Welcome back. May 3rd continues and we've reached the town of Tonopah, Nevada. Why Tonopah? Well, for months I'd been wanting to stay at a certain hotel there. It kind of has a cult following and there is lots of information about it all over the internet. I'm talking, of course, about the Clown Motel.
O' the HORROR of it all!
As the poorly made sign above points out, the victims of mine fires and the "Tonopah Plague" are buried here. There are several gruesome descriptions of how some of the interred died--burning to death, falling out of the mine elevator, etc. There are even children here, at least one that was not even a day old when she died, and others who died from a mysterious "plague" that ravaged the town in 1902.
Our room (I had made a reservation weeks in advance...but that probably was not necessary. Ha!) was 109, right at the bottom of the 2nd set of stairs, the door closest to the red convertible.
The dreaded and much-feared Room 109 loomed before us...
O' the HORROR of it all!
Of course I poked around and checked out the rest of the hotel.
No showers after 5 pm in room 117? I wonder why... And, hey! I wish I had known about Joe's Clown Suite. That might have been really interesting (or creepy).
Right at the entrance to the motel, there is a monument dedicated to the men who lost their lives in mining accidents in Tonopah in the early part of the 20th century.
It is a fitting location for it, because behind the monument and just to the right of the hotel is the old Tonopah cemetery. Seriously, the hotel is right next door to a cemetery.
As the poorly made sign above points out, the victims of mine fires and the "Tonopah Plague" are buried here. There are several gruesome descriptions of how some of the interred died--burning to death, falling out of the mine elevator, etc. There are even children here, at least one that was not even a day old when she died, and others who died from a mysterious "plague" that ravaged the town in 1902.
After poking around the cemetery a little bit, I had one more goal for the day---a visit to the ghost town of Belmont northeast of Tonopah. I told Erich he didn't have to go with me, but he didn't want to stay alone in the hotel. So off we went. It was a 46 mile trip, but Google says it takes an hour and 26 minutes (each way). Oh boy. The day was already starting to get long and the shadows were growing. I didn't want to be there (or still on my way back) after dark. Plus, I didn't think Erich would appreciate 3 more hours on the road that day. So, since we were literally in the middle of no where...I didn't exactly obey the speed limit...and we got there in 30 or 40 minutes. On the way we did see a bunch of...what? They were not deer. Antelope, perhaps? Also a coyote. Zowie! We'd seen lots of cows on the way to Tonopah (there is no fencing along the road...why bother since no one really drives it much), including one dead and bloated big bull right on the side of the road (oh, well....maybe they SHOULD consider fencing after all).
Off we raced to Belmont. When we got there---wow! What a find! It was a cool little ghost town. What was left of it was being preserved. People actually lived out there as well, so it was not completely abandoned...but Tonopah was truly the nearest town---and it was so far away.
There was also a giant smoke stack for an old mill that was in ruins.
We really didn't have much time in Belmont. The shadows were growing longer and longer and the day was winding down. I certainly did not want to be in the middle of nowhere after dark, so off we went---speeding merrily down the empty road, racing the sun back to Tonopah.
Back in Tonopah, we needed to seek out dinner...and I was reasonably sure it was not going to be found at the Clown Motel. Erich wanted to look around. He wanted to go to a shiny new-looking casino at the end of town. I had read good things about the old (and beautiful) hotel in town, the Mizpah Hotel. Not that dinner turned out to be all that good (Hmmm.), but I was thrilled we chose the Mizpah. Built in 1907 and purchased/refurbished in 2011 by Fred and Nancy Cline (owners of Cline Cellars winery in Napa), the hotel would have been a wonderful alternative to the Clown Motel...except I needed to do the Clown Motel--as dreary and dismal as it was. Dinner--for me at least--was bad. Spaghetti Bolognese---or, as I referred to it, Spaghetti Boring-ese. UGH! It reminded me of the stuff you got in the cafeteria in elementary school. I wonder if it was canned? Ha! We did have locally made beer with dinner though...and the hotel was, again, very nice.
But, like many small towns, the sidewalks rolled up about 9 o'clock. The public parts of the hotel were closing. It was time to go back to the Clown Motel...
When we got back to the motel, I decided to quickly get some night shots...and a few more shots inside the office.
(Yes, of COURSE I got one of the mugs pictured below...)
And so, the day had come to an end. With thoughts of possible bed bugs and/or fleas and visions of creepy clowns freshly in my head, we went to sleep, perchance to dream... (in the dreaded room 109)
And that's just when it got REALLY WEIRD!
Stay tuned. (Or visit the next part HERE.)
CHEERS!
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