Tag: Pahrump

Recovering from sinusitis and heading into Death Valley

We left Quartzsite on Sunday to drive the short way to Needles, KOA. It is a nice enough park, and a good spot to use for laundry and tank cleaning. However we didn’t do either! I was feeling truly horrid with massive sinusitis, something I am sadly too familiar with. Fever, chills, massive drainage, cough – uggh. In these times, we looked to find a drive-through COVID test site, just because, and we found a rapid test one in Las Vegas. So off to Las a Vegas we went! It is not really out of the way to Death Valley, and we go through it quite a bit. I got the test sample submitted, and we headed to Pahrump, NV, our traditional rinse waste tanks, fill fresh tank, check up on propane and fuel spot. We reserved 3 nights at Preferred RV Resort which is, not surprisingly, not a resort at all but filled with working folks and long term snowbirds. Not bad for the price, but not as nice as Lakeside. But we are just hanging here quarantining until I got my test results Tuesday (negative, as expected). My lovely ENT back home sent me a prescription for a prednisone 6 day dose pack, and I am feeling much better (but not well) here on the morning of day 4.

The drive to Vegas and then to Pahrump was awfully pretty with snow on the mountains. Sadly the pictures I asked Kevin to take out the window of the motorhome didn’t work for some reason. Highway 160 from Vegas is an interesting road crossing the mountains on a deceptively steep and very long grade. Luckily the 9% doesn’t last very long, but there are miles of 5-6%. This is where I end up appreciating the diesel, its exhaust brake, and the Allison transmission that does a lot of the hard work for me.

Kevin and I may not like the RV park over much, but Lily thought it was wonderful! There are pine trees on either side of us with doves in residence cooing. She has been enthralled.

There is a bird on the other side of the window.

We leave this morning for Sunset Campground in Death Valley. I know there won’t be enough cell data service to post, but I will buy WiFi access at the resort occasionally. The weather for forecast to be spectacular (highs in the upper 60s to upper 70s), and the weather at home is abysmal (lows well into negative numbers for 10 days) so we aren’t in any hurry to leave.

Death Valley

We tried to camp in Valley of Fires on Thursday, but the two rigs in front of us got the last two big sites. We didn’t win that specific lottery, but I will definitely come back another time. Yes, the rocks are really, really red.

We decided to push on towards Death Valley. The plan was to stay at Stovepipe Wells, but the NPS campgrounds was closed due to no campground host. The private campground was full, so we drove south towards Sunset Campground. It is a NPS campground that never gets full; if it is getting close, they just open up an overflow area! Lovely place with a great view of the Funeral Mountains to the east. We stayed there 3 nights than moved into our reservation site at the NPS Furnace Creek campground. Huge site, incredible views, and full hookups! I have tried to score a campsite here for years, but we got lucky this time with the reservation. We will try here until after the 49er Encampment is over on 10 November, then start working our way home.

While we were at Furnace Creek we got a huge windstorm. It came in with a blast at 4:00 am, and it was obvious many weren’t prepared. It was making the slide topper flap so loudly that we ended up bringing in both of the front slides. They are so long, especially the kitchen slide, that the wind can catch them badly. We saw the poor camp host picking up pieces of broken awnings and pop up shelters the next morning. The Texas Springs campground popular with tenters is closed due to no custodians (!!!), so the tenters are forced to stay in Sunset when  Furnace Creek is full, which is most of the time.

One of the interesting things at Sunset Campground is the music provided before the Encampment formally opens. A few guys setup a complete stage with sound system, and people come to play and jam. They are always considerate, and the music stops promptly at 9:00 or before for quiet hours. I had a picture, but it was so blurry I am not posting it. They played every night we were there, and it was a pleasant evening listen.

On Saturday we went to Pahrump to eat at a really great Thai restaurant we visit once (or more) each trip – Chat Thai. We actually tried again today, but the were closed! We ended up at Qu BBQ, which wasn’t bad, but the Thai place would have been better. Kevin is making a big Walmart and grocery run while I am posting this. There is no significant data service at the campground because Furnace Creek has a private network, so I have to drive quite a ways to get any service at all. Voice and messages work find though.

We have been able to take some nice 4WD trips though. We visited Echo Canyon, going by Eye of the Needle, and ending up at Inyo townsite and mill. Warning: lots of pictures ahead!

I told you I liked rocks! Look at the itty bitty window at the top.
The washed away parts look like they left a waterfall of rock
Lots of glory holes were near the road
Eye of the Needle is appropriately named
Eye of the Needle is actually about 10’ high
Contrary to the sign, the mine was up the hillside quite a ways. This is the remnant of the mill
Fascinating subterranean house in good condition
Inside the subterranean house
Lots of items left at Inyo
Lots of artifacts were collected on this table in front of another decrepit building

I can never have too much of the rocks in DVNP
Looking down from the canyon towards Badwater Basin with the Panamint as a backdrop

Today we visited Hole in the Rock and an old travertine quarry.

Rabbitbush is about the only thing in bloom.
My favorite cactus, the many-headed barrel cactus
The weathering looks like little goblin houses
The “Hole in the Wall” is between the light and dark walls, 40-50’ wide and hard to see until you are on it
The quarry where travertine was taken for the Borax Company headquarters in Los Angeles

This has taken way too long! Even in Pahrump I am on a relatively slow data connection, so I am now done. Well, until the next dump of photos from wonderful Death Valley!

Out of Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona and into Nevada

Yup, lots of driving. No pictures either because I never remember to take any when we are just driving to a destination. We left Oklahoma on Friday morning after visiting my sister, my niece, niece’s husband, and their four month old baby. The baby was such a solemn little guy he was inadvertently hilarious. We stayed in a lovely campground in Oklahoma City, Twin Fountains near the Cowboy Hall of Fame. I definitely will stay there again on another trip.

We ended up Friday night in Santa Rosa Campground in, surprise, Santa Rosa, New Mexico. It was an old KOA so the sites were a bit narrow, but it was a nice and quiet place. Surrounded by that classic New Mexico landscape, I could smell pinons and enjoy the sunsets in that clear New Mexican Sky.  Another one worth a repeat for sure. There is a little restaurant at the campground that wasn’t too bad, so no cooking! Nice after a long day of driving the motorhome. I am getting in the grove for 400 mile days: drive a few hours, take a nice long break (30-45 minutes) then finish it up.

Saturday was another 400 mile day. We spent the night in the parking lot of the Twin Arrows Casino outside Flagstaff. We ate in the (well-reviewed) buffet at the casino, but it was so-so at best. Add into it the smoke that you had to walk through to get to the food, and it is definitely not a place to return to. The parking lot was nice though! Many RVers say they only pull into parking lots late at night, but we like to stop our drive no later than 4 or so. Here it was a good thing because the RV parking got quite crowded by evening. We got to position the coach so the driver side windows looked east onto the sage, and it made for a lovely sunrise. The long ride on I-40 made me want to plan a much more leisurely trip where we can stop and see all the lovely places we just drove by on this trip. Maybe 2-3 weeks, just sightseeing.

Last night we made it to Pahrump and spent the night in the Wine Ridge RV Resort. Very nice place though we didn’t use all the facilities. We did do lots of laundry and got our shopping done though. We will be in Death Valley for almost two weeks, and there isn’t much shopping there so we really stocked up. We actually stocked up more than I intended to since the baby back ribs and the meatballs were both BOGO. We should have plenty of meat! I also used the convection oven to cook up a bunch of maple bacon for future BLTs. Surprisingly the little store at DV generally has nice produce. We plan on leaving today with empty waste tanks and full fresh water and propane tanks. Weather shouldn’t be too bad though the forecast is for higher than average temperatures in the low 90s-upper 80s.

It is hard to get internet in DV, so posting will be limited except when we get into a town.