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Friday, May 13, 2005 � Friday the 13th! We slept in until nine this morning. Had a great night�s sleep. As we awoke, we opened the drapes from our bed and peered out into what appears to be the clearest, and brightest days we�ve seen thus far since leaving. Feeling the warmth from the sun penetrating our darkened windows indicates this will probably be the warmest as well. The first thing to do today, is get the bus ready to travel, then we went over to the cathedral area, as it�s called. We walked up to this wall of sand being eroded over the years by rain and freezing then dry, warming temperatures, and realized how this resembles a mini-Bryce Canyon. We explored the caves created, and climbed the rocks to the top, which provided a great view of the valley below. As it turns out, this state park is quite a nice place to stay. So we leave here blowing tunes on our musical horns for our neighbors. Everyone is waving goodbye like they�ve known us for years. We head south on 93, which soon turns westward. This is also known as the Extraterrestrial Highway, and when we come to the junction of 93 and 6, where we head west, I realize Patty and I have been on this route before. I had her look at some pictures from this trip I remembered and sure enough. There was one picture of the same ruins we see here at this junction. That was in 1999 on a trip we took to Show Low Arizona on the Apache Indian reservation to do a little trade show for my employer JBS Instruments. Highway 6 takes us over to 95 north, and on into Tonopah Nevada. We would have stopped here for a short rest, but there�s not much to see or do here. In fact, it looks like this town is dying some. A couple of hours later, we arrive in Hawthorne Nevada. We�ve been here several times now traveling, and know to stay at the El Capitan Casino, where RV�s stay free. Well, it�s kinda free unless you count the money you lose at the tables. We�ve always liked the food here, and looked forward to dinner and some cocktails where the lounge lizards play. Patty played some blackjack. I had a few vodka�s at the bar and watched some of the Busch series racing on TV from Richmond Virginia. Patty lost about $20, and we went to eat. We both had the prime rib. It was alright, but not as good as usual, and the working people we encountered here we�re not as friendly as we recalled in the past. After dinner, we headed back to Ol School, had a coffee and Bailey�s, and hit the hay. |
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Saturday, May 14, 2005 � It� 6:30am, and coffee�s on. The day looks clear, and bright. Not a cloud to be seen. This is probably the last day of our trip. We leave here this morning and will go to Ruth Ackley�s house in Washoe City. I had installed a water heater in her motorhome for her a few weeks back, but we weren�t able to test it due to the weather still freezing at the time, preventing us from filling the tanks with water. So we�ll be stopping there and complete the testing, and finish the installation, which means just putting some cabinets back together that I had to disassemble to get into where the water heater is located. This shouldn�t take too long, and we plan on heading down the hill (Sierra�s) and making it back to Citrus Heights sometime tonight. We�ll be stopping for burgers at Ikeda�s Market. These are the best cheeseburgers in the world. Leave it to the Japanese to come up with the best burger eh? Getting home Saturday will give us one day to decompress and return to society as productive citizens once again, and live happily ever after!
After all, I rate this as the best trip taken thus far! We spent time with the best of friends. Friends from 35 years ago, and made some new ones too. We saw many, many sites, and even joined a 4-wheel�n club. We traveled almost 3,000 miles, including 500 on back roads, and trails. We experienced rain, sleet, snow, hail, wind; 80 degrees high and 23 low. We saw several National Parks, and many places you couldn�t see without taking the Backroads we did, and all the while having taken almost 700 pictures along the way. We went through about 500 gallons of fuel, 200 gallons of water, nine quarts of wine, 1 quart of Irish Cream, 2 pounds of coffee, and 138 beers. I am not anxious for this trip to end, but today it does. . In closing I must mention that Ol School performed flawlessly. She never hiccupped when we asked for comfort from the elements and confidence of travel on the road. She stood amongst the latest and finest of motorhomes, and she stood tall and proud. We next look forward to going to Colorado in August. See ya then�. |
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