Time Challenged

We had a another busy-fun day on Monday in Arizona. We started with a bit of a laid back start to our day. Now this may not sound like much but when you are getting on the road traveling for many days - a day of starting out slow is a treasure. Once we finally did get going we took off for a walk about the property at the Escapees North Ranch RV Park. Like some of the other Escapee "Rainbow" Parks, North Ranch has its "Campground" portion which works like any other RV Park - and then it has the deeded lot portion where folks buy their lots and improve them however they wish. Some put nice houses with gorgeous landscaping on their lot - and some keep the lot "natural" with hookups for an RV as the only lot improvement. One really nice part of this particular park is the Memorial Garden kept in desert landscape with plenty of nice examples of local cacti and other desert plants.

After walking through the garden we walked about the streets with the deeded lots enjoying a nice morning and getting some much needed exercise.

After returning from our walk and getting some late morning showers - we jumped into the Vue and took off to visit the city of Prescott, AZ. I have heard nice things about Prescott for many years and I happen to know an ex Maine Yankee friend who moved there in the mid '90s - so since we were sorta nearby - off we went. The drive from Congress to Prescott is more than interesting as you wind your way through some mountains climbing from around 2,000 feet up to 6,000 feet as you watch the desert landscape turn into lovely ponderosa pines. 

Back when Prescott was founded it soon became the Territorial Capital of the Arizona Territory. Although the Capital was moved to Tucson later on - it soon moved back to Prescott. The center of Prescott contains a very nice Courthouse and square in the center of town surrounded by some interesting eateries, antique shops and hotels and includes a number of old buildings once known as "Whiskey Row."

After arriving in Prescott - Peggy and I parked near the courthouse and found our way over to Kendalls - a 50s style burger and ice cream shop that looks like it hasn't changed much at all since those days. Peggy and I both had burgers and shared an order of onion rings. The burgers were great and the o-rings were good as well as long as you like "heavy" batter on your rings. Overall I give it 3 stars on the Mikee scale. Nice atmosphere - decent food - but overpriced. A bonus for you classic film buffs - some shots from the 1971 film Billy Jack were taken inside Kendalls!

We left Kendalls and decided to take a walk around the square checking out the western wear shops, antique stores, and such stuff. Several hours later - having purchased absolutely nothing - we returned to the car to give our legs a break. Although we didn't buy anything we did have fun checking out all the "stuff." I especially liked the stuff in the Antique store - until I realized that the stuff they are calling antiques is stuff I played with when I was a kid. Have I become "antique?" Don't bother answering that question - I suspect I know the answer.

After doing a little more shopping around Prescott we drove back to the historical downtown area and met my friend Linda and her husband Larry Fuegan for a reunion of sorts at the Prescott Brewing Company. We had lots to catch up on so we ended up having about a 3 hour dinner - followed by about a 1 hour drive back to Congress - on an unfamiliar mountain road - in the dark. That was fun too!

With our Arizona goof-off day complete we needed to make some miles today. So we left Congress this morning and headed a little further south to just north of Phoenix, made our way over to I-17 and then made the 100 mile trip up to Flagstaff climbing back up to a little over 7,000 feet. As we made it to Flagstaff the weather got much cooler and windy as we headed due east on I-40. We pulled in for the evening in Holbrook, AZ just as a storm cell passed through bringing very high winds and some rain for a few hours. I was sure glad NOT to be driving in that mess! Once the storm moved through the skies cleared right around sundown.

It looks like we are in for a cold night tonight with a low right around freezing and cooler temps tomorrow as well as we continue east into New Mexico.

I figure we have about 4 driving days to go before we reach Branson, MO where we plan on spending a few days seeing some sights. I know we won't be driving for the next 4 days straight - not if I plan on getting back to Maine with Peggy still on board - but our focus is on making miles east this week. So tomorrow we gain an hour as we enter Mountain Daylight Time from Mountain Standard Time here in AZ, and then we'll gain another hour the next day when we enter Texas ... and then we "Fall Back" on Sunday with the national change to Standard Time. I hope my new smart phone knows what time it is - I sure won't!!

So ... Why Congress?

We left Beatty Saturday morning and continued our trip east ... but we traveled mostly south again. One more day of mostly high desert scenery as we traveled through Pahrump and then skirted Las Vegas to the south before traveling through Henderson, Boulder City, and then over the new Bridge near Hoover Dam. This bridge was being built when we traveled through here last in 2005 and we crossed over the Dam. The new route was no where near as scenic - but was a lot faster than having to have Winne inspected first and then driving a really curvy route on both sides of the Dam. After crossing the Dam we continued on to Kingman, AZ where we fueled up and then settled in for the night.

We had a short drive today down route 93 to our destination for the next few days - Congress, AZ. Why Congress you may ask? Well - because I have always wanted to check out the countryside around Prescott, AZ - because Congress is sorta nearby - and because there is an "Escapees" RV Park in Congress that we hadn't visited before ("North Ranch"). Congress is a gold mining ghost town with a population of about 1,700 souls - mostly retirees I'm pretty sure.

Since we arrived pretty early - we took the afternoon off. Peggy read her book while I watched the end of the Patriots football game and then the NASCAR race in Martinsville. Then we were faced with the daily decision - "What's for dinner?" I had noticed a small restaurant in Congress that had a lot of cars in front as we drove by earlier and figured it might be a good place. After checking out the reviews online we decided to give it a try. Nichols West is not much to look at as you drive by but is quite nice inside and the food was 5 star on the Mikee rating system. Peggy had a Cuban Sandwich and I had the Bouillabaisse. I had never tried Bouillabaisse before so this was kinda of an experiment. But how can you go wrong with a fish stew with cod, shrimp, mussels, and scallops? Man was that good! The taste was great - the presentation was great - and it was relatively inexpensive! If you ever find yourself wandering through Congress, AZ I highly recommend Nichols West - these folks know what the're doing!

So now here I sit with full belly watching the Red Sox try to win Game 4 of the World Series. They lost a tough one the other night so hopefully they can pull off a win tonight. It's looking pretty good right now with a 3 run lead in the 7th inning.

We really don't have much of a plan for tomorrow except for checking out Prescott. Who knows what amount of trouble these two Maineiacs can get into here in the wild southwest?

Maybe we'll even take some pictures to spice up the blog a bit!

A Day In Death Valley

Peggy and I played tourist today. We loaded ourselves in the Vue around 10:30 AM and headed west, past the Angel Ladies Brothel just down the road and then into downtown Beatty past the local Saloons, Casinos, then along Highway 374 towards Death Valley National Park. Yes indeed - this part of Nevada is not that far removed from the wild days of the wild west. 

We traveled along this road for about 19 miles and then up those mountains to Daylight Pass at about 4,300 feet elevation. Then the fun began as we descended  down to the valley floor at about -200 feet - all in about 13 miles. 

Death Valley National Park is a Really Big place. Actually it is the largest National Park in the lower 48 states. Since we only planned to be here for one afternoon of sightseeing we decided to start by checking out the Visitors Center at Furnace Creek. At the Visitors Center we checked out the exhibits, watched the 20 minute movie, picked up a map of the park and took off for a few hours of exploring. There are a couple of nice resort like hotels near Furnace Creek for those wanting the full Death Valley experience - but if you plan on driving around much you better plan on spending big bucks for fuel!

From the Vsitors Center we drove south through the valley about 17 miles to Badwater Basin - the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet Below Sea Level! Once at Badwater Basin you can walk out onto the salt flats and taste the salt and the water and find out they taste salty - don't ask me how I know.

The road south through the valley is closed at Badwater Basin. Believe it or not the reason for closure on the sign was due to flooded roads. Interesting - considering this place gets only 2 inches of rain per year on average!

On our drive back towards Furnace Creek we took the "Artist's Drive Loop Road for some really interesting and colorful scenery.

We also stopped at the Golden Canyon Interpretive Trail and took a short walk through the Canyon. The path leads much farther than we decided to go but the short walk we did take was pretty impressive.

We were going to drive east along Highway 190 towards Pahrump and Las Vegas to visit picturesque Zabriskie Point and 20 Mule Team Canyon --- but we changed our minds and retraced our path back out of the park - back up to 4,300 feet, over the mountains - and then back to Beatty. There is a lot to see in the Park and we barely scratched the surface but it was time to head back. We did pass at least one of the famous Borax mines that provided the Borax hauled by those 20 mule teams. For those of you old enough ... remember "Death Valley Days" - "brought to you by 20 Mule Team Borax." The TV Show had some great tales of the west and was hosted by some notable actors including Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor, and Dale Robertson. Great Memories ... and that Boraxo is some really great soap you can still purchase today!

Once we made it out of the valley, back into Nevada, and almost back to Beatty we took a turnoff to the nearby ghost town of Rhyolite. Rhyolite was established as a town in 1905 following the discovery of gold nearby by prospectors Shorty Harris and Ed Cross. It was right about this time (1906) that the big San Francisco earthquake hit destroying the city and especially the Financial District. This was followed by a an additional financial panic in the east in 1907. Both of these events sorta dried up the funding for risky gold mining right about the time the town of Rhyolite had reached a population of 8,000 folks and the mines began to fail. In 1920 the town of Rhyolite had a population of about 14.

Not much exists of old Rhyolite today. But the remains of some buildings - like the bank are still sorta standing. The bank was constructed in 1908 and cost some $90,000 to build. That was a whole lotta cash for those days! In its heyday the bank building had 3 floors, marble floors, electric lights, and steam heating!

Then there is the Bottle House built by Tom Kelly in 1906. The construction using bottles was actually a pretty ingenious idea as the bottle walls provide a very good insulation factor! It must have been pretty well built as it is still standing today!

After our short visit to Rhyolite we returned to Beatty - tired but glad we took the day to visit this unique part of the country. Days like today are what makes RVing fun!

Tomorrow we plan on heading further south - through Las Vegas, over the new bridge near Hoover Dam, and then on to Kingman, AZ. 

Looks like another fun and interesting day.

On The Road Again - Beatty, NV

It was with heavy heart and damp eyes that we left Minden this morning to start our trek home. We certainly enjoyed our time in Nevada visiting with Nan, my sister Marcie, BIL Don, niece Carin, and everybody else!!! but it was time to move on. It is good to know that Nan is being well taken care of at my sisters place ... that makes it much easier to head home to enjoy those east coast Evringhams.

We started our trip east by heading south. First step - drive around the Pine Nut Mountains to Yerington, NV where you drive about 90 miles to travel about 50 miles. It was a nice drive though through the mountains and ranch country canyons. 

Once we made it to Yerington and NV 95 we headed mostly south through the mining communities of Mina, Luning, Coaldale, and Tonapah on our way to our stopping point here in Beatty, NV - gateway to Death Valley.

We also drove through Hawthorne, NV - home of a particularly large US Army Ammunition Depot. What do you suspect might be stored in these bunkers? There are hundreds more just like these!

Our drive today was a little over 300 miles  - mostly through the high desert of Nevada - on a beautiful fall day. When we left Minden this morning the temperature was in the high 20s - when we parked here in Beatty it was in the high 70s. Such is a normal day in Nevada.

So where do we go from here? The original plan was to head through Las Vegas tomorrow and then on to Kingman, AZ. But since we are this close to Death Valley - we thought we would take advantage of the situation and take a day trip into California tomorrow to visit the National Park. After-all - we have seen Kingman - we haven't seen Death Valley!

Crab Feed!

Time to catch up the blog again. 

I did make a large batch of Mikee's Maineiac Gumbo last Saturday. It didn't last long and all the reviews were good again  - I reckon I haven't lost my touch. 

We haven't wandered far from our parking place here at sister Marcie's this past week although we did manage to have a really great breakfast out at Grandma Hattie's in nearby Carson City on Monday as well as a short visit with Peggy's Aunt Maxine in nearby Dayton, NV. 

My sister Jamie and BIL Ernie drove over from California on Tuesday and left earlier today. We had a good visit and it was great to see Jamie walking much better than when we left her last year still recuperating from her broken patella. She is still favoring that leg considerably - but is doing much better!

Yesterday was family day here at the Redeker RV Resort, Rehab Center, and Seafood Restaurant. We not only had us and Sister Jamie and BIL Ernie, we also had Marcie's daughter Carin, grandson Zach, and Granddaughter Amanda with boyfriend Josh up for a visit from San Francisco, CA. Since Amanda and Josh were heading this way - we put in an order for some SF bay crab and sourdough bread. In addition to delivery - Josh even did the honors cooking up the crustaceans. We had a really great feast of Marcie's homemade clam chowder along with the crab, bread and salad for those who could find room!

Today was a bit calmer day with less visitors so I decided to re-string one of our day-night shades here in the motorhome. I have done this chore several times in the past as the strings in those things do wear out over time - and I am usually only minor-ly perturbed with the job - not so today. The job was going pretty well up to the point of installation - when I discovered I had cut the new string too short - then I fixed that - then I dropped a screw behind the couch - then another - then the whole mechanism fell on my head. At this point I recommended that Peggy leave the area - cause things were about to get dangerous! Bottom Line - the job got done, nothing else was broken, and that martini tasted double good!

In spite of my sister Marcie's attempts to extend our stay here in beautiful Minden, NV - we are planning on leaving here next Thursday - which leaves us only 5 more days to visit, play, and prepare for our return trip. Except for receiving an oil change Winne is pretty much ready to roll so that part should be pretty easy. The hard part will be leaving Nan, Marcie, Don and the rest of our West Coast family until next time. The good part will be starting our trip back to see our kids and grandkids!

So here is the basic plan at the moment ... we leave here on the 24th of October and head south towards Las Vegas and then into Arizona where we hope to spend a few days at the Escapee RV Park near Congress, AZ. From Congress we head east along I-40 to east of Oklahoma City and then northeast to Branson, MO. We plan on staying a few days in Branson seeing some sights and will then be heading generally northeast with a planned arrival date in Maine on or before the 15th of November.

After that I figure I'll be working fulltime getting Winne into storage, getting the Chevelle into storage, and getting the house ready for winter. Somewhere in between all that - we'll find plenty of time for spoiling grandkids and munching down some T-Day turkey. 

Until then - we'll continue enjoying our stay here in sunny, dry, and more than a little cold at night - Nevada.

Hope the propane holds out until next Thursday!

More of Mikee's Maineiac Gumbo

After three days in the hospital getting antibiotics and probably not much rest - we were able to bring Nan home on Friday. She was feeling and looking much better but still not back to her normal self. Nan seemed to have a pretty good day on Saturday although her stamina is still a bit weak and she needed a good rest around midday to recharge. 

Believe it or not - it is actually raining a bit here this morning! That doesn't happen a lot around here - and I suspect this little shower will pass quickly - but it does tend to settle the dust. I should have known it would rain since I took some time on Friday afternoon and gave Winne a washing. She sure needed it after accumulating 4,100 miles of road grime! Now that it appears Nan is doing better - I need to take some time and change Winne's oil and start preparing her for the return trip. 

We have been using our propane heater a lot this past week as the lows have been getting down into the high 20s/low 30s each night. With all that usage we were getting down to around a quarter of a tank of propane remaining - so Peggy and I broke camp here at the Redeker RV Campground and Assisted Living Facility on Friday and drove over to the nearby Silver City RV Park and Gas Station to fill up on propane and dump tanks before returning to our spot here at sister Marcie's. I figure we are using about a gallon and a half of propane a night - so with about 20 gallons of usable propane on board before I want to refill - we can make it about another 2 weeks - which is about the time we have left here before we need to be heading south and then east. 

I think we will celebrate the rain today by making a roux and then a batch of Mikee's Maineiac Gumbo. These westerners are in for a real treat - doncha think!?

New Job

This blog entry comes to you from the beautiful Carson-Tahoe Hospital in Carson City, Nevada. Last Sunday morning Nan (my mom) awoke in a very confused state and it became quickly obvious that she needed some medical help. So off to the Emergency Room we went. Nan had a similar issue last year when we were here so we suspected she may be having a neurological reaction to a urinary tract infection. After spending several hours in the ER our suspicions about the UTI were confirmed and she was admitted to receive some antibiotics and other IV fluids overnight. She was markedly better on Monday morning ... But certainly not back to normal ... But she was released and we brought her home. Although she seemed to be improving the rest of the day on Monday she awoke Tuesday in pretty much the same shape as Sunday .... So back we went. Same hospital ... Same routine ... Same tests ... Same results and she was admitted again. So here we are on Wednesday morning. Mom seems to be better this morning but again ... Not back to where she was. So we are in a wait and see mode.

I haven't had much time to analyze the stats from our trip west ... But I thought I would provide a few pieces of probably useless information.

It took us 27 days to travel 4,100 miles here to Minden. We traveled on 17 of those days and definitely not in a straight line. Compared to most of our past trips west we traveled a pretty leisurely pace.

We burned 600 gallons of fuel getting here. That equates to a bit under 7 mpg which is a little lower than our average. This trip seemed to have a lot of ups and downs and headwinds! I'm hoping the law of averages works in our favor going home. We averaged $3.56 for gas ... A little above what I budgeted. We had a tie for our most expensive fuel purchase in Lee, MA and Ely, NV at $3.80. The least expensive was in Lake Township, OH at $3.38.

Since we finished our trip pre government shutdown we were able to see 5 National parks/monuments - Badlands, Canyonlands, Arches, Devils Tower, and Little Big Horn.

That's enough for now ... Time to harass Nan into getting better. 

That's my new job.

An US Day

Back when I was young ... and not so foolish ... I married my childhood sweetheart -- 43 years ago yesterday.

Peggy and I were both 20 years old, I had had joined the Navy 6 months prior, and we were in love - although we weren't really sure what that was.

Now here we are -- 43 years later. Still married and still in love - with a much better understanding of what that is.

We celebrated our Wedding Anniversary yesterday by taking an "US" day. We started off with lunch at my favorite taco joint chain - "Jimboy's." When I heard that they had a Jimboy's in Carson City I knew I had to go visit at least once. You just can't beat a Jimboy's original style taco. Real corn tortilla - lightly fried - ground beef filling - with grated Parmesan cheese on the outside of the tortilla. Yum -- Yum!

With a tummy full of Tacos we continued our US day by taking about a 20 mile or so drive up into the mountains - through Silver City and Gold Hill to the famous site of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City. Back in the late 1860s and early 1870s this area was a big producer of gold and silver in the US and you can still see evidence of all that mining activity today. In fact they are still pulling precious metals out of that ground!

Downtown Virginia City is definitely a throwback to those boomtown days with its wooden sidewalks, saloons, mansions paid for in gold dust and even a good guy-bad guy shootout at 1 PM. 

Samuel Clements also got his start here - writing for the Territorial Enterprise under the name Mark Twain for the first time.

Peggy and I wandered around town for a few hours - taking in the gunfight, having a drink at the Bucket of Blood Saloon, checking out a few of the shops along the main drag, and then robbing a bank before heading back towards Carson City.

We finished our US day with a very nice dinner out at Soletti's Restaurant in Gardnerville. We both had the "Early Dinner" special Veal Scallopini and gave it two thumbs up.

A great day with a great wife. I told you I was no fool!

Landed in the Silver State

Well ... we made it! After a 340 mile drive across Nevada on the "Loneliest Road in America" we pulled in here at my sister Marcie's place in Minden, NV.

Our drive was pretty uneventful except for one rather intimidating event and one rather surprising find. As for the first one - there we were - pretty much alone on the "Loneliest Road" just cruising along - when all of a sudden a state trooper car appears ahead of me with lights flashing approaching IN MY LANE! I suspected he wanted me to stop - so I did! As I stopped he pulls alongside my drivers side window and informs me that a wide load of 24' wide was approaching and I needed to pull off the road. Well now ... this stretch of road is two lanes with maybe 18 inches of paved shoulder and then gravel - sloping down into the desert. And then he says - and you need to do it now because the approaching load is not far away. Not seeing many choices at this point I pull Winne off to the side of the road - keeping the drivers side tires on the asphalt and the remainder wherever it ended up into the desert! Within seconds I see the WIDE load ... a very huge dump bed for a mine rock truck loaded on a flat bed truck ... coming at us at about 60 mph right down the centerline of the highway! As I watched the truck approach I judged that we might have about 6 inches of clearance! Fortunately - the truck driver was able to pull over a few feet and they went sailing by! Well now - that's something I didn't expect on the "Loneliest Road!"

After they passed we pulled back onto the road with no problem and continued on our way. About 200 miles from Ely, about 150 miles from our destination, and about 50 miles from any other civilization we came across a place named Cold Springs Station where we came upon the Cold Springs Restaurant, Motel, Lounge, and RV Park. We had been looking for a place to pull over and make some lunch so their parking lot looked pretty inviting. After pulling in we decided to check the restaurant out rather than making lunch ourselves. To our surprise the Lounge, Restaurant, Gift Shop we found inside was very nice - especially considering our location. When we entered we were the only customers (no big surprise here) and we received immediate service from the hostess/bar tender/waitress/short order cook. I had the BLT and onion rings while Peggy ordered a Patty Melt and fries. I gotta admit that lunch was pretty darn good and again -- something I was not expecting on the "Loneliest Road." Since I certainly didn't remember this place from our last trip through here in 2008 I asked the waitress how long this place had been there. Apparently the previous establishment burned down in 2007 and it took the owner some time to rebuild. So if you happen to be traveling the Loneliest Road and looking for an oasis west of Austin - you will find the Cold Springs Restaurant/Lounge/Motel/RV Park just east of the ruins of the old Cold Springs Station Pony Express Station.

After getting settled in here and having our initial visits with Nan, Marcie, Don, Carin, and Zach we crashed pretty early after a loong travel day.

Today was a much calmer day. I did some troubleshooting on our noisy propane heater and miraculously it seems to be quieted. Good thing - since we have some below freezing temps forecast for tonight. Hopefully it will continue working correctly until I get home and perhaps remove it for some bench maintenance this winter.

A week or so ago while driving somewhere in South Dakota in one of those construction areas where the highway is reduced to two lanes - a dump truck going the opposite direction passed us while dropping gravel all over the highway. You guessed it ... one of those pieces of escaped gravel jumped up and bit my drivers side windshield. Yep - the same windshield I have had to replace twice in these past 9 years. Fortunately the rock only chipped the windshield and only a small crack developed. So today I called my insurance company and they had a glass guy come over and repair the chip/crack. I've had one of these repairs done previously to a spot on the passenger side windshield and it has held up well for about 4 years now. The repair guy did a nice job and there was no charge to me as the insurance company waives the deductible for these type repairs.

That's about it from here in Minden but stay tuned for the (in)famous trip statistics for the westward 4,100 mile leg of our trip. I know you'll not want to miss that.