Oct 21, 2019 - Another night in a casino; the plague of the caddisflies

In the morning of October 19 we stopped at the Central Nevada museum In Tonopah. Roger found an old tractor from the 1920s, and we wandered through the mining shacks, outhouses, equipment and other paraphenalia from the early mining days. The previous afternoon I had chatted with one of the museum staff; she and her husband used to farm, but he has passed away and she has leased the land to some young hemp farmers. She says they may know hemp but they don't know farming. After a look around the museum we drove to Laughlin, Nevada, a...

Oct 18, 2019 - Tonopah

After leaving Atlantis, we decided to venture into new territory. Last year we drove through Carson City, Las Vegas, and Death Valley; this year we headed to Tonopah, home of America's number one haunted hotel. Tonopah was a mining boom town; the rumor is that Jim Butler's burro led him to his silver claim. His wife Belle had the best one, and the Mizpah Hotel is named for her claim. We did not stay there, but we did have dinner and went on the ghost tour. Actually, Mizpah comes from the book of Genesis. It is the pile of rock that Jacob...

Oct 18, 2019 - Las Vegas

October 18, 2019 The wind died down and is very pleasant this morning. Made a nice breakfast trying to use up what we have left on board. Pulled most everything out of the storage areas and rearranged based on our experience of three weeks on the road. Did a deeper clean than usual which should lighten the load when we get home. Even did laundry which is cheap ($2.50)! There are some very fancy rigs with hydraulic lifts for motorcycles. Most are spotless. Many folks getting their rigs washed today. Lazed about reading etc. This is the one...

Oct 18, 2019 - Atlantis in Reno

We decided to make our way to Reno. Roger and I are not gamblers, but we found a deal at a casino that has a nice workout room, pool, and hot tub. We were pretty exhausted after a long drive, and Rog had been dealing with sinus issues, so we decided to take an extra day to see what we could discover. Last year we also stopped in Reno on the way to Arizona, but it was a different experience. We stayed right downtown and spent our time in the car museum. This year we used the facilities in Atlantis and also spent some time in the library. I...

Oct 17, 2019 - Grand Canyon, AZ to Las Vegas, NV

October 17, 2019 Not so cold last night but we did have the space heater on. Today is a travel day to Las Vegas (281 miles) without much in the way of scenery. Headed south on Hwy 89 to historic Williams, the nearest town to the south rim (60 miles) and a main street town on Rte 66. The train to the Grand Canyon also has a terminus there. Got expensive gas and some groceries for our last rig cooked meal of the trip. Interstate 40 which is not much other than scrub brush scenery, wind and long, sweeping hills with many 6% grades is not too...

Oct 3, 2019 - Camping Trips and Las Vegas

Our next camping trip was in early July. We took a week and went to Bridal Falls near Chilliwack. It brought back a lot of memories because we have spent a lot of time at Camperland over the years since 1993. Not much has really changed! We had a nice few days including visiting with friends Fred and Angie who used to live at Pacific Border RV Park and Jamie Scott who used to work for Larry. Of course because it was Bridal Falls, the weather was cloudy with just a little rain. On July 19, Maureen went over to Vancouver for the weekend....

Sep 30, 2019 - Las Vegas to Pahrump

Where the hell is Pahrump? Day 26 Next stop is a place called Pahrump. We've never heard of it before, but it's an airbnb within an hours drive to Death Valley and it's all we could get. We check out of the hotel and walk on the Strip to find somewhere for brunch. We end up at Denny's, a casual American diner chain. Mark and I order steak and eggs (a treat my dad used to make sometimes - happy memories) and Marcus has the works including pancakes. Once fed and watered we take an escalator over the mock Rialto bridge. The escalator actually...

Sep 29, 2019 - Las Vegas

Let's hit the Strip Day 25 Next stop Vegas and party time! It is only approximately 30 miles from Boulder City so should take us less than an hour to get there. The road is long and straight, through the desert and the temperature begins to rise. We have travelled about 10 miles when we notice a strip of tall buildings on the horizon. Surely this can't be Las Vegas, it's not for another 20 miles. It just appears out of the desert and as we get closer gets bigger and bigger. The traffic builds and we hit the suburbs. Suddenly there is...

Sep 28, 2019 - Hoover Dam

Hold back the river Day 24 Today we are visiting one of the man-made wonders of the world, The Hoover Dam in Boulder City. We pack up and leaving Williams behind we head for Ash Fork which used to be a town on Route 66. The town grew up around the mining for flagstone which is exported round the world (you may have some in your garden as a patio). This town is very much a town of the past. Once the railway was moved 10 miles away the town began to shrink. Unbelievably there was no water supply here until the 1970's, all the water had to be...

Sep 26, 2019 - Sonoma to Winnemucca, NV

September 26, 2019 We are off on our 12th camping adventure but not in our old faithful Roadtrek Adventurous! About a month ago we were at Jeanne and Chad’s for dinner where we met Tamie Honey who happened to be selling her 2012 MB Sprinter Via 25T. The rest is history! We picked up Miss Daisy on September 7, an hour after we got the news that Claire Marie, our first grandchild was born. (It was a BIG and exciting day for us!). We had not talked about a bigger rig but realized if we wanted to continue our travels we would be more...

Sep 8, 2019 - Verdi, Nevada

Today we left Elko, Nevada around 0700 heading for the KOA Campground located in Verdi, Nevada also known as Boomtown KOA. The distance was 298 miles and we arrived in Boomtown at noon. The weather was sprinkles at first and then simply overcast. Traffic was light and moving well. The speed limits vary between 75 and 80 along that section of Interstate 80 but Ross only travels at 65 mph when in the motorhome and towing the pickup truck. The road was very good in 90 percent of trip and the overcast stayed for most of the trip. The high...

Sep 7, 2019 - Elko, Nevada

Thursday morning we drove the motorhome to the Cummins Service Center in Rock Springs to have the problem with the DPF filter investigated as to why the DPF over pressure code keeps popping up while driving the motorhome. The service tech was waiting for us and he tied into the motorhome's ECM. To his surprise, as well as mine, he found a second code which indicated there was a problem with multi-plexing cable which he thought might be the core of our problem. The tech found a loose chassis battery clamp which he tightened and erased the...