Hidden Tips

Plan your journey, not just a stopover, but treat Austin as a destination; there is history and natural beauty in the area to be explored. Use your motel as a base to explore the nearby ghost towns like Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park or to search for turquoise, which the area is so famous for. It’s a great friendly motel with fantastic owners as a resource; ask them for directions to local points of interest that do not make it into a guidebook.

Bring all of the food you need to be self-catering. While the local saloons are fun for one meal, the options are a little limited. A good tip is to stop at a big supermarket in a larger town like Fallon or Eureka before arriving in Austin. You can make your breakfast and an easy dinner with the in-room clean and working refrigerator and microwave at the motel. This way, you get much more leeway and it’s a much more dependable option.

For something special, make a short drive out of town at night to go look at the stars. There’s no real light pollution out in this remote part of Nevada so the night sky is absolutely spectacular; the clarity of the stars, and view of the Milky Way, is breathtaking and humbling. It’s arguably one of the greatest, most profoundly satisfying gifts that this region gives away for free.

Last hug your route's history. You are following the very trail of the original Pony Express rider. A great tip is to look for the historical markers all along Highway 50 that detail the history of the trail and the early pioneers. Before you leave town, stop by the historic Austin Cemetery. Really, really get a feeling for the tough lives of the miners who founded this town. Cozy Mountain Motel – perfect, authentic base for your journey back in time.