Tonight is “FROM” or “BROM” sometimes called Fake Prom or Bike Prom, this is our night to party. The ride was short, only 61 miles which is two rest stops for us. I passed a sign a few days ago that said there were 16 mountain ranges in Nevada on the road we are traveling. 16!?!? Anyways, at the second rest stop, there were these three dogs that were awesome, so sweet and I just happened to have some dog treats in my trunk bag so they hit the jackpot. We had so much fun playing and snuggling with these sweet dogs and I forgot to eat a snack before leaving the rest stop. So the last 20 miles or so were really bad. I was hungry, cranky and a little bit dehydrated. Usually afternoon the heat picks up and things turn south really fast.
As soon as we arrived to our camp for the night, I set up my tent and went to sleep. Had a nice long nap and then went in the restaurant/bar for dinner (or lunch). So, the place that we are staying is literally just a restaurant/bar. They are letting us camp behind the restaurant in between all of the trailers and houses. There’s actually a lot of history in this place:
Originally named by James Simpson in the 1800s, this tiny little town and rest stop was named after the gate-like mountains surrounding the stop. With the east being eastgate, the west being westgate, of course the town must logically be called Middlegate, and so it was. Used as an active station, the Pony Express contracted the location to change horses along their route. While the Pony Express operation was shortlived, Middlegate Station continued to operate as a stage and freight station until the early 1900s. Before long, the Lincoln Highway-the first paved highway across America-popped up in front of the Station, making it a convenient stop for travelers along the way.
Rerouting of the highway in 1960 took a lot of traffic away from the stop, but travelers along the notorious Loneliest Road in America frequent the fascinating stop today and try their hand at the Middlegate Monster! This triple decker beast comes with 1 and 1/3 pounds of angus beef on a sourdough bun, complete with lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, pickles, cheese, peppers and olives, and comes with a gargantuan heap of fries! A genuine challenge, this is most certainly a Nevada Bucket-List item! Successful challengers will walk away with a free t-shirt, but those who are defeated will likely depart with quite the memory.
Two riders in our group got the T-shirt… me? nope. Didn’t even try. I’m not gonna risk feeling horrible on this bike trip for a lousy t-shirt! If I’m gonna feel bad, it’s gonna be because of drinking. LOL.
And that happened, too.
So, FROM was a blast. Except most of our group went to bed early, but almost everyone came out, had really funny costumes on and we drank, danced, and played pool. The locals weren’t sure what to make of us, but that’s all good. It was a fun night out and man, I’m gonna miss these people.