Day’s 704, 706, 707 & 711

(Another long read-7+ minutes) So, as you can probably tell, I’m a little behind on writing my blog. We spent a lot of time in areas without phone service and did some boondocking, where we didn’t unload the side by side out of the trailer (at 18 feet, there isn’t any place to sit with the RZR in it). So finally here is the update.
Day 704: McDermott, NV to Rye Patch Recreation Area, Nevada State Park
We left McDermott and headed south hoping to find a State Park along the way. We never travel on the weekends, because of the amount of people that utilize the highways as well as the state parks, but we hoped for the best because it was Saturday. We found the Rye Patch State Recreation Area and were lucky enough to find a pull through spot that was long enough that we could unload the side by side. There was no shade, but we were right along the river just below the dam, which was on the east side of us so we actually had afternoon shade from the trailer.
The view was awesome. We saw tons of wildlife enjoying the water, including a flock of wild turkeys and some deer. We didn’t have any phone service where we were, so no internet, but I was finally able to get the Dish TV going so that Lee could watch the Nascar Cup Race.
Lee and I took a ride around the park in the side by side. It had a second campground and a fish cleaning area at the reservoir. We did find one spot where we actually had phone service, so we were able to check in and let people know that we were not lost. We spent two nights in the park (which didn’t cost us anything because we had purchased the All Access pass in June).
Day 706: Rye Patch Recreation Area to Tonopah, NV
We were planning on just going a couple of hours down the road and stay at Walker Lake, but there were tons of signs along the road warning that there were frequent high winds in the area that would be bad enough to shut down the highway. We didn’t have any wind that day, so we decided to keep heading down the highway to Tonopah.
We stopped at a rest stop in Luning, NV and ran into a local gentleman that had lived there for years. He showed me a huge piece of Turquoise that he had mined in his mine. (He said it was called the Happy Mine.) It was beautiful. He then opened up a ziplock sandwich bag that had small pieces of turquoise and let me pick out a couple of pieces. Didn’t even charge me for them. I am now the proud owner of 2 pieces of raw, unpolished turquoise. Never expected to be saying that!
We kept seeing signs for a big casino, so we thought that we would just boondock in their parking lot. Well, let me tell you, the signs were a little deceiving. The parking lot was not big enough to boondock in and the 15 spot or so RV park was was full. So we turned around and headed back towards a rest stop that we had passed a couple of miles down the road. We happened to find a tiny casino on the way to the rest stop that had a dirt semi parking area. There was an RV boondocker in it. Lee talked to the guy and he said they didn’t have a problem with us staying there as long as we let them know. Sweet, another free night. And the benefit is that the casino had a Chinese restaurant in it. Best Chinese food I think that I had ever eaten. If you are ever in Tonopah, NV stop by the Banc Club Restaurant & Casino and eat at the Bamboo Chinese Restaraunt inside. You won’t regret it!
Day 707: Tonopah, NV to Beaver Dam, AZ
As with any area in Nevada, we drove for miles without seeing much of anything except scenery. But there was about 100 or so miles that had open range and there were cows everywhere. We only saw a few that were close to the road and only a couple that were actually in it. We also saw two different herds of Antelope. Cool.
Had to make a pit stop, so we pulled over to a wide spot in the road, and of course one unlucky cow had been hit by a vehicle, and they dumped it over the embankment. Stink! Of course, this freaked out Miss Bristol and she wanted out of the truck. She settled down a little bit, but continued to yowl (Meow at a really high pitch, for those of you that are not familiar with an unhappy cat). Oh yeah, did I mention that this happened near Area 51?
We stopped to play tourist at the Alien Research Center and Bristol had had enough! She climbed out the window that was open about 6 inches. Luckily, we have a harness on her and a leash that is long enough for her to reach the ground so she doesn’t get hurt. Believe it or not, this is only the second time that she has gotten out of the truck. She is usually a really mello passenger. I unhooked her from the truck and she headed directly to the trailer, so I assumed that she just needed to use the litter box (yes, we do have one in the truck, but until this day she had never used it). I let her in the trailer, and of course she ran and hid under the side by side. Ugh! Got her out, but not before I whacked my head really hard (think I actually saw stars) and then had a major asthma allergy attack because of all the dirt on the bottom of the side by side. Thank goodness I had my inhailer. But honestly, who here doesn’t think that the entire thing was brought on by the Aliens?!? Dead cow, freaked out cat, allergy attack, all in one day! Aliens for sure!
We saw a pretty bad accident about 20 miles from home. A pickup had rolled and it was towing a travel trailer, which was smashed flat! Don’t believe that anyone was seriously injured, as no one was hanging around the truck, and we saw it before any emergency vehicles arrived. I posted the accident on a couple of Mesquiet Facebook sites, since the freeway was at a stand still and no one was getting by the wreck.
Finally arrived at home. Only to find that we had at least one mouse inside while we were gone. UGH! Extra cleanup!! We had to hookup all of the water, sewer and power in the big trailer because we weren’t allowed to leave them hooked up while we were gone. Took us over an hour before we could actually put out the slides and get into the trailer. Did I mention that we had arrived home after 3 PM? We were tired. Next year we are going to boondock outside of town for a night, so we get home early in the morning before it gets hot.
Day 711: Beaver Dam, AZ Well, we’ve been home for 4 days. I almost have the little trailer unpacked. It’s taking longer that it should because A, there is no hurry and B, I am doing some rearranging in the big trailer so that I have a craft work area. I am so excited.
Went grocery shopping and spent far too much money, but it was nice to be able to actually buy stuff and not have to worry about space and weight. I have a little bit of stuff to finish up in the yard, and there IS a hurry as there is a storm coming in tomorrow afternoon and we are going to have low temperatures, rain and high winds. Oh well, life in the desert.
We’ve been asked if going down US95 was better or worse than US93. It was definitely a longer drive, but we saw a ton of new things, met some new people and got some cool souvenirs. It was worth it, and I got to trip down memory lane because we followed the same roads through Nevada that I drove on when I moved to Idaho, so many years ago.
We had a great 4 months seeing everyone, but it is SOOO nice to be back home again.