Barmaid on the Loneliest Road

Cheyenne serves up lunch, drinks, and easy camaraderie at Middlegate Station — all photos copyright Andy Romanoff

There’s no question that Middlegate Station has the best burgers for fifty miles and not just because there isn't another restaurant for fifty miles. Middlegate serves a fine burger that could hold its own anywhere, but in fact, it’s located miles from anywhere, on a place called Highway 50, and Highway 50 isn’t called The Loneliest Road in America for nothing.

We started hearing about Middlegate long before we got there. Folks we met along the way told us to hold our appetites till we came to a tiny turnout on the empty road east of Fallon, then pull in to discover its charms. So we did.

Middlegate Station, the wilds of Nevada. It’s a long way to anyplace else

In the dusty parking lot, enveloped in the quiet, I stood for a minute taking it in. Middlegate Station has been here for a long time. It’s a bar, restaurant, gas pumps, and eight motel rooms. There’s nothing else around for miles. First built by the Overland Stage Company in 1859 to service stagecoach travelers and freight lines it also served the Pony Express for the few short years of its existence. The current place has its roots in 1952 when a woman named Ida Fergusen opened a bar and cafe here. There was no electricity or phone service and the nearest town was fifty miles away but if you were hungry or thirsty…