Elko is the center of a current gold rush. Billboards specifically target miners, wether they promote shops, hotels, or casinos. Most any establishment has “gold,” “bonanza,” “mine,” or some other term associated with gold wealth. We had hoped to get a tour of one of the active mines, but, alas, we were there on a day where there were no tours.
So, came the moment of truth. We had been hearing a lot about van camping in parking lots and decided that this was as good a time as any to test out such a sleeping arrangement. We had heard that you could camp in casino parking lots but were quickly told that we were not welcome there. So, we went to Walmart. For those unaware, Walmart is very friendly to truckers, RV-ers, and other vehicular campers so long as they don’t get in the way of customers. Thus, we found a corner of Walmart, bought a DVD compilation of Clint Eastwood films and a sandwich, and settled in for the night. For the record: it went surprisingly well.
