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.

 

Homeward bound, Mon, 5/10/21

 

Google Maps says it's 371 miles, and that was more than enough for us this day.  Driving all day, every day, gets kind of tiring (but doable with a prize at the end -- home!).  We looked at several boondocking spots along Hwy 50, but elected to give $25 to the Pony Express RV Park in Austin for FHU and nice long showers!

Yup, we were on Hwy 50 again, "the Loneliest Road in America," a major secondary road through middle Nevada where a driver can say, "no one in front and no one behind," the road being clear forever.  The Town of Austin bills itself as the "Friendliest Town on the Loneliest Road."  Although multiple high elevation passes present a challenge to an RV (chug-chug-chugging up the hill), we prefer this highway over the freeway.  It's a humble road, basically devoid of scenery, but, still, there's something appealing in its very emptiness.  Maybe it's a feeling of freedom.

Sure, there's plenty of long stretches of desert grass and sage, but you'll also see some significant rock formations on Hwy 50.

The road goes on forever.

Through the years, we've camped along Hwy 50 from Delta in the East to Sparks in the West, including Lehman Caves, Ely, Cold Spring, Austin and Big Creek.

This is open range territory, meaning no fencing, and cows (all bovines are cows to me) can roam freely.  Also at their peril.  We saw way too many bodies roadside, cows and calfs.  We had to slow down to a crawl several times 'cause cows were too close to the road, as above.  We stopped for this one, opened the window, and suggested she move away from the vehicle!  She didn't move a muscle.

Central Nevada has north-south mountain ranges, so if you're heading east or west, you have to climb up to and over six or seven or eight passes.  I think the highest one was over 7700', and Tergel was a-wheezing on that one.  The mountains are beautiful, ranging from the deep blue you see above to an arid, seemingly barren chocolaty-brown.

A couple of old log cabins sunk in a sea of old Cottonwood trees.

Downtown Ely, Nevada boasts this famous hotel.  We went inside once a few years ago, choked on the cigarette smoke haze, and walked out.  My Mom lived in neighboring McGill for a few years, so we've spent time in the area.

Jimmy and I met fellow bloggers (at the time) Laurie and Odel for the first time at the Ely KOA campground.  They were headed east and we were on our way west.  Or maybe it was the other way around; can't remember what year.  We followed each other's blogs, but hadn't met yet.  I love how this works!

The road less traveled.

We quit for the night in Austin, unhooked Smartie and went exploring.  One of the things we found was Stokes Castle, which you see below.  It's actually quite tall, and the explanation that the Stokes family used it for two months is nuts.

Austin is a dinky town, but after a mighty silver boom got going in the 1860s Austin was the second largest city in Nevada with more than 5,000 residents. Today, there are less than 200 that have worked to keep the little town alive, though the town seemed sorta deserted to us.

Tomorrow we'll grind out one more day (let's hope it's only one).  After that, we'll be home.  But tomorrow holds a wonderful surprise!  Oh boy!

Westward, Ho! Sunday, 5/8/21

We awoke to a mighty cool temp ... technically freezing:  32°.  Then we remembered our elevation is roughly 7200' and spring is moving slowly in these parts.  Many of Colorado's deciduous trees haven't leafed out yet; others are beginning to wear their tiny spring green leaves.  Because we wanted to put on as many miles as possible, we were up and atem early, notwithstanding the chilly weather.  I left a small electric heater on low all night, so we were toasty inside Tergel.

405 miles.  Our GPS gave us a bum steer, inasmuch as we thought we'd end up in Delta, Utah, but Nuvi took us a bit south, and we finally petered out in Joseph, Utah.  No matter, tomorrow's drive will be in new territory, at least part of it anyway.  We did have a stint on I-70, but it was okay.

Seeing the grandeur of Eastern Utah was the real highlight today!.  We took so many pictures!  The Red Rock formations are breathtaking.  Jimmy was hard put to pick "not too many" pictures for this post!  Here are his choices:

Chimney Rock, not far from Pagosa Springs.

Beneath the sign was the word "Closed."

The diagonal line is the road up to Mesa Verde ruins.  I'm including this pic because ten years ago Jimmy rode his bike down this hill.  Read about it here.

Isn't nature wonderful?

I see a camel.

In this one, I see a serpent.

Muffins?

Can you spot all the people?

Marvelous arch!

No, we didn't.

Can you spot the rock people?

Is it a pregnant woman standing next to a man?

What do you see in this one?

I examined my photo to see if a reflection caused the lighter top o' the rock.  Nope.  This was painted by the Master Painter.  Isn't this cool? 

I call them Cathedrals in Stone.  The many different hues make for a rainbow of sorts.  These are mere snapshots of an entire area that can only be described as inspirational.  Because home is calling to us, we didn't stop, nor did we tour any of the special parks.  We did decide, however, to return later ... at a time when the majority of tourists will be back at work/school, and we can freely wander about this grand temple of rocks.

We're closing in on Nevada City.  Wonder if we can make it home tomorrow?