Road Tripping
My latest road trip had me cruising down an old familiar roadway: The I-15! It’s a desert road with both speeders and truckers trying to get to Las Vegas and beyond.
For me, believe it or not, Las Vegas was not my final destination. It was a brief pit stop to recharge for the night before heading into the desert land of Nowhere Ville.
My destination you ask? Tonopah, Nevada! Yes, my return to a town with a population smaller than my high school. About 2,500 people live in Tonopah. It sits over 6,000 ft. above sea level, and can be found between Reno and Las Vegas, in some of the most repressive heat I have come to know.
Even the road names are designed to let you know how final, desolate, and barren your desert journey will be.
Home Sweet Home!
But before we get to Tonopah, let’s talk about my 1 night in Vegas! I wasted no time hitting some of my favorite spots for eating and drinking.
Cromwell Hotel and Casino
Thank you Cromwell Hotel and Casino for letting me stay in a room with a pin ball machine! I am a fan of pin ball wizardry. And, this room was almost the same square footage of my house. What??
The Cromwell is now adult only. You have to be 21 years or older to stay here. However, they have limited amenities. They only have 1 restaurant, a small casino floor, and a coffee place. That’s it.
The two biggest features that Cromwell offers is the roof top pool and night club and their underground late night lounge.
Beer Park, Paris Las Vegas, Hotel & Casino
Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas on the roof top is a favorite spot of mine. I had the breakfast burger. Hash browns, bacon, and a runny egg on top! Ooooooh, it was good! Breakfast for dinner. Don’t let the Beer Park sign fool you. It has two full bars!
O' Sheas at The Linq Hotel & Casino
Perhaps the most disappointing and frustrating encounter I had in Vegas was my Jameson on the rocks. A few months ago I was in Vegas drinking this exact same drink for $8 per drink. That’s one shot, 1.5 oz. of Jamo on ice. This trip, that same drink cost me a whopping $16.50 for a 1.5oz shot of Jamo. WTF!!
The establishment’s excuse for doubling the price was Covid related! Really? A few months ago Covid was running crazy in Vegas, with hardly anyone visiting the town, yet, back then, my drink was only $8. Liars!!! And for the record, the bar was well tended with 3 bartenders. There was no shortage of employees here. However, they did have a shortage of customers, especially after I walked out, as did every other customer when they were bamboozled with the prices.
Back on the Road to Tonopah
While on my way to the middle of Nowhere Ville, there was a pit stop that was also in the middle of nowhere. Area 51 Alien Center, and tourist trap.
It had a small cafe and a restroom, along with a gas station. It’s one of the only places out here for gas, making it a forced stop for last chance service!
Located: 5388 US-95, Amargosa Valley, NV. Open 24/7. No website.
Of course I fell for the tourist gimmick! Vodka filled alien heads was highly sought after!! Yes, they have tequila filled heads as well.
One other dubious weirdo place at the Area 51 Alien Center property, was a side show brothel called: “Alien Cathouse Brothel”. No thanks alien cat freaks, but thanks for the photo op under your sign.
The Clown Motel, Tonopah, NV.
After a 4 hour drive from Las Vegas to Tonopah, we arrived for the follow-up paranormal investigation. Not much has changed here since I last wrote a blog about this place.
What’s different now was I brought a buddy of mine who was going to experience his first paranormal investigation. My friend retired from California law enforcement and moved to Las Vegas, where he decided to pick up a new hobby of paranormal exploring. His name: Mike Z.
So I don’t bore everyone with details of the Clown Motel, check out my past blog titled “Food, Booze, and Paranormal Exploring” at the Clown Motel.
Tonopah Brewing Company
Before starting our investigation we went to go eat in one of the few restaurants in Tonopah that was open.
The mac and cheese was nice and cheesy! And the smoked ribs were tasty, smoky, and fell off the bone.
Bug Bar
And of course, a stop at the Bug Bar, for a couple of cold drinks at very affordable prices, was a must!
Located: 319 Cross Ave. Tonopah, NV. No website. Closed on Sundays.
Room 108
The highlight of our investigation was in room 108. It had the most activity the night we were there. In the photo above, I placed some red arrows to point out where the activity was coming from.
We were unpacking our equipment in this room and it was still daylight outside. We were not in ghost hunting mode. Our mind set was basically talking about stupid nonsense shit while we unpacked.
One of the purist moments was when Mike walked over to the bathroom sink area, that had a mirror hanging on the wall (red arrow point to it) to throw some trash into the garbage can under the sink. As he leaned in towards the sink, he suddenly snapped his head back, which caught my attention.
Looking shocked and in disbelief, Mike started touching his face, telling me he felt a tingling sensation on his face and throughout both arms and chest.
In my experience, Mike’s reaction and what he described, was an unsolicited act of an entity passing through his body. What I love about this incident was that it came unexpectedly to him. That tingling sensation lasted for the rest of the night for him. Another indicator that the entity passed through him.
I asked Mike to turn on his infrared thermal imaging device while I set up my SLS camera. Normally I wouldn’t escalate to the more complex devices, but given what happened, we cracked out the high tech equipment to get a quick assessment of the situation.
In the above photo, my SLS camera picked up a figure in the mirror, marked with red arrows. I believe it was this figure that passed through Mike.
Mike’s thermal imaging device picked up two figures in the room (unfortunately, we did not save those images via a photo or video).
The rest of our night we investigated room 214 and the cemetery. Each resulted in capturing paranormal activity, but our time in room 108 was the most active.
Dinky Diner
After a night of successful paranormal investigating we packed up and headed back to Vegas, but not before stopping in Goldfield, Nevada, for breakfast.
Goldfield is an even smaller town 30 miles outside of Tonopah. It has a population of 300 people. It’s so small there are no gas stations or convenience/grocery stores in this town.
It has 1 restaurant called “Dinky Diner” and it totally lived up to its name. It’s dinky inside. At full capacity seating only 4 tables fit inside the restaurant.
The amount of food you got for the price was right! And it tasted good! Friendly owners and it felt like you were sitting in their home kitchen having breakfast.
I had the chicken fried steak, with thick country gravy, sunny up eggs, and home potatoes. Yum!
Located: 323 Crook Ave. Goldfield, NV. No website. Closed on Sundays.
The Goldfield Hotel
Once upon a time the Goldfield Hotel was a successful business in this small town. Built between 1907 and 1908, it thrived until the end of World War II, and has remained unoccupied since then. In the early 80’s it was registered as a historical landmark and has gone through several owners and renovation attempts.
It’s also one of the most haunted places on earth! Attracting many paranormal teams, most notably, Ghost Adventures Crew and in October 2021, Nick Groff (former GAC investigator, will investigate it again.
I am grateful I have been given an opportunity and invite to investigate here between 2021 and 2022. So stay tuned!
Guy Fieri Vegas Kitchen & Bar
After dropping off Mike at his house in Vegas, I spent 1 more night in Sin City before going home.
I had this kicked up roast beef sandwich and au jus dipping sauce. It hit the spot and was savory, delicious, and a huge meal.
Ramen-Ya
Late into the night I got hungry again, but wanted a light meal. For me, that meant a bowl of ramen noodles!
This one had a miso soup base, an egg, tonkotsu pork, and some greens. Flavorful!
They are located at Bally’s Bazaar Shops.
Pioneer Saloon
The Pioneer Saloon was built in 1913, in the town of Goodsprings, Nevada. Today, Goodsprings has about 230 people living here. The town is about 6 miles off the I-15 just outside of Las Vegas and Jean.
The Pioneer Saloon is most famous for Clark Gable hanging out in the bar and drinking for several days, while waiting for his wife’s body (Carol Lombard) to be recovered from a plane crash not too far from the saloon.
The saloon is also known for being haunted. Employees and customers have stories of encounters with ghosts inside the saloon and restrooms.
The Ghost Adventures Crew investigated the saloon, which aired on the Travel Channel Network several years ago.
What really brought me to the saloon, while on my way home, was the food I had heard about from people who have eaten here.
While I was waiting for my order of steak and eggs, I befriended a guy named Mark who was sitting next to me. Mark let me take a photo of his Ghost Burger. He said the burger tasted great! Now on my list to try when I return.
My steak and eggs was perfect. Medium rare tender steak with 3 sunny up eggs and some toast. I didn’t eat again until I got home 8 hours later.
The saloon does have one gimmick they like to sell to visitors. In their backyard is a whole outdoor dining area with a deck for live music, and about 150 mini barrels filled with your choice of poison!
The bartender said most of the barrels have whiskey in it. People buy the barrel filled with their favorite drink for $4,500.00 per barrel. It gets you a name plate on your barrel, a spot to hold your barrel, and access to your drink in the barrel, whenever you want as long as they are open. When the barrel runs dry, they remove it for the next person who buys into this!
Mark, the bar guy I met, was quick to point out to me, that because the barrel sits outside in real seasons, you get cold weather with snow and then super hot heat in the summer, it affects the taste of the liquor.
If you let it sit out too long, eventually it tastes like piss and vinegar! Thank you Mark! It’s now noted in my brain not to buy!
Thanks for the offer Pioneer Saloon, but I will pass.
Goodsprings Cemetery
The Goodsprings cemetery is a stone’s throw away from the Pioneer Saloon! Now it makes sense why Pioneer is so haunted!
My time traveling through Rural Nevada was a fun trip for me. I love driving long distance to destinations that are unknown to me. I made some new friends and got some great contacts for ghost hunting in this region. I will be back here for more in the near future.
If you want to hear about my travel and ghost hunting in this area, tune-in to KSCO Radio AM1080, Santa Cruz, California. Download the KSCO app or go to KSCO.com to listen to all my past shows.
Until next time on Foodie Booze Explorer.
Sounds like you had a great trip.please don’t bring any of your spooky friends home with you!
LOL 👻 thanks Kevin!
Looks delicious as always Paul. Thank you for the great pics.
Thank you John!
Great stories from all of the places you visited on your road trip through Nevada!
This got me to thinking about of all of the random travels I’ve done over the years that were either work related or done just for fun. I also got to thinking that its been 38 years since you and I have taken an actual travel adventure together. Thinking about food places there are several that you haven’t been to that I would recommend, either for their good food and/or weird atmosphere. There’s also some places that were (and perhaps still are?) worth writing about. Most notably would be Sam Wo’s in San Francisco’s Chinatown, an old 3-story Chinese restaurant built in the 10-foot narrow crack between two larger buildings. I was actually thinking of writing about that one myself, specifically the time when you were there. Where else could you have gone waiting for a table while standing next to the dumbwaiter, nearly being killed as a tub of dirty dishes and leftover food explodes across the kitchen after being dropped from the 3rd floor? Where else could you have gone and heard such screaming between the cook and the upstairs waiter? And once seated, where else could you have gone where you buss tables in fear of your life because the waiter on the 2nd floor (Edsel Ford Fung) rules his space like a Chinese warlord and you are there to serve him!? And all that being said, our food was served within 3 minutes, it was cheap and actually decent, and watching you guys buss tables and serve tea for of fear of death was the best dining entertainment I’ve ever experienced! Perhaps this is why you haven’t gone out dining with me for many years? Sadly, Sam Wo closed in 2012 after being in business since 1907. Sadder still, Edsel Ford Fung died in 1984 and the place was never the same after. I’ll bet you that Edsel’s spirit still lingers on the 2nd floor of that old building. If you could get access to do a paranormal investigation there I’m sure he would remember you.
Thanks Ken! I do remember Sam Wo’s!! It was the best experience of being afraid for my life and eating good food, while bussing tables. I probably will never experience that again, as you are right, Edsel Fung, sadly passed away so many decades ago. He was the life blood and entertainment of the establishment!
The first half of the tale and photos made me laugh aloud. You’re a good writer Paul.
Aww…thanks Craig!
This was awesome re-cap of your adventure through NV! You have me wanting to go.
Also really dig your writing voice/style, thanks for sharing!
Thank you Kevin! When I confirm the Goldfield Hotel investigation you will have to go with me!