Doobie Road Buried by Avalanche! In 2005 summer thunderstorms unleashed a long hard rain on the steep eastern face of Granite Peak, resulting in massive slides of pinkish granite down the many precipitous canyons above. The flow of water-borne stones spread across much of the painstakingly assembled creation described below. This article was intended to be an invitation to enjoy a unique work of art; now it's a Memorial of sorts.

The Artistic Vision of Dwayne Williams

Doobie Road, officially labeled Guru Avenue, is a stretch of dirt road beside the highway just north of Gerlach. It is decorated by the carved rocks, arranged artifacts and monuments assembled here by Doobie Williams over the 15 years before his death in 1995.

At first he carved the names of family and friends on the flat surfaces of rocks and lined the avenue with them. Later he began transcribing aphorisms and observations with his grinder and adding them to the edge of the road.

At the entrance to the Desert Broadcasting System

He built small structures — a tribute to Elvis, a wedding chapel, a stick-and-brush hut he named The Desert Broadcasting System, with glassless television screens instead of windows. He created a large feature called "Ground Zero" with rocks of different colors, a series of concentric circles with black rays emanating from the bright white center.

As he added these and other touches to the avenue over the years, his creation attracted visitors who enjoyed reading his aphorisms, quips and other brief texts under the hot desert sun.

We walked the avenue at our last visit, eagerly seeking out each next rock like a combination easter egg hunt and fortune cookie reading. Beyond the fun, there is something profound about reading the messages of the stones, as if they are telegrams from the earth itself: "The time we enjoy wasting is not wasted time," says one. "The little woman is bigger than you think," says another.

Doobie's observations are almost always good-humored and optimistic

When Dwayne Williams died, a long-time friend wrote, "Doobie's dead, but he left his own epitaph. To quote from a rock on Dooby Avenue: 'Life is a hundred year trip away from home. When you die, your spirit will be singing, "Home at last, home at last, thank God I'm home at last. Wow. What a trip."'"

To get there, drive north from Sparks on Pyramid Way (Nevada Highway 445) 30 miles to Pyramid Lake. Take Nevada Highway 447 around the south end of the lake to Nixon, then continue north on Nevada 447. You can also get to Nixon by taking Nevada 447 north from Wadsworth. It's 55 miles from Nixon to Gerlach. Stay on the highway through town and take the right-hand fork when it divides. Doobie Road is ahead on your left.

The Desert Broadcasting System, Sagebrush Network

In addition to the Avenue itself, you'll enjoy the quiet community of Gerlach and the actually world-famous ravioli at Bruno's Country Club. Burning Man maintains a fulltime office in Gerlach now, but otherwise the town seems deflated, most of its neon extinguished. You can take the left fork out of town for eight miles and visit Planet X, the celebrated Bogard family pottery. Here, with his wife Rachel, potter John Bogard builds and glazes porcelain, stoneware and raku pots inspired by the desert scenery. Three galleries are open most days, and John is working — in a new straw-bale studio — on canvas as well as clay. The flower gardens and the towering trees make this a little solar-powered spring-fed paradise.

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