Wild, wild horses - Sat., Jan. 28, 2012

Lockwood, Mustang, Patrick, USA Parkway, NV:

Today, I felt great! Bob wanted to show me some new territory. Oh boy, we're going exploring. Never know what you'll find.

Our first stop was Lockwood, NV, just east on I-80 from Sparks. We pulled off the freeway and stopped at Lockwood Trailhead. What we found was like a rest area with restrooms, picnic tables and a trail next to the Truckee River. We walked to one of the interpretive signs about the Truckee River. This is good to know about because there is not an official Rest Area on this stretch of freeway from Sparks to Fernley.

Our next stop was the Mustang exit...not much there, so we got back on the freeway.

The next freeway exit was for Patrick. If you went to the stop sign and turned right and right again, you came to the world-famous Mustang Ranch brothel. I don't know if it's still a brothel because it closed down and reopened in January. Next door to the Mustang Ranch is Wild Horse Restaurant which advertises food, drink and dancing. 

We went back out to the first stop sign and turned right. Bob wanted to show me all the huge businesses and warehouses out in the middle of the high desert. I was duly impressed. Here we were, pretty much out in the boonies (about 1/2 hour from Reno), and there were humongous warehouses, many of them for lease.

After driving about eight miles out one road, we headed back toward the freeway. What to our wondering eye should appear but wild horses. Bob told me he had seen some when he had been out in the area on roofing business. He didn't know if we'd see any that day, but he hoped we would. All in all, we saw about eight herds of wild horses ranging from six to 12 in each herd, plus a few lone stallions.

These were next to the road. How cool is that?

We continued on to USA Parkway where there were MORE huge distribution centers--including WalMart and Toys R Us, businesses and warehouses. 


After we finished all the sightseeing Bob had, I took him to west Reno to look at some beautiful estates, each on about five acres of land, some with ponds in their front yards. We drove up over a hill with a great view of Reno and then down the other side where we found a big park with an interpretive center and an amphitheater for watching performances in the summer. 


From there, we headed to southeast Reno where Bob wanted to find some walking trails he had heard about from the group he walks with. He wanted to do a 16-17 mile walk there the next morning. I continue to be amazed at how much water is in the desert. We found all kinds of marshes with cattails and tule reeds. There were paved pathways wending their way along the edges of the marshes which were interspersed with new neighborhoods. Mission accomplished.


It was getting dark so we headed back to the 5er.