Worst and Best: Home, 11/7/23

 

Leaving Beatty, Nevada and heading north, it was apparent that we needed to spend one more night in Nevada because it was raining in NorCal and probably snowing on the high pass we'd have to travel.  NorCal's weather would clear enough the next day for us to get home without getting snowed in or on.  Hopefully.  With that caveat, we aimed for Fort Churchill, located a bit south of Reno, a site we tried to get to on a previous trip, but missed 'cause I turned right instead of left.

We spied so many wild burros on our way north.  This guy/gal danced in circles when we stopped Tergel to watch it, like it wanted us to come to the fence ... or move on already!

Goldfield:  "Living Ghost Town Ahead"  Nevada has plenty of towns that have figuratively "dried up and blown away" mainly due to mines playing out and residents moving elsewhere.  But their dilapidated houses persist and the junk in the yards doesn't rust and disappear.  It'd be fun to take a metal detector around, see what would you could find, except for:  snakes.

Dramatic skies unfolded as we rolled along.  Wind really kicked up and things got scary around Hawthorne.  If we could've found a spot to hunker down, we would have.  Tergel is a real "high profile vehicle," and being broadside to fierce winds is not funny, not fun at all.  Obviously we survived, but we sighed with relief when we got to our campground.

When we saw the sign:  Camping 1/2 mile, we turned in, and, yup, this was the Fort Churchill campground.  Nobody else around.  No hookups, but all the space you could ever want.  We backed up to the Carson River, and proceeded to hit the trail alongside the river.  Venerable Cottonwoods, golden in the waning sun, shaded the path.  Nights and mornings have been chilly since we left Louisiana, and the forecast is for more of the same.

Carson River was moving fast, and full.

Autumn leaves littered the trail.  We only went a mile-and-a-half; we didn't want to be caught out when it got dark.  It was a lovely, peaceful walk, notwithstanding cows that had used the trail earlier that day, leaving their distinctive calling card:  The juicy cow patty.  We minded our steps.

We buttoned up Tergel after dinner, pulled in the slides and turned on the catalytic propane heater early.  But I was still mighty surprised the next morning when I saw the outside temp at 23.5 degrees.  That's cold!  Cold enough to turn on the furnace, too!  Wasn't much to do to leave the campground.  We pulled out 9am/ish, and a half mile up the highway, pulled into Ft Churchill State Historic Site, parked, and began a walking tour.

Ft Churchill is a state park preserving the remains of a US Army fort and a way-station on the Pony Express and Central Overland Routes dating back to the 1860's. Built to provide protection for early settlers and the mail route along the Pony Express, the fort became an important supply depot for the Union Army during the American Civil War; it was abandoned in 1869. Most of the original adobe structures have melted into the Nevada ground, and those that do remain are in various states of ruin or arrested decay.

With the warming sun, being Out and About was quite pleasant.

Again, we were all by ourselves.

Officers quarters: one-and-a-half story buildings made of adobe walls 20" thick.  Of course, officers lived in relative comfort compared to enlisted men. 

Few people are buried in the cemetery.

A lonely place to spend "eternal rest."

Back in Tergel, it was time to head home, after gassing up in Ferley NV for less expensive gas than California's.  We had our fingers crossed for good weather.

Those golden Cottonwoods alongside the Truckee River were so striking!  You know I'm always happy to see the welcome home sign!

We began seeing snow on the peaks and I-80 was wet.

By gum, despite our calculations, snow fell on us as we drove up to and over Donner Pass, and we were driving Tergel verrrry slow.  Snow, sleet, and rain hit us, but no ice coated the freeway.  Down, down, down, we drove and eventually broke out into sunshine.  We did it!

Home again, late afternoon on Tuesday, 11-07-23, after 5+ weeks away, including that fabulous trip to Belize.  I was thrilled to see autumn leaf color, delighted that I hadn't missed NorCal's superb leaf-peeping show.  That dratted bear (above, left) turned up the following afternoon (welcome home!); it'd demolished our bird feeders while we were gone, so I won't be feeding birds anytime soon. 😞

A couple of days later, we jumped in the Prius to go see Matt and Jen and Evie in Fair Oaks.  Uh-oh.  The Prius' dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree and it screamed and flashed "PROBLEM."  Well, the Prius went to the shop, not Fair Oaks, and we learned two days ago that after 19+ years, the major big battery rolled over and died.  Broke my heart  (the worst).  I loved that 2005 car -- brought it home Oct 2004.  She didn't show her age, either.  Sigh ....  but we knew she couldn't last much longer.

We also knew we needed a car more suited to driving in snow and ice:  I present you --

The new member of our family -- a red 2024 Subaru Crosstrek.

Picked it up this afternoon.  The Best.

Onward we go toward home -- November 2023

 

Still heading west, toward home.  Into Arizona from New Mexico, following secondary highways, two-lane, scenic routes along the border with old Mexico.  Skirting by Chiricahua National Monument, one of Arizona's wonderful sky islands (below).  Past Bisbee and the Queen Mine's seriously deep (at 435') copper pits!  And into Sierra Vista, AZ, which we thought had grown exponentially since the last time we were here.

Craggy Chiricahua.

I'd made a reservation at a Harvest Host site for the night at Marquis Ranch in Sierra Vista.  We stopped for groceries before finding the ranch nestled in low foothills, bracketed by higher ranges.  Harvest Hosts are marvelous places for a "sleep-over" as long as you're self-contained, which we are.  Our host, Mark, met us at the gate.  We backed Tergel into a comfy spot and then ventured out to see the farm.  

Mark took us around.  They raise and breed sheep.  There's also lots of chickens, and Great Pyrennes dogs to guard all the animals.  The sheep were low to the ground and cute.  The dogs were HUGE, especially Charlie, which you see above with Jimmy (and a younger dog).  And nine wee two-week-old puppies who couldn't walk yet and whose eyes weren't opened ... and they're already spoken for!  They mewed.  I bought a dozen eggs, too.

It was a fun afternoon. Mark and his wife, Margaret, were very congenial hosts.  We four sat around at happy-hour time and visited, told tales, and enjoyed each other's company.  The dogs do bark at night, especially when the coyotes start singing (or howling), so I wore earplugs to sleep.  We were up early the next morning, pleased with our overnight stop, but ready to hit the road. 

Arizona is cactus!  Gambel's quail.  A curve-billed thrasher.  And plenty of Cholla.

Into Tucson on I-10, and then another scenic route from Tucson to Phoenix, a route that took longer than we expected, past Phoenix and up toward Kingman, AZ.  Darkness was descending by the time we hit teeny-tiny Wikieup, and we were done and done-in!  Thankfully, we found a (ho-hum) RV park, but any port in the storm and all that. 

Next morning we crossed into Nevada via the Hoover Dam bridge.

Mountain scenery in these parts is fabulous.

A long curving road took us to the Hoover Dam bridge.

November 5th -- driving through Las Vegas -- sin city -- didn't take long.  Besides it was Sunday morning so I figured most folks were in church.  Right? 😀  Once away from the city, multi-colored mountains appeared.  Some of that involves mining, photo above.

Our goal for the night was Beatty, Nevada, which is on the Nevada side of California's Death Valley.  We figured we could find a place to park Tergel (no problem).  After setting up, we went out for an explore.  

Awwww, look what we found!  Burros.  Tamed burros.  Burros looking for a handout (not good), but c'mon how sweet is this?  (We were camped across the road, but Tergel's just out of the picture.)

Howdy, y'all!

Spied this elegant old clock near the RV park.

See a burro in the background?

Here are two more.

Don't they fit right in with the mural?

All aboard!

We walked and walked and walked.  The weather was ideal.  Felt good to be on our feet.  I told Jimmy I'd live in Beatty if I could see this magnificent mountain outside my windows every morning.  Bet there's a trail to the top ....

Think we could buy this place cheap?  Fixer-upper!

Tonight's sunset was brilliant.  Another great day, and tomorrow we'll move on again, north toward home.  We're watching a weather system approach and don't want to be caught in snow on 7239' Donner Pass as we go up and over.  to be continued ....

Saturday, 10/7/23

Tomorrow we'll be one week on the road in our motor home (Tergel), and tomorrow, God willing and the creek don't rise (no rain in the forecast), we'll be at my sister and BiL's home near Baton Rouge.  Tonight we're at the Elks Lodge in Shreveport, where a very nice lady just stopped by our Tergel to ask if we wanted some homemade hot tamales.  That's what we ate for dinner! 😄  Delicious!

Thus far we've stayed in one RV campground, at one reservoir, a national park, one boondocking spot, a state park with a lake, an RV park at the Wichita River, and now the Elks.

We were rained on for the first two days on Hwy 50 through Nevada.  Below:  

Nearing Delta, Utah, still on Hwy 50, the sky began to clear.  Photos below.

Mountains of slag from the copper mine at Ruth, Nevada.

We wanted to stay at Great Basin Nat'l Park,

but it would've been too cold.  At the VC, above.

Approaching Capital Reef Nat'l Park in Utah, we hoped for a site in Fruita C/G, tho we didn't have a reservation.  As luck would have it, despite the sign, "campground full," we pulled in to hear, "Yes, we just had a cancelation," from the campground host.  Bingo!  We were last here in 2008 and adored it.  Oh joy to be able to spend a day in this beautiful place.  (No hookups, no genny use, but we survived just fine.)  After setting up, we took off with our hiking poles on the Fremont River Trail.  Below.

Jimmy's hiking up, white checkmark, wait for me!

Fremont River lower right.

Strenuous ascent with wonderful panoramic views at the top.

Unbelievable!  Breathtaking!

Next, we hopped in Smartie to the Grand Wash Trail, and a short hike, above.  After sitting for two solid days, it sure felt good to be Out and About and on our feet.  In these glorious surroundings.  Photo above and more below.

Majestic.  Outdoor cathedrals.

Leaving this favorite park, we continued east.  Utah has some of the most fascinating geological formations, with features that come in all sizes, colors, striations, shapes, layers, in piles, hoodoos and pillars, to name a few.  Ain't nature grand?

We wanted to continue on Hwy 50 through Colorado, only to be stymied by road construction, which necessitated us heading south instead on Hwy 550, the Million Dollar Highway, and it's 11,000+ ft passes.  550 would eventually dump us out on I-40, which was the last road we wanted to travel on this year!  But ... whaddya gonna do?

Here we were stopped for more road construction.  One thing you can say for sure about Colorful Colorado:  It's gorgeous.

One helluva road, though, for a motor home.

The Aspens!  I took one picture after another.  I couldn't get enough.

Down, down, down, from Silverton to Durango.

Ah so.  This is why we did NOT want to drive on I-40 in New Mexico.  Two years ago, (click here to read about it) the same thing happened, only it was Smartie that suffered.  The picture above is one of Tergel's outside rear tires.  Luckily, and thankfully, the tire blew just before a rest area, so we weren't stuck roadside!  I called AAA and they sent a young man out from Ortega's Wrecking Service in Santa Rosa NM who took off the old and installed the (new) spare.  A few hours out of our day, and no harm done and no one hurt.

On Friday we made it to Wichita Falls, Texas, and actually found the falls!  We were staying nearby and were out walking their fine river paths when we discovered these waterfalls.  Kinda muddy-looking, but a good flow!

I took a bazillion more photos, but I kept the blog pics down to a minimum (enlarge any pic for maximum viewing!).  We've had a few stresses, yet feel that all is well.  I'll leave you with this sunrise shot as we left Wichita Falls on Saturday morning.