What's up? Do you want to go on a little road trip?
Welcome to Reno, our starting point. We are doing the US 95 road trip from Reno down to
Las Vegas. And on the way, you pass a lot of what would look like just one-horse towns.
Like I really mean that. This is the true Wild Wild West of yore. But these days, it's
a whole bunch of more or less abandoned but very historic mining towns that have not only
the most haunted hotel in America but a whole bunch of, like, really batshit crazy-looking,
open-air museums. And we're gonna finish it off in Death Valley and this is, I think,
just one of the truly strangest, weirdest road trips that you can find in the world.
So I'm running about 30 minutes behind schedule, which is par for the course, so let's head
out. We've got about a four-hour drive from here to our first stop. I am super excited.
Let's pack up the car.
Most people don't realize that Nevada is full of hidden treasures. I'm gonna do some camping
along the way too because I don't know, you never know what you're gonna find.
On the 95 freeway between Las Vegas and Reno, it's also known as the Free-Range Art Highway.
If you need to get between the two biggest cities in Nevada, allow me to persuade you
to make it a real road trip because this is one of the weirdest road trips in the U.S.A.
Part of the reason we wanted to do this particular trip is because, you know, obviously, right
now, with distancing being a smart thing to do, we're just trying to find ways to still
get outside, without being around a bunch of people. And if you want solitude, Nevada
is basically it.
If you're a hot spring enthusiast like me, our first stop was a hot spring truly in the
middle of nowhere Nevada. Located about four hours south of our starting journey, we ventured
off the 95 just a little bit down a dirt road to find amazing landscape.
All right. Well, that there is a hot spring. I don't know, like, how much closer I'm gonna
film because there's naked people in it. Feels like you shouldn't film naked people. But
the surroundings are beautiful and I feel like when in Rome, so I want to be naked,
too. What about you?
Garrett: Maybe.
Kristin: He never goes naked. I always go naked. He never wants to. I like the opportunity, let's do it.
After some highly satisfying soaking, we made our way to the town of Tonopah, just as the
sun was setting. Tonopah is the halfway point between Las Vegas and Reno and most people
spend the night here. But if you can be persuaded, I think it's worth at least two nights.
Oh, the El Capitan.
Garrett: Yeah.
Kristin: Tonopah was once a bustling town during the silver rush. The rich and famous
frequented the area. And these days, it's a city of only 2,000 people. While it's no
longer full of the glitz and the glitter of its glory days, it retains that Wild West
charm, history, and, of course, now, the most haunted hotel in America, the Mizpah Hotel.
So much, like, weird ghost-towny shit on this road, I, like, need to be filming the whole
time in order to get it all. We keep driving by cool stuff. Oh, man, what a weird place.
I heard that there's more ghost towns in Nevada than live towns. I think it's true.
Garrett: It's true.
Kristin: It's true. Do you see that? Maybe they're also going to the Mizpah Hotel.
Garrett: Maybe.
Kristin: The Mizpah is the reason why I wanted to stay in Tonopah for a couple of nights.
The hotel has much of the original furniture and charm of its 1908 opening. And to stay
in the hotel is to go back in time.
We rented the most haunted room in the entire hotel, the Lady in Red Room. And my biggest
question was, "Are we actually going to experience some paranormal activity?" So we did book
the room that tends to be the most haunted, that has the most happenings. Garrett already
thinks that I'm messing with him because I put, like, a face towel on the windowsill,
which I didn't but.
Garrett: The lady who just rolled up on two horses and a dog out there. Nevada.
Kristin: This is Nevada.
You know, while the Tonopah Mizpah Hotel is an institution, I think we would be overlooking
the beauty and allure of this town if we didn't visit the other institution, the Clown Motel.
This is even more clowns than I imagined, or expected, or could have hoped for.
A lot of the people here died in mining-related accidents, which I guess isn't surprising
because this is an old silver mining town but I've never really toured a cemetery before
so this is very interesting. One thing we all have in common, I guess, we're all gonna
die at some point. But this is one of the creepiest trips I've had so far, haunted hotel,
clown hotel, and now, this old cemetery.
Should we do something not creepy?
Garrett: Yeah.
Kristin: Yeah, let's head to the sand dunes.
After a couple of awesome days in Tonopah, it was time to make our way to actually the
one thing that made me want to do this road trip the most.
So welcome to Goldfield. This used to be an old gold mining town. It's about 30 minutes south. I just noticed there's a
Joshua tree right here. It's about 30 minutes south of Tonopah where we just were. Goldfield,
when 20,000 people lived here. And now, how many people live here?
Woman: About 300.
Kristin: Three hundred. And we're staying at this place called the Goldfield Stop and
Stop Inn. It's super cute, also very historic. Got that old western vibe. Check out our room.
All right. This is honestly super cool. It's been renovated to be modern but it's got all
of these like older touches and there's so many antiques at this place we're staying.
Old phone. Oh my god, this is so cool.
Hello? I think this is how it's supposed to work. Hello.
And I just randomly found it because there's this car forest that I wanted to see. And
I was, like, okay, where could we stay that's nearby. And then I found this on Airbnb. So
it's like $108, I think, total for the night.
That is a cool door.
And if you ask me, that's a really good price because you can basically get a really crappy
motel in L.A. for that where I'm from, so I'm impressed by the budget-friendliness of
Central Nevada.
Storm just rolled in, something fierce. Damn. It's like snow and hail in one. Like I went
outside and it was painful but I think it'll blow through, fingers crossed honestly.
But I was there to see one thing in particular, and that was The International Car Forest
of the Last Church.
All right, all, this is The International Car Forest of the Last Church. It is cold
as fuck out here. It's snowy and there are Joshua trees, which I didn't even know you
could see the combo of the two in life, so that's pretty cool.
Let's explore. It's a collection of cars and buses with their noses buried in the earth,
decorated with various imagery and sayings. There's not a lot of explanation or reasoning
behind it. There's not even an entrance fee. You might be wondering why, but I think the
answer is, why not?
So delightfully weird.
Garrett: And cold.
Kristin: Yeah, it's cold AF out there. It's just, like, wind chill and all that but it's
so cool to see it with the snow. The artist in me cannot leave at a time like this because
there's a perfect crescent moon right there and it's gonna set right in the perfect position
with one of the buses and a Joshua tree, so I guess we're just going to hang out in the
car until it's time, but it's just too good to pass up.
Time to eat at The Dinky Diner and I'm confused about what is behind me here. These look like
outhouses. This whole town is weird, man.
After an amazing experience in Goldfield, it was time to head out for more free-range, open-air art.
I just love stuff like this. So cool.
Honestly, that was really cool. I feel like in small towns like this, you get, like, you're
part of the...
Garrett: The vibe.
Kristin: Yeah, the vibe. You're, like, part of the experience. I like it. I like it.
Although you won't find a ton of gas stations on the US 95, I'm talking sometimes 100 miles
between them, you can fill up in Tonopah or my personal favorite, this gas station in
Beatty, Nevada, just outside of the entrance to Death Valley National Park. It's so much
more than just a gas station.
Hey Garrett, do you think you could fit this in your mouth?
Oh, it's not just candy.
Garrett: No. They have a bunch of veggies down here.
Kristin: Very well-stocked, middle of nowhere gas station, very well-stocked.
And then we made just a short detour thereafter to find Albert Szukalki's Last Supper.
What the hell do we have here?
This Last Supper has no faces or even bodies but merely the shrouds that would encompass
each figure. It's honestly pretty creepy and therefore, in my opinion, amazing.
Nearby, you'll find the ghost town of Rhyolite, a short-lived boom town that only lasted from
1904 until 1906. I have to say I found this a little bit disappointing since there were
huge fences around each of the things, so we only did a little bit of a drive-by. First,
the Goldwell Open Air Museum, and now, Rhyolite is just right next door. It's an old ghost
town and that's all I know about it. Do you know anything about Rhyolite? It's kind of
a famous ghost town.
Garrett: Nobody lives here anymore.
Kristin: Okay that's a fact. Thanks, Garrett. I guess this is kind of interesting but there's
fencing around everything so you can't, like, go inside. And I'm sure that some hooligans
are the reason for that and this is why we can't have nice things but.
Garrett: That is the biggest Joshua tree
Kristin: This is the biggest Joshua tree.
Let's just say I wouldn't be pleased if this was my destination. At this point, we made
the choice to continue on to Death Valley and access it from the Nevada side. So you
can see more about that on this channel but if you want to keep going, be sure to stop
by the Area 51 alien gift shop on your way to Las Vegas.
I hope you enjoyed this video. You will find more about Death Valley and all of the amazing
things to do there on this channel, so be sure to subscribe to see what's going on there
next week.