neatest bars you will ever go in. It is off Hiwy 95 (the main drag) about a mile and is well worth the detour and time. The Motel is next to the bar and was built many years later.

 

Any of Jim's businesses in central Nevada are worth the time to explore!

[KMG_365]

Just for clarification for others reading these threads: we're talking about two different Jim's.

 

"Jim, the Bartender" was serving us drinks and very entertaining stories at the old antique bar at the Exchange Club Hotel for last January's Death Valley Ride in Beatty, NV. When Ed Ringle bought them out and closed the bar, casino and restaurant, Jim decided to pursue a dream of moving to Goldfield and buying a small Motel there.

 

"Jim Marsh" is the older entrepreneur who owns many hotels and motels in small old towns in rural Nevada (and car dealerships in Vegas, right, Mike?). He's doing it for the love of the history and to preserve the traces of the "old ways" for future generations (even if they don't necessarily turn a HUGE profit). He currently owns the Longstreet Inn and Casino in Amargosa Valley (near State Line) where we're staying this coming January and evidently also owns the Santa Fe in Goldfield (North of Beatty on the NV-95).

Here's a story on Jim Marsh that I posted in the Death Valley Excited Chatter thread!

 

I don't know the name of the motel that "Jim, the bartender" bought in Goldfield, however. Sounds like a good recon trip to me! IN!!

[MikesToy]

The Santa Fe Saloon in Goldfield has a small motel next to it. I can't remember if there is another motel on Hiwy 95. I normally take my 5th wheel when I'm up in that area.

 

You're right about me talking about Jim Marsh and he does have a dealership in Las Vegas.