I had won a lot in Beryl, Utah, at a land auction, and drove out to see it. Nothing there! One house, occupied I guess by the lucky Mr. Beryl, everything else just desolate land on the high desert. I decided to sleep in the bed of my pickup truck near what I presumed was my land. It gerw bitterly cold! Every time I'd turn over, sparks would fly between my truck bed and me. Saint Elmo's Fire? Radiation? Weird.

Eventually it grew kind of light and I decided to head out, drove west across the Nevada line, and kept seeing highway signs for Panaca. Finally got there to find . . . no gasoline . . . no casinos . . . one block of buildings! Headed west to the very same Pioche/Ely/Caliente sign you photographed! Turned south and went to Caliente - not much there, but back then, more lively than your photos indicate. Guess the city is slowly turning into a ghost town? Headed west to Rachel where I saw a UFO. Okay, maybe it was a USAF bomber, something blasted the side of a mountain and a geyser of rock and sand shot up.

Eventually I ended up in Olancha, I believe, and made my way back home via Route 14, etc. A very long day! I was not into chip collecting back then, but apart from possibly a casino or two in Caliente, I saw no place to get any. I sold that stupid Utah lot for $100.