October 2014 - Fort Langley, Tacoma, then our route to the warmth. Walker Lake, Beatty and Death Valley, Lake Mead

 Very busy month!

October 5th - Early Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! What started out as a small Thanksgiving Dinner with Garrett and Ray's mum with Ray and I turned into a much larger event. Kristi, at the last minute, was able to come down from her practicum in Vernon with having Saturday off returning to Vernon on Sunday afternoon. Ray's half-sister Judy and husband Milt ,came up from Tacoma to help us celebrate as it would be Judy's first "Canadian" Thanksgiving.  They were able to spend more time with Mum at her apartment and come to our RV site later in the afternoon bringing her. It was great to have everyone for dinner, as family getting together is what holiday dinners are all about! I was preparing dishes 2 days in advance of the dinner as living in a motorhome, you definitely have limited space for cooking large dinners. I was a little nervous as Milt and Judy are gluten-free, so had to tailor the dinner around their dietary considerations. Everything turned out tasty, even though it was not something I made before with regard to the gravy, wild rice dressing and the roasted beet salad with candied pecans, yummm.

Fortunately the sun came out in the afternoon so we were able to have a campfire and serve appetizers outside. Thanks Milt and Judy for the wonderful shrimp and dip.

Campfire going check, Turkey in Oven check. Waiting for company.

Company here! Wonderful Lagostina shrimp appi's

Mum..... don't take my picture. lol

When dinner was ready, everyone had to serve themselves and sit in order at the table so no one was tripping over the next one. Five at the table and Kristi and I on the captains chairs ..... everyone fit and enjoyed their wine and dinner. Milt teased me that I was a great "drill seargent"! Thanks for the wine Mum, Kristi and Judy!

Garrett opening the wine, Kristi getting the cutlery ( I have great helpers!)

Belated birthday for Judy

Mum got to open her Christmas presents early. Here is a picture of Mum in her new coat that Ryan and Paul gave her for Christmas.

After dinner Judy and Kristi did the dishes and Garrett entertained us with the guitar. A most lovely day. Thanks everyone for coming.

Thanks for the music Garrett. 

With lots of left-overs our friends Diane and Steve here at the park are coming tonight to help eat them all up. They will cross the border tomorrow to start their winter trip.

October 8th - Nanaimo and stuff 

The next day after the Thanksgiving meal we had Diane and Steve over to help with the left overs as Ray and I headed to Victoria on the ferry Monday morning to meet with his back surgeon and physiotherapist. Dinner tasted even better to me as I did not have to spend the day cooking!

Happy Hour (picture by Steve)

Dinner (picture by Steve)

Freya with her best buddy.

Another thing to check off our lists for leaving for the states. X-Ray shows Ray's fusion was successful and now only time will tell how much his nerves will regenerate to help with his strength in his legs. Physio exercises were modified as they were hurting.

Next I drove us to Nanaimo where we checked into the Coast Bastion Hotel. Ray was pretty much toasted by that point so bed and ice for an hour or so before we went for dinner.

View from our hotel room

We met up with our wonderful friends, Gary and Janice, John and Sue and Dora for dinner. We had planned to go to our favourite sushi place the Nori House, but unfortunately they were closed on Mondays so we quickly phoned everyone and moved our dinner to Original Joes. We laughed and yapped for some time, but had to leave as Ray was in too much pain to sit anymore. Sorry we forgot to take a picture. Thanks everyone for coming to see us. We will see you all next spring. Winter well!

Tuesday morning it was off to our family doctor early and then back on the ferry to the mainland. Here is a picture of Ray "assuming his position" after we arrived back at the coach. It is good to be back home.

What football game. lol

October 8th - Road work at Fort Camping

 

 Well what do you know. After our friends Diane and Steve complained about the huge potholes everywhere in the campsite ... they waited until they left on Monday for the states to begin the work on Wednesday to take care of the problem.  Thanks for complaining guys!

October 13th - Thanksgiving that keeps giving!

 

Thursday we went for lunch with my aunt and uncle and cousin Pam in Coquitlam. We had hoped that they would be able to camp with us for a few days this week, but they had other commitments, so made sure we went there for a quick visit.

Friday were spent shopping and getting things in order for our trip to the states before the rain came. Saturday morning Ray spent 40 minutes via Skype doing his physio with his therapist in Victoria. The dog could not figure out why Ray was on the floor. LOL

Saturday afternoon we went to my Dad's and Bettys for Thanksgiving Dinner. Betty has a really bad cold so did not want her picture taken and I must admit I forgot to catch the others.  She had us, her daughter Kerri, husband Steve and her grandaughter Alyse as well as a friend my Dad met in the hospital for dinner. What a feast. As usual Betty always outdoes herself making everyone the best meal ever.

Sunday we picked up Ray's mum and went for brunch at the Hilton at Metrotown. Garrett met us there. What a spread, one of the best ones I have ever gone to. We all weighed considerably more by the time we left.

Ray's first plate!

Mimosa's included! 

Ray and I stopped in at the T&T Market and bought 2 fresh crab to get our last seafood fix for the winter. Yummmm.

I got my hair done today so we stopped in to see Dad and Betty for a short time. (I took a quick couple of pictures of them.) Betty is still trying to recover from a bad cold.

Still avoiding the camera ... see the hand!

We are taking Dad and Betty out for breakfast on Wednesday which is my Dad's 85th birthday. I will get a picture of them then hopefully and then Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning we leave for the states.

We gave up waiting to get our passenger side mirror fixed up here as the parts would be 3 - 4 weeks. He came up with this plan so hopefully it holds until we get to Arizona and get it taken care of there where we won't mind going other places while waiting.

Fingers crossed!

October 15th - Dad is 85 years old today!

 We took Mum out for chinese food yesterday at Mr. Ho's in Burnaby yesterday to have our last visit with her before we leave for the states. What a lovely meal with lots of left overs for us to eat for dinner on the road. Mum obviously visits this restaurant frequently as they know her by name!

Ray and I took Dad out for his birthday breakfast at IHOP, his favorite place and boy did he eat! Betty is still ill with her cold (which we hope not to get) and decided to just stay home. They were supposed to have some long-time friends over for dinner tonight for Dad's birthday, but had to cancel that as well due to being under the weather and not wanting to contaminate their friends who are heading to the states shortly themselves.. It sounds like Dad is just coming down with a cold too. Stay away from us cold germs!!!!

                                                                Happy birthday Dad 

Next it was off to do the few last minute things before leaving for the states or so we thought...Costco. after checking with them twice to make sure our prescriptions would be ready for pick up this morning (we dropped them off a week ago), dropped the ball! Ray's pain meds were not even ordered in yet, nor my prescription filled so needless to say Ray is livid and so I will have to be back in their pharmacy line-up at 10am tomorrow in hopes that they finally have it right. This is the second time the Langley Costco has screwed up Ray's pain meds. Last spring they did not get the stuff in for 2 days and he was right out of medication. What a disaster. Me thinks we will only deal with the Langley London Drugs in the future as their customer care at other branches seems much better. We had no trouble with London Drugs in Nanaimo or Kamloops for that matter this summer.

So the plan is to leave for the states tomorrow morning about 11am if all goes right. Unfortunately, that will screw up the plans for having dinner at Ray's sister Judys Thursday night as I think the drive will be too far for Ray to go in one shot. I hope that we can see them Saturday and Sunday instead.
The only upside to the whole thing is that the weather should be a little better tomorrow as it is raining off and on all day so far.

(PS) Ray went back to Costco and ranted and raved and they will have all of his drugs by 3:30 this afternoon so it will be a 7:30 am start tomorrow!

 

October 17th - Finally ... through the border to the USA to start our winter adventure.

 After the stressful day on Wednesday we left at 8 am for the Aldergrove Border Crossing. We had never gone that way before so we did not know what to expect.

Here we go! 

Arrived at the border at 8:30 am and there were no line-ups and we shot straight up to the border guards window. After a couple of questions we were on our way.

One happy guy!

Lynden is sure flat with lots of farming. 

We decided or rather I did to only go as far as Arlington and stay at Angle of the Wind Casino. Their players club made it very worthwhile with cheap gas and diesel, $3 breakfasts and a $10 prime rib dinner. Ray was in too much pain Wednesday night, so I wanted a short journey to give him time to recover and we had to do some shopping for vegetables etc and the liquor cabinet was empty.

Beautiful restaurant where we ate breakfast when we arrived and dinner last night. 

Spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the sun watching all the gamblers go by. The place is like an ant farm with all the toing and froing!

A lovely day with bonus sunshine. Tomorrow it is off to Tacoma to visit with Ray's sister and husband, Milt and Judy.

October 17th - Arlington WA to Gig Harbor WA

 Left the Angel of the Wind Casino at 9:40 after a $4 breakfast at the Casino. Stopped at the first rest area to throw the chuck-it for Freya and then resumed our journey. Travel through Seattle was a breeze surprising enough (the other side of the highway was stop and go) and we arrived at Gig Harbor RV Park at 11:30 am, Set up before the rain by 12 and were out the door to go for lunch at Tides Tavern. A quick few pictures in the rain and then back to camp to pick up Freya for the promised walk at the off-leash dog park 5 minutes up the road from the RV Park. We chose this RV Park as it is only 13 minutes from Ray's sisters place in Tacoma so visiting will be a snap.

Yup that is rain.

                                                                                Yeah we made it!

Our turn off.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Gig Harbor RV Resort

Tides Tavern downtown Gig Harbor

Lunch

Yup, we're "King of the Hill"

It's a pretty walk along Gig Harbour and Ray enjoyed the opportunity for more pictures.

October 19th - Lunch with Milt and Judy downtown Gig Harbor

On Saturday Milt and Judy came and picked us up at noon to go for lunch at Tide's Tavern (where we were yesterday). Lots of laughs and good food.

Next it was off to a short stroll along the waterfront to wear off lunch before going to a Brewery.

This is the backside of the building I posted yesterday. 

Milt then drove us a short ways up the hill to the 7 Seas Brewery. They only serve their beer and you can bring your own food, some of the restaurants in the area will deliver to the 7 Seas as well.

A lovely afternoon. Judy and Milt drove us back to the coach for Ray to take a few hours rest before we drove to their house for a lovely lasagna dinner.

View out the back of the house of Tacoma Narrows

Here is a picture of a very interesting trailer in our park. We saw a program on one of them being built last winter on TV.

Off to a new adventure with Milt and Judy tomorrow.

October 20th - Point Defiance Tacoma

A short walk along the water, lunch, a drive through the park and a few more pics of Gig Harbor. A lovely afternoon spent with special people, Judy and Milt. Thanks for the great hospitality.

Judy and Milt took us to Point Defiance State Park, a short distance from their house. The day turned out very warm and sunny, a perfect day for walking along the water.

Ferry to Vachon Island

Next it was off for lunch at restaurant row along the downtown waterfront at the Katie Downs Pub. It was a little noisy as the Seattle Sea Hawks were playing in St. Louis and it was a close game with very loud fans in the pub.

We had a wonderful lunch with a pint of beer and then it was time to go for short walk along the waterfront on this side of the point.

Milt then drove us around Point Definance's Five Mile Drive. Absolutely gorgeous.

After hugs goodbye it was time for Ray and I to head back to Gig Harbor and rest up for travelling tomorrow. Stopped for a few more pictures on the way.

October 21st - Portland to Warm Springs OR

 Leaving Tacoma seemed to be great ... sunny skies, light traffic even though the I-5 North from Everett into Seattle was stopped entirely due to a jackknifed semi. Thankfully we were farther south. When we were getting close to the Oregon border the skies opened up and we could barely see!

Yup it is wet!

Crossing the Columbia River 

We found the Walmart where we planned to spend the night near Highway 26, which we would take towards Highway 97 on the way to Bend. Unfortunately, we were unable to stay overnight in this parking lot and would be towed so after an hours driving around in the car to find something else we decided to carry on to the Government Camp rest stop on Highway 26 near the top of the mountain only after Ray had rested for a couple of hours. We left at 3pm and seemed to have missed all of the truck traffic so it was good going.

Heading out Highway 26 in the sunshine. 

Past all of the small towns and starting to head up Mount Hood.

Some road construction, but they were done by the time we went through.When reaching the rest stop, Ray said he felt ok to travel a little further and we decided to stop at the casino at Warm Springs where there is free camping and the weather was much nicer on this side of the mountain. Also we would have cell coverage down the mountain.

Nope carrying on. 

Coming out of Mount Hood National Park into Warm Springs Reservation. 

Our view.

This is where our "home" was in the casino parking lot. 

We will only have a short drive now to Bend where we will stay a couple of days.

October 22nd - Warm Springs to Kla-Mo-Ya Casino just north of Klamath Falls

Not much to do to get back on the road and we left fairly early and drove the short distance to Bend.

We got there fairly early and parked at the Lowes parking lot and took the car to investigate the area. We sussed out a brew pub for an early lunch "The Ten Barrel Brewing Company" that was mentioned on Wheelin' It's blog and had a great lunch. We did find their beer quite hoppy (bitter) though, and preferred the Sasquatch brew.

Quite the flight of beer in front of us!

Next it was a short walk on the Deschutes River for Freya and then back to the coach. After a couple hours rest with the weather forecast, we decided to carry on down the road to avoid the rain. What a beautiful drive.

We stopped at a rest area for a stretch and then continued on to the Kla-Mo-Ya casino with free camping and a large field for Freya to run in the sunshine. Another lovely day.

Home Sweet Home for tonight! Sunny but cool.

October 24th - Klamath Falls to Reno Nevada

 Ray and I planned on a short drive to Honey Lake Rest Area just south of Susanville from Klamath Falls, especially when we woke up to rain. We went into the casino for their 97 cent breakfast and by 8:15 am we were on the road. Got to find that sun! Expected temp in Susanville California for Wednesday afternoon was about 22 degrees. We stopped every hour for Ray to stretch and take the dog out so by the second stop, we ate something and then  I took over driving for awhile.

Lots of Lava on the sides of the highway.

Yup those clouds look scary. 

We thought that we would stop and see Crater Lake from the Casino but there was snow on the top and a lot of low clouds so not on the agenda!

Yeah Sunshine!

                        Oops spoke too soon as we drove along Klamath Lake and had a few showers.

In the distance you can see Mount Shasta.

Look we are back in the sunshine following a "minni me". An Allegro Breeze the baby of the Tiffin Line of coaches.

Definitely back to the desert.

Home sweet home for the night or so we thought!

Honey Lake is nothing but a dry bed that stretches for miles. There are signs posted about wind warnings etc. you sure can see why.

We had planned to stay for the night but saw signs posted that maximum stay was 8 hours. As we got there so early in the day ,and the staff were there to see what time we came in, we decided to head to Reno which was only 1 1/2 hours away. Ray had a couple of hours laying down with ice and then we headed out.

Off we go. 

Reno Nevada

We pulled into the Boomtown Casino where friends of ours were heading for but, unfortunately, they were unable to make it. They had camped there before with no trouble but now you are not allowed to stay overnight longer than 8 hours, so a note was left on our windshield in the morning. Apparently, there is a bylaw in Reno that you cannot overnight in parking lots and must go to an RV Park. Who knew! We did have a great T-Bone steak dinner for $9.95 a piece though. Tomorrow down the road to Walker Lake!

October 24th - Reno to Walker Lake Nevada

 

We were anxious to leave Reno after having the note left on the windshield and there was no place to walk the dog so we were on the road by 8:15 am.

Heading back through downtown Reno 

We headed towards Fernley on Highway 80 to fuel up. We stopped at the Pilot Truck Centre on the right-hand side as we had the RV card for cheaper fuel, but it was only 2 cents a gallon off. ($3.72/gal). After googling for an RV dump I found a free one on the other side of the highway at Loves Truck Centre ... we should have fueled up there as their price for diesel was $3.69/gal. So far, I could not find potable water to load up, but we have about 3/4 tank so should be fine for several days of boondocking. We can go into Hawthorne and fill up some water jugs after we get there if necessary. Next stop was the Walmart, one more exit up Highway 80 to the right to stock up with food for the next 4 days or so. This is a huge store, although Ray said their liquor selection leaved something to be desired. We did notice that there looked to be an area on the left of the highway before this exit that you could camp for free.

Ray had a dispute with Serena the GPS yesterday entering Reno to get to the casino, so decided to just manually check our road map and plot our course to Walker Lake. Well .... we kind of took a route off the beaten path slightly, but we only spent about 10 minutes extra of driving and we saw some beautiful countryside. We left Fernly on Highway Alt 95 headed south and ended up going through Silver Springs, Weed Heights and turned east at Yerington to connect with Highway 95. (At Yerington there is a sani-dump within their community park.) 

A short distance after that we were at Walker Lake. There are 3 dry camping areas on the lake. The first one is Twenty Mile Beach,  no services except pit toilets, next Tamarak Beach, same no services except pit toilets. The third one, where we stayed, is Sportsman Beach with nice clean toilets (no smells) picnic tables, sun shelter, fire pits and designated spots which were nice and flat for motorhomes.  The highway is above the campsite but very quite during the night. We are only a short distance from Hawthorne for supplies.

First glimpse of Walker Lake

We arrived to a very sunny 22 degrees and in short order set up. 

Now that's what I am talking about, shorts, tank top and cold beer!

You can see the striations in the gravel going down to the water that represents the years of the water receding. Apparently 50 years ago the water level was at the highway which is significantly above where we are camped. They must have had some rain a while ago as the desert is quite green and there are flowers blooming.

I think the water used to be at the base of the mountains.

Later in the afternoon some neighbours from Alberta, Diane and Bruce (this is their first time going south) came over for happy hour and to "pick our brain" for information. Bruce even brought pen and paper. 

Look at that view!

Home Sweet Home

We noticed messages on the phone and found out that our good friends Bill and Elke were coming here to Walker Lake to meet up with us.  They also found out you could not stay at the Boomtown Casino where they planned to stay and the KOA beside the casino wanted $39 for the night. We promptly moved our car into a nice spot a couple of campsites down the road to save them a spot as they were coming in the dark.  After a shared dinner it was off to bed as we all were tired. Looking forward to a few days of downtime.

Good Night.

October 25th - Walker Lake Nevada

 Ray and I spent yesterday morning airing out the basement of the coach, letting other things dry in the sun that were still wet from Langley, like our mats.  I used my green machine on our loungers as they had grown mould! We certainly looked messy for awhile.

After lunch we took a short drive down the road to look at the other campsites we had passed on the way here. There were very few and in very bad shape ... so glad that I read Wheelin' It's post regarding Walker Lake and headed straight for Sportsman's Beach.

This is a picture of Twenty Mile Beach at the end of the lake towards Reno. This is a campsite.

We drove our chairs up to Bill and Elke's campsite for a good chin wag about winter plans and how our summer went etc. They were expecting some more friends to join them last night (Bill and Yvonne), so we left them around 4:30 to tidy up our camp and make dinner. The wind started to come up and one of our neighbours said it was supposed to get to 20 to 30 miles (not km) last night with gusts to 50. We noticed that it stayed just a little breezy all night until 6 am this morning when it came up a little more so we lowered the satellite dish. Although windy, the inside temp all night in the coach was 68 degrees F and the outside temp at 6 am was 68 degrees (18 C) as well so quite pleasant. The temp yesterday afternoon was about 84F so quite warm. Everything dried out very quickly. With the low humidity at 34 % Ray and I are back slathering moisturizer and chap stick!

Elke and Bill

I was quite curious as to why the water levels here have gone down so much over the last 50 years so I looked it up and as I thought irrigation diversion is mostly the reason. (From Wikipedia) Walker Lake is a natural lake. It is 18 mi long and 7 mi wide, about 75 mi southeast of Reno. The lake is fed from the north by the Walker River and has no natural outlet except absorption and evaporation. The area around the lake has long been inhabited by the Paiute. Beginning in the mid-19th century the introduction of agriculture upstream of Walker Lake has resulted in the water from the Walker River and its tributaries being diverted for irrigation. These diversions have resulted in a severe drop in the level of the lake. According the USGS, the level dropped approximately 140 ft between 1882 and 1994. By October 1, 2012, the lake level was 3,923.2 feet above sea level. This is the lowest lake elevation since measurement began in 1882. To put it into perspective here is a picture. 

So bottom line Freya cannot swim in this poisonous lake no matter how hot it is.

October 29th - Walker Lake and Hawthorne

 We took the 10 minute drive to check out downtown Hawthorne so we could wash the car from all of the dirt from the rain in Washington and Northern Oregon. They had an ammunitions museum so Ray had to snap a few pictures of the outside stuff as it was not open. As he was taking pictures the sand in the wind was stinging his legs. So much for the car wash.

This picture shows some of their munitions storage facilities. They are everywhere. You would not want to be around this area if things were to start blowing up! See the dust in the distance.

There was a major wind/dust storm on Saturday afternoon when we went into Hawthorne. The above picture shows the other side of the lake at the town of Hawthorne. The wind continued right through the night until late morning on Sunday. You had to watch out for tumbleweeds as they were blowing by! We had a potluck dinner Saturday night with Bill and Elke and their friends Bill and Yvonne. A lovely evening.

Sunday, we packed up in preparation to leave first thing Monday morning. Time to move on. The wind was cool although nothing but sunny skies.

October 29th - Walker to Bailey Nevada

Monday, we left and stopped in at the Safeway at Hawthorne to pick up a few things and then it was on our way to Beatty Nevada. We took our time stopping every hour and stopped in a small town's rest area for lunch and a rest for Ray. Further down the highway the topography changed, how beautiful. We must have finally got high enough elevation that there were Joshua Trees everywhere.

This is obviously a thorough-fare for aircraft. 

Heading towards Beatty (taken through the front window hence the glare) These areas must have had some rain about 2 to 3 weeks ago as everything is greening up and there are flowers blooming.

See the Joshua Trees. 

We decided to stay for a few days at Bailey's Hot Springs. It is a very small RV Park in the middle of nowhere, but they have three private natural spring hot pools (each a different temperature) in bath houses that you get the key, lock yourself and your party in and have it totally to yourselves for half an hour. The pools could hold up to 8 people.  The bottom is natural gravel and they are about two feet deep ... wonderful after a day of travelling. We would definitely come back here.

Freya was very sore after a few days on the hard rocks at Walker Lake and was limping. I tried to get her into the warm water outflow from the hot pools to help her but she was not having any of it!

Home Sweet Home 

View of the bath houses

View at the back of our coach

Ray managed to meet up with a nice man named Eldy who wrote his own songs and played the guitar. Ray loved being able to get some instruction regarding how he was strumming some of his songs. So after a few drinks, singing we decided to take our turn in the hot pool. Lovely.

October 30th - Death Valley National Park

 Tuesday, we got on the road nice and early for a day trip to Death Valley National Park. I did all of the driving so Ray could lean back in the passenger seat and take pictures. It took about an hour from Beatty to get to the Furnace Creek Visitor Centre. It is 16 miles of downhill to the bottom of Death Valley.

We did the driving tour as Ray cannot hike. We managed to see most of the top spots and a few of the spots which featured short trails to the view points.  His physiotherapist instructed him to increase his tolerance for some hill work, so he was able to do that today. 

The first stop from this direction is the Harmony Borax Works, known for the 20 mule team for Borax.

Remember this?

Next up is the Furnace Creek Visitor Center.

69F at 9:30 am

Look at all the Palm Trees at 200 gals per day water consumption.

A relief of the areas to assist in deciding what we were going to see. You push a button and it lights up so you know where the view is located.

We stopped at the Golden Canyon which is a short walk. It was amazing the difference in temperature between the shade and sun parts of the walk.

We stopped at Devil's Golf Course. This is the bottom of the valley and the crystals of salt were amazing and stretched for miles. See how deep they are. Can you imagine trying to negotiate this with a carrige and horses?

The Badwater spot is next. Called that because the guy who discovered the spring found that it was too salty and his horses/mules would not drink it.

Above is what the sign says, which is the little dot just above dead centre in the picture below.

Some vegetation doesn't seem to mind the salt.

The badwaters are surrounded by the Salt Flats.

Next off to the Artist Drive with the Artist Palate. A whole lot longer than we thought but very beautiful. Single lane and lots of big dips in the road. They warn nothing over 25 feet to go this way.

But then you get to see the Artist's Palate ... Wow.

 

We were starving so lunch was at the 49's Diner in Furnace Creek beside the Corkscrew Saloon, luckily the people in the 6 tour buses had already eaten so it did not take too long to be fed. The meal was not great but after a morning of sightseeing we were hungry.

After lunch we made the short trip to Zabriskie Point. Another Wow.

At the turnoff to Zabriskie is the Furnace Creek Inn.

The temp made it up to 87 degrees down in the bottom while we were there and it was 10 degrees cooler back at the RV park.

There is sure lots of interesting history here and the views were spectacular. Although we only saw a small portion of this vast park, we were sure glad we spent the time and thankfully there was a hot spring to relax in after the days travel. Ray is pretty sore, but sometimes you just have to go longer to experience the magnificent places the world offers. We spent the rest of the day lounging and I tried to catch up with the laundry after two weeks of travel.

When we got back ,Bill, Elke, Bill and Yvonne had arrived so later in the evening we went over for a drink and said goodbye again, as they were leaving in the morning for BLM land.

This is now Wednesday afternoon and that is it for me ... all caught up on blogging, laundry, making bread. It is now 6pm, hot and I'm going outside to enjoy a cool bevie.  Ray and I have been in the hot springs twice today to help ease Ray's back.

October 31st - Beatty to Government Wash at Lake Mead

Yesterday we had a great drive from Beatty to Lake Mead. There is an annual "Beatty Days" going on and we wanted to avoid the commotion, also the RV park would be full so we would have to move anyways.

Here are a couple of pics "driving down the highway".

Yikes ... Las Vegas ... too many lanes, turn-offs ... get me outa here! 

We managed to negotiate ourselves through to East Las Vegas where we stopped at a "Walmart Neighborhood Market", bought some groceries and then carried on to Lake Mead.

Pretty good road other than a little bumpy.

After unhooking the car and perusing the area we set up and immediately took Freya to the water to cool off for a swim. It was 82 degrees when we arrived.

Entrance to Government Wash

One happy puppy

See the striations from the diminishing water

Home Sweet Home for a few days

Some views from our campsite.

Cheers and good night!

November 1st - Lake Mead and short road trip

We woke to a wonderful sunrise and after breakfast decided to take a short trip down Highway 167 towards Overton to see what there was to see. We put Freya in the water first as it was a hot day and getting hotter.

This guy watched us leave the campsite. 

The scenery is spectacular and more so I think, because it was so unexpected. Ray and I would put it up with the tour through Death Valley. (I know ... more rock pics. Sorry but this is our written journal as well)

The first picture is of the boat ramp made years ago before the lake level receded to the point it is today. Last January there was a CBS report that they expect the lake level to drop another 20 feet this year. Considering how vast it is that is a substantial drop in water.

Starting back out on Highway 167 towards north towards Overton.

We thought these Red Rocks were cool.... little did we know what was coming up!

This is the "Government Wash"

Off we go into the wild blue yonder!

Looks like waves.

Next up is the "Bowl of Fire"

The next stop is the Redstone Dunes. We got out and took a short walk around. This is a wonderful rest area with covered picnic tables, washroom and spectacular views to eat your lunch.

There was so much to take pictures of it was hard to pick which ones to post. We stopped here and turned back to camp. We will see the rest of this highway when we go further north with the coach in a few days.

Headed back home.

Only took about 20 minutes to get back to camp and we threw Freya back into the water before we sat and ate lunch.