7 Jan 2022
Rolling Thunder and Basque Lunch

Leaving Reno, we had to wait to return the garage door clicker to the security guy, who didn't come on duty until 8 a.m.!! The monument consists of stones together with a miscellany of discarded objects found in the nearby desert, all held together with concrete. Glass items are placed in the walls in order to allow some light to pass within the building. It has been surrounded by a tall wire security fence. Thunder Mountain Indian Monument

Once again, after a dramatic desert sunrise, we had beautiful - albeit windy - weather, with only remnants of snow on the ground. Our road ran along the same route as the Truckee River, here a small creek with a thin shell of ice.

Lovelock's chief tourist attraction is "Locks of Love," a small patio near its civic center where garlands of heavy chains provide places where loving couples may add their own padlocks promising permanent fidelity. The town has not grown much since our last visit. We duly photographed the locks and the country's only working circular courthouse, and noticed that the people standing near the display were not tourists but city employees removing Christmas decorations.

Near another small town, Imlay, we followed directions to the Rolling Thunder Mountain Indian Monument. In the 1970s, Frank Van Zandt, a member of the Creek nation, found himself in Nevada when his truck broke down. According to his stories, he had a vision that he should build a monument to the American Indian, so he acquired some land and, using scrap parts and cast-offs and other found objects, he began building, beginning with covering his old travel trailer with concrete and living in it. Gradually he built more A white two story early twentieth-century building with a green shingle roof, the Martin Hotel is primarily a restaurant today. The sidewalk is shielded from the sun by a white-railed wooden balcony. Martin Hotel and Restaurant structures and statues and was gradually joined by others who wanted to live simply. Our guidebook says that both Bucky Fuller and the Grateful Dead were briefly involved in Thunder Mountain Monument. Frank's son Dan successfully petitioned the State of Nevada to designate the property a state monument and protect the big building from vandals.

After that, we drove on to Winnemucca to spend the night, arriving in time for lunch at the Martin Hotel, a landmark in the city and a Basque-American restaurant. Nostalgic for Basque food which we had enjoyed in Bakersfield many years ago, we sat ourselves at one of the long tables for lamb shank lunch. The several dining rooms were filled quickly and the food was good. When we finished, we were told, "Somebody paid your bill already. We are happy you have come to Winnemucca."

It has been another day full of unexpected discoveries - exactly what we were hoping to find. And it's still possible to get a free lunch!