Jackpot to Ash Springs, Nevada

Thursday Nov. 7, 2013

We were up at a reasonable 6:30 am this morning so we could be on the road by 8:00 am.  I had not posted the blog last night as I wasn’t feeling well after my big buffet dinner so I wanted to do that this morning before we left.  We paid $18 for our RV spot and the good news was that there is was really fast internet which is always a bonus.  I hadn’t had the best sleep last night as the motor home next to us had his furnace running all night.  Eric said it was a boiler and it ran for a minute or two and then shut off for a minute or two all night which was odd as it wasn’t even very cold.  Didn’t freeze and we had our electric heater on which kept the temp at 20c. 

On the road at 5C with no wind, rain or snow.  Bonus! 

Coming into Wells on the Great Basin Highway.

Wells, Nevada was our first fuel stop and it is at 6280 ft. so it is quite high.  The station we usually stop at had no diesel.  So on to the Flying J where they put the diesel pump on an inside island….not great when you are hauling a rig.  Got fuel and on the road which is always a challenge in Wells. 

The Ruby Mountains.

No twists, no turns, straight as an arrow.

Just as we were coming into Currie we hit road construction.  A 20 minute wait ….improving the shoulders….hard to tell what they were doing.   

At this point we had wind on the nose but nothing serious. 

Lots of interesting vegetation at the edge of the road.

The next town was McGill (6193 feet) which is just north of Ely and it is interesting to drive through as the main street is on a huge slant.  Going south it’s high on the left and slants to the right and not just a little, a lot.  I think if it was icy you’d just slide into the buildings on the low side.  Odd and I wonder why it’s that way. McGill is or was the smelter town for the copper mine in Ely.

Coming into McGill.

Much more slanted than the camera shows.

“McGILL

In 1906, the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company built a mill and smelter north of Ely in the Steptoe Valley to accommodate the large amounts of copper ore being produced in Ely mines. Two years later, the company built a town to house mill employees, and McGill was born. The Nevada Northern Railway extended a line to the town to carry ore to the mill and smelter. McGill prospered until the 1970s when the mines, mill, smelter, and railroad closed.

The town has survived the substantial blow of losing its primary industry, and today about 1,000 people call it home. The McGill Drugstore Museum—which opened the same year the town was founded—was a working drugstore until it closed in 1979 and remains today as a time capsule with many products from the time it closed and earlier still on the shelves.

The McGill Swimming Pool is a popular summer hangout, with a sandy beach, slides, and diving board.

CONTACT

McGill Drugstore Museum.”  from McGill Website

Next stop Ely, Nevada and more fuel.  Ely is high at 6480 feet in town and even higher when you go through the pass south of town.  We like Ely and try to stop there when the weather permits.

Lunch stop just out of town looking back down on Ely.     Lots of dry land vegetation.

Going through the pass at Ely.

Coming down the mountain.

  

Next town Lund at 5280 ft. and it has warmed up to 16C…Eric might have to remove that Stanfield’s wool yet!

The above rock formations are through the White Water Narrows and they amaze us every time we drive through….so ever year I take a few more pictures! 

Coming into Hiko and they have just cut hay and it’s now 19C ….whew it’s getting warm!  Yahoo!!!

We are now entering the Pahrangat Valley and our over night stop at Ash Springs.  We’ve never actually seen the springs but they are there somewhere.  We have travelled about 380 miles today and that is long enough.  Ash Springs has an RV park of sorts attached to the very busy gas station and food stop.  It is hugely busy all night and you don’t get much sleep but what can you do…you have to stop somewhere and since we are still at 3280 ft. it can still freeze it’s nice to be plugged in. 

Coming into Ash Springs and it’s nice and green. 

You just never know who you’ll meet on the road.  This is Ed and Marilyn from Masset on the Queen Charlotte Islands in B.C.  They left home about the same time we left Kelowna and haven’t had a very good trip.  Horrible snow through the Caribou and then when they were in Osoyoos ready to cross the border their dog had a medical emergency.  He went crazy in the middle of the night and bit them both.  Off to the hospital for them and then to the vet for the dog.  Unfortunately they had to have him put down and at this point just felt like going home.  They missed last year in Yuma because Ed had a heart attack the year before so this wasn’t much of a beginning for their winter.  However, they are carrying on.  Marilyn used to work for B.C. Hydro in Masset so she knew people Eric knew as he worked for Telus.  Our daughter Erika might know her as well as she worked for Hydro and Telus as well.  Small world. 

We spoke to the guy from the rig on the right the next morning and he is from Midway, B.C.  Nice fellow and he had a motorcycle in his pick-up with a really slick lift (Rampage- power lift) to get it in there.  He said it worked great and was really easy.  Good idea if your towed is a truck and you have a bike too.  They are off to Palm Springs, California and then Yuma. 

So it was a relaxing evening and a really noisy night which is just what we expected.  Tomorrow Laughlin and only about 200 miles to travel. 

No internet here so I’ll publish when I get to Laughlin. 

Jackpot, Nevada

Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013

We left the Boise/Meridian RV park this morning at a very comfortable 9:15 am as we were only going about 180 miles today.  It was foggy but not windy and the roads were only wet, not icy.  No problemo!

Heading out of Boise.

As we travelled I could see the giant wind generators up on the ridges and they looked very sad…..no wind….bad for them….good for us!   I tried to get a picture but they were too far away. 

We were going to go through Twin Falls as we headed south but Eric said”how about highway 30 through Hagerman and Buhl.”  Highway 30 meets up with 93 south and is a scenic route.  It is a much prettier drive and also means we don’t have to go through Twin Falls which is very busy and has lots of lights.  We had a little glitch at the beginning when we got off on exit 137 and missed the turn onto highway 30 ( small sign) and had to head back on I 84 but we got off on the next exit at Tuttle and tried again.  The GPS lead us back down to highway 30 along some country roads and all was well.

Big boulders….a volcano maybe?

Small town on highway 30.

We made a fuel stop at the south end of Buhl and it was a good one.  Big station with lots of room to maneuver and a good place to eat lunch. 

Coming into Buhl.

Country store and fuel stop (also MacDonald’s!) 

 

We talked to a fellow from Washington who was pulling a big horse trailer with horses in it and he said that he and his wife were on their way to Wickenburg, AZ. where they winter.  They have places along the way that they can unload the horses over night and then carry on the next day.  They were stopping in Ely, Nevada tonight and still had another 4 hours to drive.  A long day.  

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Our day.

We pulled into the Cactus Pete’s Saguaro RV park early (about 2pm.)  Lots of rigs pulled in after us and the people  were all gone in a flash….over to the casino.  Not for us. 

We have just finished a big buffet supper and it was delicious.  Good food for $13.95 a plate so a pretty good deal.  We walked out through the casino and the smoke was pretty thick.  Again, not for us, but each to their own!

It will likely freeze tonight so it’s good to be plugged into power (no water here at this time of the year.)   Off to Ash, Springs tomorrow morning and we should be in mid afternoon. 

It’s cold and Eric and I are already tired of winter! 

A cold day in Boise.

Tuesday Nov. 5, 2013

Happy birthday brother/brother-in-law Ian.  Ian and wife Linda are on vacation in New Zealand/Australia …a good place to spend a birthday.  Ian and I are the same age…next year old age pensioners and if you have to get old at least we’ll get more money. 

Eric and I  had a nice dinner last night and watched a little over the air TV.   Eric finally coaxed the TV to work and we watched old sit-coms.  I sure didn’t remember Gilligan’s Island being that dopey!  Everything is in high-def and the picture is way better than the satellite.  Eric has emailed the company who sell the Jensen TV’s and they are going to send us the software fix to Yuma and maybe our TV will work properly.  We aren’t holding our breath! 

I was off to Win-Co this morning for my annual grocery shop and am now all stocked up with butter, cheese, pork and beef.  Now if I can just get the meat over the border into Mexico.  Last year for the first time at the Lukeville crossing the RV fridge was checked.  I was told I couldn’t take beef which I had been alerted to by Peter and Terri (I’d hidden it) and thought that pork and chicken were okay.  It was okay but it had to be in it’s original packaging.  Peter and Terri also had their Halibut confiscated which is not even on the “do not bring list.”  To my knowledge no one has had an issue at Nogales.  It will take a big bag to hide what I bought today.  We buy chicken in Mexico and some pork and beef when we run out.  If anyone reading this has any info about the Lukeville crossing this year, let me know. 

So tomorrow we are off to Jackpot I think and then on to Ash Springs on Thursday. 

Late evening and it has warmed up and it’s raining….time for bed.

Othello, Wash. to Boise, Id. and another good day!

Monday, Nov. 4, 2013

Well…we didn’t have any wind last night but we were on the side of the Wal-Mart where they are busy outside all night.  That’s what wax earplugs are for!

On the road by 8:20 am (you know DST) and the temp was about 4C.  No fog or rain or snow….bueno.  We always have an issue getting onto highway 395 South because the sun is just coming up and it blinds us.  The signage  isn’t very good but the GPS helps.  At that point the temp was down to -3C and then you start to worry about icy roads but it was okay.  Fine through the Pascoe –Kennewick  area (can be very windy) and on to Pendleton where it was 7C and we fueled up for the lovely climb over Cabbage Hill.  It climbs to 4000 feet and the weather can be really nasty (right Contessa!) 

Here we are just heading up from Pendleton. 

Oh, oh snow at the edge of the road. 

And then more….

Icy?

At the top, 4100 ft. and the temp is 0C.  The fast lane is slushy but the truck lane is okay.  The worst thing is now we are all covered in salt which we had hoped to avoid.  Oh well I guess we’ll wash it off in Laughlin.  Of course we we were sprayed with salt and gravel because the fast lane hadn’t been plowed yet.  Eric was glad he’d left the radiator cover on. 

Coming down now and things are looking better. 

Better.

Good.

Bueno!

Lunch at Weatherby Rest Stop. 

Ken and Eric saying Hi.

A motor home pulled in next to us at lunch and when the guy hopped out Eric said “he must be Canadian…he’s got a poppy on his hat.”  I got out to go for a walk and the Canadian was walking his dog.  He asked where I was from in B.C. and I said “Terrace.”  He looked surprised and then laughed and said” so are we!” Eric got out and we all introduced ourselves.  Turns out Ken and Holly are on their way to Yuma,AZ.   They had pulled off the road in Pendleton and stayed there two days because of high winds and were hoping to get to Jackpot, Nev. today.  A pretty long drive.  Ken used to live in Smithers and owned the A&W there and Holly works (or worked) for Northwest Fuels in Terrace where we get our bulk fuel for the farm.  They now live in the Kermodei Park in Terrace.  We all had a good laugh about what a small world it is.  Nice people. 

A pretty place to eat lunch. 

So onward to Boise.  Still no bad weather just a bit of a tail wind to blow us along. 

We arrived in the Boise/Meridian Koa around 3pm DST and were set up in no time.  Chilly here but Eric did hook up the water for me.  Thanks dear!  We’ll stay tomorrow and I’ll do my shopping and then we’ll head out on Wednesday.  It looks like we’ll stay in Jackpot, Nevada and then head for Ash Springs.  We’ll check the weather tomorrow and firm up our plans. 

So all in all a good day with no problems.  You’ve got to love that!

Kelowna to Othello, Wash. a good day!

Nov. 3, 2013

The weather reports for today weren’t all that good but …..it was a good day. 

Cloudy to start with, no wind and then some sun.  No complaints about that. 

We left Kelowna about 8:20 a:m (daylight savings time).  We never bother to change our clocks and it all works out in the end.  What’s time to retired people anyway!

It is Sunday and the drive was very quiet.  Out stop at the border was once again uneventful.  I had a few veggies left over (no issue) and an apple which turned out to be fine as long as it was a B.C. apple.  The lady checked the rig and said “thanks for being so co-operative” and we were  on our way.  Swell!

Northern Washington….a nice day!

Looks ominous but only a few drops of rain.

We stopped at Dry Falls for lunch…a preferred and pretty stop.

Our usual lunch.  A couple of sandwiches and some yogurt…maybe even a hard boiled egg.

Happy Eric eating lunch.

Parked for lunch.

 

Always beautiful at Dry Falls.

We were into Othello, Wash. and the Wal-Mart parking lot by 3pm and set up in no time.  This time we parked on the south east side as the wind always blows from the west.  12 Celsius.

I did a little shopping and bought our usual cheap Budweiser beer ($20 for 30) and a bit of this and that as well.  Tomorrow we’ll be in Boise and I’ll  buy my meat, cheese and butter as per usual.  At my favorite Win-Co store.

So, all in all a good day and we have had dinner and are watching a little over the air TV. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day too!  

Heading south tomorrow!

Saturday Nov. 2, 2013

It has been busy the last few days as try to get all our ducks in a row before we head south.   So….

Eric found shoes, not the color he wanted but they fit.

No new TV at this point.  Too hard to install one while on the road.  After seeing on line that there are numerous problems with these Jensen TV’s we emailed the company that distributes them.  They agree to send us a flash drive (to family in Yuma) and we’ll see if we can correct the software problems.

I had to spend two hours at the store where Eric had his shoe credit (they didn’t have anything he wanted) and try to use it up.  Fun if you are in the mood to buy shoes but hard work if you are not.  New runners and a half price pair of Teva sandals and I was done. 

Halloween was fun but there were only about 38 kids (less than last year) and so there will be candy left behind for Ian and Linda (better them than us!)  

I saw the rheumatologist yesterday and all is well at this point and I am still on the mend.  I am so tired and stressed as we shut down the house and start our travels south I can’t really tell how I feel so it was good to be reassured that my health is okay at this point.  I may try to reduce from 5mg. of prednisone to 4mg. while we are away but we’ll see how it goes.  Turns out all my aches and pains are not related to polymyalgia but just “old person” stuff.  Swell!   He suggested Tylenol arthritis for that so I bought some to take with me.  Good doctor and I’m lucky to have him. 

I got all my prescriptions filled (yahoo!) to the tune of $1000 but I will get most of it back from our extended medical and I did get that filled out and sent today. 

I had lunch with my niece Adrian and sister Anne yesterday before my appointment and then Ann ran me back into Kelowna so I could go to Costco.  I loaded up on the Weber Omega 3’s that we take and we are set for the winter. 

Today it was laundry and a few last minute things before we hit the highway tomorrow.  It doesn’t look great but no big warnings at this point.  We will move as fast or slow as the weather dictates but you can only do so much. 

I mentioned the rig is winterized (no water in the hot water tank, fresh water tank or lines and they were blown out by compressed air.)  The 12 volt DC water pump and filter have been filled with antifreeze  and we will put antifreeze in the tanks if need be.  We have jugs of water with us and will hook up to water in Boise, Idaho if it is warm enough.  Eric can blow out the lines again if we have to stay where it is really cold (Ely, Nevada.)  This rig is supposed to have an enclosed and heated underbelly but that is just a joke!  Besides that the pipes could freeze in the wall as well.  Better safe than sorry.