Some people love the desert and some don’t. I spent many years living in it, but I much prefer being on a beach, or at least someplace with trees and grass. But yesterday it was all desert for us. Just a whole lot of ugly.
We left the Las Vegas Thousand Trails a little before 10 a.m., made it through some heavy traffic on the north side of the city, and then got on U.S. Highway 95 and followed it north for 390 long, boring miles.
We passed some rugged mountains along the way, some just brown and blah, and some with interesting colors.
Okay, it wasn’t all boring. Prostitution is legal in some parts of Nevada and the cathouses have signs along the highway.
At this one they have free tours, and girls are welcome too! That sure beats the heck out of dinner and a movie!
One brothel was at the Area 51 Alien Center. It’s the pink building in the right rear. Alien hookers. Who knew?
This is mining country and we passed several old ruins.
We went through a couple of sad little towns that made us wonder why anyone would choose to live out there in the middle of nowhere. Of course, the people who do live there probably watch RVs going by and wonder why anyone would choose to live in a box on wheels going down the highway instead of putting down roots.
Then, there are those who get sent out here by the government. Hawthorne Army Depot is a U.S. Army ammunition storage depot located near the town of Hawthorne. The depot covers 147,000 acres, where all sorts of ammunition and bombs are stored in 2,427 bunkers. They could put on a heck of a fireworks show!
We had thought about staying at the Elks lodge in Hawthorne, but it only has three RV hookups and there were three RVs there when we passed it, so we decided to continue on another 70 miles to Fallon.
Just north of town is eighteen mile long Walker Lake, where the mountains were reflected in the water. Where’s my pontoon boat when I need it?
Almost exactly eight hours after we left the Thousand Trails we pulled into the Churchill County Fairgrounds in Fallon, where $15 got us a pull-through RV site with 30 amp electric and water. There is a dump station too, but since I dumped before we left the Thousand Trails, we don’t need it.
We’re about 60 miles from Sparks, where we are supposed to pick up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal today. We also need to find a repair shop.
On our trip yesterday we had a noticeable vibration coming from the rear of the motorhome when accelerating or when coming down a hill with the exhaust brake on. It doesn’t happen when we’re rolling along on the straight and narrow, and if I turn the exhaust brake off going down a hill the vibration stops. Going uphill under throttle it’s a strong vibration until I back off the throttle, then it eases off.
I called Redlands Truck and RV and talked to my friend Mike there, and he told me it sounded like the exhaust has a broken bracket and is touching the frame and sending a vibration through the RV. Another call to Phil Botnick brought the suggestion that it could be a bad U-joint. Hopefully we can get into a shop today and figure out which it is, or whatever else the problem might be.
One final thing before I close for today. I got a subscription for the digital version of the Gypsy Journal from Michael Davis yesterday, but when I tried to send him a link to the current issue the e-mail bounced. If you’re reading this, please contact me at editor@gypsyjournal.net so we can get your subscription started.
Thought For The Day – Being old is not dictated by your bedtime.
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Nick Russell
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Whew!
Until I read the article I was afraid you were talking about me.
now now! Some of us call the desert home! We love northern nevada!
You forgot to mention. There’s lots of gold in them there ugly hills.
My husband and I stayed at Hawthorne shortly after 9/11 and coming down the hill from Walker Lake we saw all the concentric circles of ammunition bunkers. Didn’t know what they were. Stayed o/n in a campground there and we thought we were the center of a target.
Have also stayed at Walker Lake. Love the area. Lots of geocaches. And stayed in the parking lot of the A Le Inn at Rachel. The military aircraft at Area 51 can shake the whole MH when they break the sound barrier.
Did you know there are over 1200 geocaches along the ET highway? We will go back there to get them. The state made them pull them the year we were there.
Never took that route when in Nevada. Thinking it would be good for a few laughs if nothing else.
Maybe you should have gone to see Virginia City, Lake Tahoe, Reno or Winnemucca. I was raised in Nevada and love the limitless starry nights with no smog and gorgeous sunsets, but there are still tourist spots. To each his own. 🙂
We too love the green. We enjoy visiting out west and we have many friends there. But after a few weeks or months we crave the green of the south east. We especially think the blue ridge along the Smoky Mountains is beautiful. But everyone has their own preference thankfully or everyone would want to live in the same place.
You didn’t call Greg for his opinion?
We are in Henderson and find the desert has much color and beauty.
When you were driving the 390 ugly miles on 95 what was your speed? I have a problem with wanting to get it over with so I go a little faster than what I probably should while towing my 36′ fifth wheel. I’m just curious how many people keep their speed down on ugly long roads. My Mom and Dad were full timers and my Dad never got his motorhome over 55 mph. I don’t know how he did it, but when we traveled together I would have to pull over and wait on him. Now. if he was still with us, I’d keep my speed at 55 when traveling with him.
We did 60 – 62 most of the way, Joe. In a lot of places out there it is 70 and we had semis and other traffic passing us.
I feel so much better. This post was for us. We’re thinking the exact same thing. Been there done that, hopefully not do it again. lol
Nick, I have to disagree with you on this. The different parts of the country are just like a woman. There’s no such thing as an ugly woman, some of them are just prettier than others.
Nick that’s just one of the reasons this varied country of ours is so great. I lived the first 55 years of my life on the east coast (VA). Plenty of green, plenty of heat and humidity, also.
We’ve wintered over the past two winters in AZ and have reservations to do it again this winter.
We really enjoy the open spaces, low humidity, and MUCH FRIENDLIER people of the west vs. east.
Enjoyed the commentary and photos. And the note up there about there being no ugly women (or ugly parts of this great country of ours). “Some are just prettier than others” is a wonderful way to put it.