Halsteads Blackjack Inn – Nevada

There’s something about Nevada that I love.   Its mostly nothing but a 2 lane, straight ass highway through most of it, with a few little surprises along the way.   To me, its a great road trip.   There something strong about the desert that I love.   Whether you’re a lizard, a cow or a human being – You have to adapt and be tough if you live out here.    I likey.

A few road candy Icons along the way — The Stage stop Bar and Cafe.    From the looks of it, its pretty much closed down.   It’s out in the middle of nowhere, and if you have stories I’d love to hear em:

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Stage Stop Bar Cafe Nevada

One more place was the club 50 in McGill Nevada.    It looks like it hasn’t had a guest in a while.

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The Club Cafe McGill Nevada
The Club Cafe McGill Nevada
Club 50 McGill Nevada
The Club 50 Cafe in the 80’s

We Stayed the night at the Hotel Nevada in Ely.   The missus and I gambled a bit, had a few drinks and enjoyed the night.    We Stayed in the Tennessee Ernie Ford Room.   Heh, the Lusty Land….

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Easy Rider Poster Hotel Nevada
They had an Autographed Easy Rider Poster in the Lobby.   You can tell this is a classy joint.    

We woke up in the AM and headed out into the most empty road you’d ever want to know.  I swear in 180 miles, we passed 2 cars.

The Halstead BlackJack Inn:   I wished I knew the story of this place.    I’ve heard from a few friends that it was open as late as 20 years ago, but it doesn’t look like it to me.   This is a pretty old building, and from the siding it looks like it was built in the 40s.    If anyone knows a story or two here, I’d love to hear it.  The last time I was here was 2008, and its changed a little.  Please post below — There’s some ghosts here, and I’d love to know a thing about this remote place.

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McGill Nevada Drugstore is a Time Machine

McGill Nevada.    Its an old  company mining town of about a thousand people, and like a lot of small towns in Nevada – It’s got a lot of old history.

We rolled through here a couple of weeks ago and found an old drugstore that started in 1907, and finally closed its doors about 40  years ago in 1979.   We poked around and managed to find the caretaker of this place and gave him a call.   He was pretty gracious, and came down and turned on the neon signs and gave us the nickel tour and  history of this place.    I was eating it up — It was like I’d stepped back in time.

The owner wished to preserve this place, and left things just as they are; Products, pharmacy records, advertising — everything.    Daniel was a great tour guide, and told us stories of McGills history, and his time in the military with Chuck Yeager, who’d learned to fly not far from McGill before he went and broke the sound barrier a few years later.

Pretty cool.    I remember a lot of these products and advertising when I was a kid.   If you ever get a chance to go to McGill, this place is worth a stop at:

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Easy Rider and the Jail in Taos New Mexico

Over the last few  years, I’ve had people tell me they’ve been to the Jail in Taos where the inside Jail Scenes were filmed in Easy Rider.   The Outside scenes were filmed in Las Vegas  NM, and its pretty hard to dispute.

The jail on the north side of Taos Plaza is not the same place from the movie.   The bones are all wrong, the bars, the walls.  Nothing matches up.   I hate to ruin a good story the locals (and some local actor prick I won’t mention the name of) tell about the movie, but its not true.   Ray Charles could see this.

This is the Jail in Taos Plaza — Check out the steel walls, and bars on the cells.   You’ll see the difference:

 

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These are the scenes from Easy Rider, where Billy and Wyatt met Jack Nicholson.   They played Every fair in this part of the country, and for top dollar too :

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I have one more place to Try.    I need to get down to Taos and check it out.    It’s either an old drunk tank that has been torn down, or it’s the older jail.

Another mystery to figger out on the bike.   A cheap excuse to point the bike toward Taos.     I love summer.

Update:    10/7/2016

I still keep getting emails explaining to me how this is the jail.    Man, its not.   It’s fun to say you want it to be, but its not.   Lemme break it down.   Watch the Jail scenes from the movie first:

the BIGGEST fundamental difference is the walls of the jail in the movie are made out of concrete.   Check out how they were formed, with 6 inch cement forms — you can see the seams pretty clearly.  The ones in the Jail downtown in Taos are steel.

So I ask you — why would you form a jail in concrete, then rip all that out to form it in steel?    Anyone who knows anything about construction knows it’d just be easier to tear a building down and re-make it.    Even then, steel isn’t a better answer to concrete.    Concrete makes a pretty solid jail.

The 2nd thing is the riveted old steel bars.     Why would you change one style, for a newer riveted style?    They haven’t made riveted steel bars forever.   Thats turn of the century shit.    A small town like Taos after the turn of the century would have stayed with the bars they had.

Next, watch the video and check out the walls and how they line up.   Compare that to how Taos lines up if you’ve been there.

It’s not the same Jail.

I’ve submitted evidence — If I’m wrong, please…. someone bring some evidence and correct me, because next time I go to Taos I’d love to see the real Jail thats in this movie clip.

I wonder if the jail in the movie really was in Taos at all…..

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Got it

I made the sales manager job.    We’ll see how this goes.   I’m stoked to help out some of these sales guys.    So far, its been really positive.   I think I have a fair amount to offer.

aaaand its a friday.    I feel some clash comin’ on.

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Road Trip

Booked me a road trip for next weekend.    It’s more than likely gonna be short, but with a little encouragement we could make it longer.   A little road time never hurt anybody.

About 8 years ago, I found me a pretty trippy ghost town that quite frankly, really freaked me out when I was there.    Out in the middle of nowhere Nevada I found this place.     Within a 175 miles of a Nevada road that was straight as a rifle barrel, I passed a total of 2 cars.   It was Currant Nevada, and I dug it.    This time, I’m going to take a few more pictures and enjoy it.    Document it.  Maybe ask around, and get a few stories.    I’m Taking the drone.   It was a place pretty much frozen in time.    The place has had my curiosity for 8 years.   I’ll post some video, and try to tell what stories I have.

There’s some cool old ghosts along this road.   Chuck Yeager learned to fly there.   Fortunes were made and lost.   The extra terrestrial highway.    I kinda dig it.

Riding and road trips, are always just a little mystery  figure out here and there.    God help me, I do love it 🙂

It might be cool.

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