November 8 to 14, 2007

 

 

 

 

November 8 to 14, 2007

Topaz Lake, Nevada to Pahrump, Nevada

 

Thursday ; Topaz Lake, Nevada to Death Valley National Park, California

As we entered Death Valley National Park about 4:30 P.M. the sun was just setting behind the mountains. The temperature was 81º . As we got set up in our campsite about 2 hours later, in the dark, the temperature was still 79º ! And this is November ! No wonder people die here in the summer !

This morning before leaving Topaz Lake Lodge, the casino where we boondocked ( dry camped ) last night, we refilled with diesel and propane. We continued heading south on Hwy. 395. We crossed from Nevada into California where we had to stop at a state inspection station. The officer asked if we had any produce . HUH ? ? ? Yeah ... we've got produce, but it was all purchased a few days ago in Yreka, California. Okay ... go ! Apparently California doesn't allow produce from other states into California ? ! ? We drove by the east side of Yosemite National Park, but did not enter. We had visited Yosemite previously. We drove by the east side of King's Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. Both of those parks can only be entered from the west side. We refilled with diesel ( again ! ) at Lone Pine. It was another long day of driving, and again we drove further than we had intended. We turned east onto Hwy. 136 heading for Death Valley National Park. It was a long, difficult climb up and over the Inyo Mountains. We began to see occasional Joshua Trees and Yucca Trees. AHHHHH ... the Mojave Desert, at last. It was a looooong descent down into Panamint Valley, then a looooong climb up and over the Panamint Mountains, and a looooong, looooong descent down into Death Valley, from over 5000 ft. ASL to below sea level. About 4 miles from Stovepipe Wells Village I shifted into neutral, and coasted the last 4 miles down, reaching about 120 km./hr. or about 75 MPH. HA HA HA !

When we arrived at Stovepipe Wells Village there were only a few sites available in the campground. The campground host told us that normally there's only about a half dozen rigs in this campground, but this week there's about 125 rigs here ! The other 3 campgrounds within Death Valley National Park are all full ! We have arrived here during the Death Valley California 49'ers Annual Encampment. HUH ? It's an annual gathering of RV'ers, ( loosely ) celebrating the crossing of Death Valley in 1849 by wannabe miners heading for the gold rush in the mountains west of here. Most died crossing Death Valley, hence the name. This annual gathering is a week long event of cowboy music, cowboy poetry, and ... who knows ? ! ? What the hell is cowboy poetry ? ? ?

Friday ; Death Valley : Stovepipe Wells to Mesquite Spring

Today was another typical Death Valley winter day. Daytime temperatures in the high 80's, night time temperatures in the mid-50's. I noticed that when the sun went down, the temperature dropped 20 degrees in 20 minutes ! The sky was overcast in the morning, which is a bit unusual for Death Valley.

This morning before leaving our campground at Stovepipe Wells I went over to the Death Valley California 49'ers Annual Encampment stage area to get some information on the organization and their events / activities. On the stage was a cowboy playing an accordion, singing cowboy songs and yodelling. Not exactly my cup of tea ! We headed a short distance northeast, then turned northwest heading for Scotty's Castle at Death Valley Ranch. Scotty's Castle is a huge, elaborate residence built by a wealthy couple, and their con man friend, in the 1920's. Now it's sort of a National Parks museum. We wandered around the buildings and the grounds for a couple of hours. During that time, about 3 drops of rain fell. I guess that's what's considered a rainfall in Death Valley, which receives about an inch and a half of rain annually.

I find it interesting that every ten or twenty miles on the roads through Death Valley, there is a large tank of water with a faucet on the bottom, a "radiator water" refill station.

We drove over to the campground at Mesquite Spring where we spent the night. It was a very nice, very remote, unserviced campground in a beautiful desert setting surrounded by mountains. I liked it ! Wehad a campfire tonight. After it had been burning for awhile, I took a "hot rock" from the ring of stones surrounding the fire and placed it on the back of Joanne's stiff neck and top of her spine. My cheap Ukrainian version of a spa treatment. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Actually, it was very pleasant. I tried it myself.

Every winter down south I'm a bit surprised by the change in the position of the constellations in the sky. Tonight the Big Dipper was sitting completely flat on top of the mountain, looking like a pot on a stove.

 

Saturday ; Death Valley National Park, California to Pahrump, Nevada

Gee, we’ve crossed the border between California and Nevada about half a dozen times in the last few days. This morning we departed Mesquite Spring campground heading southeast along the west side of the Amargosa Mountains. Near Stovepipe Wells we rejoined Hwy. 190 heading southeast, following it through Furnace Creek and out of Death Valley National Park. We continued east on Hwy. 190 crossing from California back into Nevada again. At Death Valley Junction we got onto State Line Road heading for Pahrump.

At Pahrump we checked into Pair-A-Dice, an Escapee RV Park. We were hoping to spend at least one and probably two weeks here, but today they only had one site available for 4 days. Hopefully, in four days another site will be available. If not, I guess we're moving on.

This afternoon I had a well deserved long nap followed by a long hot shower. I felt tired and grubby. When we're boondocked / dry camped without electricity or water, as we have been for a few days now, we go to sleep very early, get up very early, and have very short showers.

I remember the first time we visited Pahrump 2 years ago. It was our first time in Nevada. On the road to Pair-A-Dice RV Park, there is a spiffy looking brothel. It was odd seeing a brothel for the first time, openly advertising their "services". Welcome to Nevada !

 

Sunday ; Remembrance Day ( Canada ) / Veteran's Day ( U.S. )

This morning, as we always do at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, we observed a minute of silence to "remember". Lest we forget ! This practice is not part of the Americans' observance of Veteran's Day.

Ever since LaPine State Park in Oregon about a week ago there has been evidence of a mouse in a kitchen cupboard. I kept hoping the movement of the trailer during travel would inspire it to leave. Apparently not ! Last night I set a mouse trap under the sink. Yup ... there was a mouse ! Maybe more than one, based on how cleanly the peanut butter was licked off the trap. Like ... "oh, boy, my buddy tripped the trap, and is now dead, but at least now I can lick off all the peanut butter". I'll set the trap again tonight.

This morning we walked over to one of the two fenced dog run areas at this park. One of them has a bunch of posts and various sized tires partially embedded in the ground. Joanne wanted to show me the "Bo-gility" routines she has been working on. HA HA HA ! Good work, Bo !

This afternoon, after unhitching Harvey from Lanoire for the first time since we left home, we ran errands and replenished groceries and supplies. We found diesel for the lowest price since entering the U.S.. We had lunch at a new subway chain called Port Of Subs. We spent a long time Wal-Martin' < sigh >. I hate Wal-Martin'. We shopped at Albertson's, a grocery chain. We went to three different RV parks to check them out. We refilled all our water jugs. We were completely out of drinking water. We had difficulty finding a water refill machine in Oregon or California. But no problem finding water refill machines out here in the desert. And it still pisses me off, every time I pay 15¢ for a gallon of water, which is the price anywhere in the desert, from here down to the Mexican border, that I had to pay $4.99 for a gallon of water in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, a few years ago. Why is water more expensive than automotive fuel in a Canadian National Park ? ! ?

We have decided to stay in Pahrump until immediately after the Thanksgiving weekend. We’ll move to at least one, and maybe even two other RV parks here in Pahrump before we leave. We'll head to Las Vegas on Monday, November 26. In the meantime, we will stay in Pahrump for Thanksgiving, and the 9th annual Pahrump Social Powwow next weekend. We attended the Pahrump Social Powwow 2 years ago, and really enjoyed it. The Pahrump Social Powwow is a Navajo and Shoshone celebration of Native dancing, music, and food.

Welcome to Nevada ! Not only are there billboards advertising the brothels, but the grocery stores have slot machines !

HEY ! ! ! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE STOCK MARKET IN THE LAST 2 WEEKS ? ? ? ! ! ! I retrieved my investment data this evening for the first time in 2 weeks. I'm not pleased !

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I worked on replacing the moulding on the lower front edge of the trailer that had been smashed and damaged by a rock that we drove over a week or so ago.

This afternoon we went to watch a movie at the clubhouse. Every Monday afternoon they show a movie in this RV park. Today's movie was Ratatouille. Great ... that was a movie we were interested in seeing.

After the movie we went to Social Hour, held in this park on weekdays only. And poorly attended. This is one of the less impressive Escapee parks. Social Hour only on weekdays. Poorly attended. Ice cream social only once every 2 weeks. No pot luck dinners in the month of November. Not much of a social calendar at all, actually. At Social Hour we chatted with a couple from northwest Oregon. The woman had been born in Vernon, at the north end of B.C.'s Okanagan Valley. We chatted with a travelling single woman from Portland, Oregon. And a man originally from Toronto, Ontario.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and hot. For most of today I puttered around with some minor maintenance chores, and Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi system here is really poor, and I have spent a lot of time trying to send and retrieve e-mail, retrieve phone messages, update my blog, etc.. It seems as if the poor Wi-Fi situation isn't confined to just this park. The other RV parks we went to yesterday also commented that they are experiencing Wi-Fi problems. Poor Wi-Fi seems to be a problem throughout Pahrump.

We took Bo for his daily "Bo-gility" session. He loves it. We wonder whether we can design and construct a dog agility course at Riverside RV Park next summer. We went to Social Hour. Once again ... and this is not unusual ... we were the last to leave after Social Hour. Gee ... if you're going to go to daily Social Hour ... might as well be sociable ! If you don't want to be sociable ... stay home !

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot. First time I've worn shorts in a couple of months.

This morning we prepared for departure from Pair-A-Dice SKP RV Park and moved "across town" to Preferred RV Resort. It's a larger park, with nicer amenities. Nice pool and hot tub ! After getting set up in our site, and having lunch, we took Bo for a long walk around the park, then Joanne and I headed for the pool and hot tub. AHHHHH ! ! !

This afternoon I could receive 2 Wi-Fi signals, but only intermittently. I couldn't get a good signal on either the computer or the Wi-Fi phone. One signal was the RV park's, and the other one was from the casino across the road. After supper I drove around with the computer in the truck, trying to find the best possible location to get a good Wi-Fi signal. Got a good one in the employee parking lot of the casino. So ... here goes a blog update.

 

DSK