Ian, Jags,
My problem is often a complete lack of towns and stores to resupply. Because the economic recession has hit Great Basin towns so hard, communities there are losing stores, population, post offices, and finally their lives as communities, and the natural result is one ghost town after another added to the roster.
In January 2011, Empire, NV effectively disappeared. Typical story, explained here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15360661http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/empire-nevada-recession_n_881816.htmlhttp://www.npr.org/2011/06/20/137304964/shuttered-plant-marks-the-end-of-a-nevada-townhttp://www.mybekins.com/mymovingnews/index.php/2011/article1585/It was a company town, owned by the factory that mined and crushed and transported the gypsum used to make the plaster-filled wallboard used in new houses. With the downturn in the economy and the huge number of bank housing foreclosures nationwide, fewer new houses are being built. The parent company of the one in Empire decided it was no longer "economically viable" to continue operations, so nearly 400 dependent people...the school...and the one store in town were closed six months later. Gerlach is nearby, and receives annual infusions of tourist dollars from the Burning Man festivals that take place in a corner of Black Rock Desert just outside of town. Other than that, it is for the most part a retirement community, served by a single doctor who travels about 117mi/188km from Reno to provide care. A friend tells me this will soon end, and seniors will have to manage the drive themselves. Now Empire is gone, Gerlach has only 12 students in its schools. In Oregon's Outback, the kids are sent to boarding school in Crane for the entire school year. Most end up marrying each other after graduation. A woman I know patrols her fenceline with her helicopter. It's Big country, and very remote.
The store at Valley Falls, OR closed when the owners could no longer pay their fuel bill and had to close the petrol station that was the main source of revenue. When that went, so did the store, the social hub of the community, and much of the population. The nearest gasoline is in Lakeview, 22 miles to the south, or in Riley, 90mi/145km away. Wagontire (population...1 Danneaux the last time I stayed there) is gone. The cafe, mini-store, small motel and gas pumps that were thriving in August 2009 were all gone in June 2010 and the town abandoned. Even the International Airport was closed ("International" 'cos a Canadian once landed his airplane there and on takeoff snagged the barbed-wire keeping the free-range cows off the end of the runway. Hence, "International"). The parents of a friend of a friend used to own the place, and I really should ask what happened.
Fort Bidwell, California is in a similar fix. Residents there have a post office with very limited hours and delivery that is on the roster of locations to close as the US Post Office tries to contain costs and retool to meet reduced financing. There is an Indian reservation there and a very small convenience store with limited hours on the edge of the res. The town is essentially gone. The nearest medical care for seniors living there is in Cedarville (population 514), 50mi round-trip away, and there's not exactly state-of-the-art facilities when you get there. There's two stores there -- a general store with about everything, and another little-bitty store on the corner with beer and cold pop and some close-dated canned goods and chips.
Bobby Putney graduated from the same North Eugene High School I attended, and now owns the only motel/restaurant/store/RV park in Denio, NV. It serves burgers, fries, steaks, and pop or beer. The little "store" is 5 shelves on a wall. Lots of chips and candy, a few cans of tuna, not a whole lot more for the hungry bike tourist. Denio used to be in Oregon till it was moved on skids to the Nevada side of the line for tax purposes. That's now Old Denio, with...nothing. New Denio *is* Bobby Putney. Most of his traffic comes from the crossroads tourist traffic and the opal mines. The molybdenum mine was big once, but not after the worldwide market price for moly declined, resulting in massive layoffs. The waitress I chatted with at Bobby's had worked there, and her boyfriend is operating a little 1-man opal mine. Save Denio! Buy more Thorns! They have tubing with traces of molybdenum and chromium, alloyed with steel. Cro-moly "Steel is Real" has a different meaning for these folks.
I've attached a photo showing the entire grocery section of the Adel General Store. There's a couple cans of oil for cars, some windshield-cleaning fluid, and tire-sealing Slime. For people, there's pop, chips, barbecue sauce, canned tomatoes, ketchup and mustard for burgers, canned refried beans, two jars each of peanut butter and mayonnaise, a package of dead-tale taco shells, a little canned fruit, and a small sack of flour and another of sugar and that's pretty much it. This is what I can expect to find in the area if a store is still open. The owners are wonderfully nice people, at retirement age and looking to get out. The husband is in ill halth, and his wife is handling much of the operation, including the gas pumps. One day, I came through and the whole shootin' match (gun references are part of the lexicon in my part of the world) was closed 'cos she had an appointment with the dentist in Lakeview. In Plush, the residents go into Lakeview, OR or Winnemucca with empty horsetrailers and return with them full of enough goods to keep themselves and neighbors in food for the next couple months, according to one fellow I spoke with. Winnemucca, NV is a hub for Great Basin residents. It is a 418mi/672km round-trip from Plush to Winnemucca. Better to go to Klamath Falls, a 270mi/435km RT or Bend, at 406mi/653km. In winter? Not easy. Surprise Valley/Barrel Springs temperatures can drop to minus 28F/minus 33C. This is ranching country, and restaurants have lots of eggs and bacon for breakfast, and beef for everything else. I had to wait for the steak in my burger to finish roasting and when it was delivered, the cook/owner/waitress cheerfully announced, "Fresh as fresh can be; this was a cow just this morning!" Tasty, but unlike store goods, it's a one-shot meal, eaten on the spot and good for only a few hours. Kinda heavy in the stomach, too, and there has to be some law stating such eateries must be sited just before a gut-busting climb.
Yes, getting supplies is a struggle Out There. That's why I have to haul half a store with me, and water to match. Bike shop? What's that?
Best,
Dan.
