Landing in Luning

Tempus fugit (Time flees).

But you feel a lot better getting some miles between yourself and that old graveyard. The desert feels indifferent, if not completely inhospitable. Seeing so many dead in one small spot, all dying in such short time and over some mysterious “plague” that even today is unknown in origin…. It was just too vivid of a reminder that you really are only visiting this place.

Even these stoic buildings of stone and wood built upon the backs of salty, driven old-timers… are all in total ruin a few generations later.

There isn’t much left to check out here in Luning, Nevada. But while you’re here, right? There’s a few old buildings to take a look closer at: the bank, the hotel, and what looks like an old cabin.

Asphalt Stars

That graveyard was weird. It wasn’t worth sticking around to see what adventure might occur.

You have since been driving for several hours since leaving Tonopah; you didn’t really care that the same road that brought you in would only continue further into the desert terrain… so long as you could shake off the foreboding feeling of being anywhere near that old cemetery.

Before bedding down for the night, you enjoy the moon’s reflection on all the reflective bits of quartz (mica?) embedded in the asphalt; It almost mirrors the starry sky.

By noon tomorrow you should make it to Luning, Nevada. Hopefully there’s less creepiness there.

GREEK

You walk around inside the cemetery for a few dozen paces, trying hard not to actually step on the graves. There’s just so many… and all are packed about as close together as they can be without basically being right on top of each other.

A lot of the gravestones are in various states of disrepair and a few (like this one) are really strange… this is a lone plank of wood with a couple of screws sticking out of it marking the remains with one conclusive, five-letter word: GREEK …and that’s all it says.

It must mean something to someone, but not you. This place is starting to feel really weird, almost noisy.

You beat a hasty retreat, considering the setting sun and all-too-vivid thoughts of ghosts.

Tonopah Plague

It’s kind of hard not noticing this insanely packed little graveyard on your way into Tonopah. There’s several hundred graves, and it looks like they were filled in only ten years.

There’s a metal placard that says some fourteen miners fell victim to the Tonopah-Belmont Mine fire of February 23, 1911. The others all appear to be Tonopah’s pioneer residents who fell victim to a mysterious 1902 “Tonopah Plague”. The placard goes on to say that no one ever could figure out where this plague came from or what it really was, just that it killed most of the town off.

The sun’s going down. You can check out a grave up close or just continue on past the graveyard.

Towards Tonopah

The road that leads out to Tonopah doesn’t look that different from the one that got you to Rhyolite… have you actually been driving in a circle?

Oh, right. Your map is decent, but faded. After studying it for a bit, you realize that this really is the same highway. It starts to sink in just how easy it is to get lost out in the open desert expanse; so many landmarks look so similar, almost like being on the open ocean. 

You glance down another dirt road heading east off this road… but quickly get over the idea. Sticking to these highways is much better than trying to detangle yourself from the spiderweb of dirt roads that lead off in every direction. You’ve given a few of those dusty roads a thought, but this map of yours would be almost useless out there. 

You get back in and drive. The mile markers slowly tick down the highway miles as you persist deep into the heart of Nevada.

Deserted Hills

As the sun starts to set, the surrounding desert comes to life: coyotes, birds, snakes, all start shifting around the periphery of your makeshift little camp. There are more than a few times that you hear what sounds like that scuffling sound, but you never really see where it’s coming from.

It sounds big, almost like someone shaking an autumn tree… trying to make it drop it’s leaves. Which still doesn’t make it feel any less creepy than what you thought it sounded like earlier: one big-ass spider. But then again you have a serious thing against spiders, so it’s probably just your imagination running wild with the idea.

You try to just not think about it. The dying light looks brilliant for a time, setting oblique shadows dancing across the hills and desert floor.

After the last rays of light shift ever darker purple and violet and then inky dark night, the stars come on in full force. At first only the planets and brighter stars, but then an hour passes by without notice… and yet you can’t stop gawking at the uncountable, distant lights. So many stars!

Nothing really seems to be going on around you on the outskirts of some abandoned desert town, so you finally get over the sounds and the stars and try instead to get some sleep. By tomorrow morning you’ll be well on your way to Tonapah.

Cents Per Gallon

This gas pump is so old it gives a price in only “cents per gallon”.

Seems to reflect the overall situation in Gold Point pretty well… it’s pretty much an open-air museum too. There are a few houses around the area that don’t look abandoned, but also quite a lot of “No Trespassing” signs and fences, too. The Post Office looks like it’s in good shape.

You try to open the door, but it’s apparently locked.  So you try knocking… and you hear that same bizarre shuffling inside.

No one ever opens or answers. Whatever that sound was, it doesn’t seem eager to help. That same unsettling feeling… Nothing like that was ever mentioned in the Disney films, you think almost out loud.

You notice the sun is starting to go down; maybe you should just leave the area completely and head towards Tonopah?

Or you can brave the evening here in Gold Point and wait for someone to appear. After all… someone has to live in this town, right?