Part V - "V-Stroms in Virginia City"

Virginia City. Call it what you like, a garish, over the top, tourist trap; a historical landmark, a page right out of history? It's your's to decide but I've always loved this dusty little hamlet clinging to the side of the mountain.

 

Virginia City sprang out out of the rocks in 1859 as a genuine boomtown sitting on the Comstock Lode, the first major silver deposit discovered in the United States. The story goes that the town got its name from a man named James Finney who was nicknamed "Old Virginy". Finney was credited with discovering the Comstock Lode. His real name was James Fennimore, and he had fled his home state of Virginia after killing a man.

 

Virginia City could be considered the "birthplace" of Mark Twain as it was here in February 1863 that writer Samuel Clemens, then a reporter on the local Territorial Enterprise newspaper, first used his famous pen name. The town is peppered with folklore proclaiming it's famous past; The Bucket of Blood Saloon, The Delta Hotel, The Red Dog Saloon, Piper's Opera House are all original buildings each rich in it's own infamy.

  

Main street Virginia City, Nevada.

 

One of the best features of Virginia City is the ride up the mountain to reach this destination. S.R. 341 is a steep climb of switchbacks starting about 20 miles south of Reno. The road claws it's way up to the Geiger Grade Summit. Traffic can be busy and this road is not without it's tragic history. There have been many fatalities on this snake with the lion's share of them being motorcyclists. The road can thrill and lure you into feeling the need for speed, especially in the descent, but the safest way is stick to the speed limit and ride within your ability. We saw a few riders on the up and down and only one was a speed demon looking for a place to donate his organs while the rest of the riders conducted themselves respectively. Technical riding and a barrel full of fun.

 

We spend the afternoon walking the wooden boarded sidewalk, stopping for a burrito lunch along the way. "C" Street, the main drag, is a rambling mixture of saloons, small cafe eateries, gift shops, gem and jewelry stores, the odd museum and junk shops. I'm a sucker for Western clothes so I made the big score with a Scully Rock-A-Billy cowboy shirt with guitars on the front. If you want to see this marvellous garment come on out to the next ROAD CREW show where I'll proudly be sporting this bad-boy.

 

Lori and I also indulged in a little fun at one of those old-timey photo studios where they dress you up in period costumes and you take a shot at going back in time. We picked a pose, picked our costumes, a dancehall gal and a cowboy, boy that was a stretch(!) and they shot a bunch of photos. It was a lot of fun and like I said we were playing tourist.

 

Just Hitched

You can only walk down main street so many times so we saddle up the bikes and enjoy the ride back down the mountain. At the bottom we hop on 580 and it's a quick run, albeit windy one, grab the Mill Street off ramp and we're back at the hotel in no time at all. Feeling hungry we walk over to a BBQ restaurant a half a block away. 'Men Wielding Fire` is a retro looking BBQ cafe with lots of chrome, a bar and an outdoor patio. Lori orders the Lemon Herb Chicken with veggies and garlic mashed potatoes and washes it down with a Bud while I opt for the Combo, ribs, chicken, pulled pork with coleslaw and a BIG Pepsi. Yummy does not do it justice. This fare is lip-smacking good! One event did cast a shadow over the evening as 'Men Wielding Fire` should have been dubbed 'Men Wielding Fists` as halfway through dinner the manager and staff eject a drunk, unruly jerk out the door. Well Mr. Drunk and Stupid doesn't want to go and he's talking smack all the way to the front door as the manager, backed by a few kitchen guys hustles the jerk to the door. Mr. Thick As A Post hollers he's going to call the owner and have everyone fired to which the guy who's 'persuading' him to leave pipes up and informs the fool that he is the owner. Well then it's on. The pushing and shoving escalates and they spill into a small foyer, out of sight to the dining room but the sound effects are straight out of a stage production! Behind the wall there's banging, thumping, hollering and all kinds of ruckus until they get Mr. Idiot out into the street. The dining room patrons all turn their gaze to each other and start laughing. Cheap entertainment for your dining pleasure. Incident aside, check this place out the next time you`re in Reno.

We take a casual walk back to the hotel where I can catch up on the blog while Lori watches some TV. Tomorrow we think we`ll leave the bikes parked and have a walking day around Reno. Virginia Street is blocked off in front of the El Dorado for a Blues Festival tomorrow afternoon and into the evening. Located a few short blocks from our hotel we think we`ll stop by and have a listen.

So the day draws to a close and I`m thinking about turning in. This was our day. We had fun.

Good night.

Steve
Reno, 6-20-14