Today was a big day as we had an appointmentat RV Lifestyles for 8:30 AM. That me thinks is way to early to have the 5er all closed up  delivered at the RV repair shop. We made it about 5 min. late. 

By noon... RV Lifestyles in Quartzsite, AZ found the problem.
James and crew there were good to work with. If you need service I recommend them. A little out of control but they get the work done and the price was right. Go for it...  As we sat there I wondered how Howard from RV-Dreams handled this organized chaos when they had work done here. James and crew do go out of their way to help each and everyone who shows up with a statment like I did... "I sorta have this situation" as I lean over his service counter.  They could write a book I'm sure. 

It was a brake magnet wire rubbing against the brake drum and shorting out. They were very reasonable for labor ($127) (we were there all morning).  I will submit the bill to Dexter Axle. (Have a five year warrenty) Also need a Nev-R-Lube bearing replaced as it is leaking. That's for another day. Same wheel. 

After the 5er was fixed we went out and dropped it in the BLM Long Term area after we registered for the season at $180. 

Now we didn't set up the HD Direct dish till later when we were back and I wanted to watch the NBC nightly news which starts at 3:30 PM  here from New York stations.  How strange is that. Sunday Day Light Savings time changes but that doesn't effect AZ. That means about 20 miles west... CA will be an hour earlier than us (corrected) first post said later). 
I remember when I got up early for black Friday a few years ago, and went to the local Radio Shack in Q and they didn't have the stuff I wanted but they said the Blythe, CA store which would not be open for another hour would have the stuff. They even called them for me. [Note the Q store burned down so don't plan on shopping here]. 
Now since we have DirecTV the network HD feeds are from New York. We can watch them (or DVR them) and go to bed early. After all it gets cold in the desert after sundown. Especially  later on in the next few months. November will still be warm for campfires. 

Now back to today... next over to the Quartzsite Senior Center for seasonal flu shots. (What a VERY nice place)
In and out in no time, La Paz county health dept. has this down to a science. It was scheduled for 1-2:30 PM and we were out of there at 1:05. $10 what a bargain compared to the big name pharmacies who want $25 or more. They will be getting the HiNi flu vaccine in soon for Tier 2 eligible people.  That's me. And they be will putting out a notice as soon as they get it. Very nice people.

Well as you can see after the flu shots and lunch at Carl Jrs (they have great fries). We went for firewood (nice pile huh).
It was a big day and after Terry changed oil in the generator we are set for a few days. 
Met up with Tad and Richard several times today as they were in town running around and helping us get set up and making sure we were getting good service at RV Lifestyles. Friends, it's what makes life worth living.
Now to get the picnic table and sun shade canopy set up which was stored at Richards over the summer. We are grateful. 
Time to build a home site in the desert. Watch us grow our campsite. 
Need to get some green grass down... or should I say artificial turf. No football playing me thinks. 
Will still be looking at deeded lots in town but for now this is home. 

Saturday is work day at the Rock Club to get it ready for the shop opening on Monday. 
Life in Q getting off to a good start for us. 

OK time for a post... we have arrived in Quartzsite and are hanging out in a 14 day free BLM area.  We left Laughlin a day early to get ahead of the storm with high winds so got here later on Monday after a mandatory stop at the new Walmart in Parker. Small but its prices stay with the national chain, not the local out of line price chart. Safeway may have to reduce some of their prices me thinks. 

 We're in the 14 day area in Q as still looking around for a place to land. Don't know where we want to go (our old spot of several years in the Long Term BLM has been taken). Not to worry with lots of places to go, but I don't want to be way out in the outback as I would feel isolated with Terry off to the rock club most every day. 
Also might be getting soft as even thinking of staying in town this year (Oh how could we do that). We tout the boondocking off the grid life and now thinking of doing the RV park thing with power. How dare we. Not only that we are considering buying a deeded lot on the east side of Q in a new gated community development. With HOA fees ($50 a month) and all.  Ok so it's called Arizona Sun Village. 68 lots and so far this fall (just went on the market) only 4 lots have been sold. We could get on the ground floor at a good price or get screwed if it goes to hell, me worries. Need to run the numbers and legal ramifications of this idea. 
Ok lets get together and go and buy 20 or so lots and get this thing off the ground. Bet we could get a big discount...

Another reason we are still in the 14 day is we started to have trailer brake problems with the brake controller giving us oL errors which mean overload (a short condition). And we loose all trailer brakes when this happens. Not Cool. Taking a closer look we see grease leaking around one trailer wheel hub. Not good as we have Dexter Nev-R-Lube axle system. So we have an appointment at RV Lifestyles (corrected not RV Advantage)  with James here in Q for Friday AM to get it all checked out.  We sort of feel like RV-Dreams as they had brake problems and we followed their posts and now we are here like them.  But in our case we are staying here for the season so not in a hurry to get this fixed. 

We thought we could sneak into town and hang out in the BLM until we found our landing spot. Not to be, as we were found out. Larry one of the major BLM hosts called us on our cell as were shopping at Walmart in Parker even before we got here. 
So we're here and can't hide out any longer. 
For Jenny we have been taking pics of the vacant vender spots etc. and will post soon with what we are finding.  I have found a couple of venders and even a new RV park that just didn't have a clue or a business plan or have a hope to succeed. 
Much more later as I gather ideas for posts... Just need to get landed with time to do it. 

The La Paz county health dept. is giving regular flu shots tomorrow at the senior center in Q for $10 so we will make sure we get there. Hope the 5er is done by the 1 PM start time for that. If not we leave the 5er and take the truck and go.

We were also busy staying on top of calls just as we got here, as they rushed Terry's mother to the ER. She is now doing great after tests determined she had a small heart attack and they inserted a stint. (She did take an aspirin when the pain started)  [You do know that is what you should do don't you!] We were worried as we followed her situation from afar as we didn't know what the problem was. Events like this make you realize small things just don't matter, now do they. 
Hugs are the important things, each and every day, me thinks. 
Terry's mom is tonight back at home in Iowa doing wonderful. With family, husband, son, and nephew on site, and a daughter in state all looking after her. It has been a full week, with emotions and worry and getting set for the winter season in Q.  The rest of the year moving around exploring, and now six months in our, seems like second home...  Love or hate it.. it's Quartzsite Arizona. 

We were hungry for Pizza so Terry looked up our options. Now this was last night after watching the Iowa Hawkeyes win their football game against Michigan in the last play of the game with just 2 seconds left to go.  Now with a recored of 8-0 and leading in the Big Ten. It looked like the Colorado Belle had a Brew Pub with Pizza would make it as a place to celebrate as we know most of the people in Iowa were doing that also. 

They call it the Boiler Room Brew Pub. The decor was really cool.  And the Pizza was pretty good to boot. 
The Amber Ale from their microbrewery hit the taste buds without a problem. 

I hope the rust effect on the pipes etc. was fake to make it look more like a dirty boiler room for atmosphere. 
The details they did for the total effect were top notch. 

(I didn't take these pics... from the web)

We looked at the weather forecast and it shows windy conditions for Tuesday and Wednesday so we think after using up our last two free breakfast buffet tickets at the Riverside Casino in the morning we will head out for points south. 
Monday calls for calm winds. 
 

A Day trip to Oatman, AZ

The sign is getting a little worn just like the town. But me thinks they want it that way. 

There is a reason this place exists and so not to demean it as this is a fun place and it has a  great history to support its being. Now these days it showuld get a new lease on life since mining is not so much. Go after whatr you can me thinks . Mine the tourests. 
I know you have to have a map or you're lost. So here it is. 

Oatman is the tourist trap,  but Old Route 66 from it to Kingman, AZ is very special (so very narrow and winding with switch backs that make you wonder how any supply trucks ever drove it. I think this short drive is one of the most fun ones I had done in many a day. If you get to the area do take this drive but do it in a car or PU truck ONLY.  No MHs or pulling a  trailer. Never would you want to do that on this road. The reason is you would just not make it.  Corners to sharp and switch backs where you would got hung up on, for sure. See the curves in tehr road in the above map to the east of Oatman. And the raod back to Bullhead City to the west is'nt paved. We went to Oatman and then east on Old Ropute 66 to I-40 and up to Kingman and back to Laughin on HW 68. 

Now for the town... 

This poor boy did the deadly dead of feeding the wild burros and now this one wanted more carrots and knew he had more to share. These are wild and the BLM tries to control them but this is what makes for a fun time in this tourest trap... so feeding them carrots is the big deal.  Now the BLM is asking peole not to feed them... Good Luck. 

These burros are as they say wild and not owned by anyone so they can roam as they please. They may be wild but are VERY tame. Wonder how that works in the off season or even each night when the tourists leave for the day, do they just wonder off ,or do the locals shew them off the main drag. Wonder if they ever get rowdy don't want to give up their turf. These are a big part of the marketing of the town so they must have a plan on how to deal with them so they are cared for etc. Wonder if there is a corral around back with good shelter with feed and water for them to come back to each night. Would you not pamper your bests of burden, who bring tourests to your town. 

This sucker just stood still right in front of us... we were not in a hurry and neither was it.  After a little time it slowly moved on. Must have smelled some carrots off somewhere.

This is a great day trip for bickers and the street is lined with bikes. As tourest traps goes this one has a lot going for it. 
As after all it is a real old mining (ghost) town on the orignal Route 66.  A marking dream and close to Laughlin, and Bullhead City.
Heading east out of Oatman on Route 66 looking back west. Great views at every turn. The road here was calm. 

And kind of a hold the wheel with tight hands here.  Blind narrow corners with sheer rock walls. 

We met a group of road rally sports cars driving as fat as they could. Tiny little jobs and me not worried as if one hit me it would be their loss not mine in my dually diesel.  Now years past I owned a Fiat spider and drove it to Acapulco and back so kind of understood how much fun they were having on this clasic winding drivers road. 

At the pass looking east toward the valley to Kingman, AZ   Alt. about 3500 feet. We had to drop back down to the valley in the distance. 

A great day trip... Just a nice outing... Me thinks we had a good day. Now we are back at the Riverside RV Park watching Iowa vs. Michigan. Not big football fans but our old home team is unbeaten so far. Now that is a big deal. Their best season so far EVER they say. We shall see. 
 
 

While here in Laughlin, NV  Gambling and Buffet food is king, 
but a lesser known big hit might be shopping. Outlet Shopping.

There is a large Outlet Mall here on the strip. Preferred Outlets  68 Stores 7 Restaurants
Ariel Preferred Retail Group operates a national portfolio of seven outlet centers in six states, 
totaling 1.3 million square feet of retail space.

We have been wanting to find new sneakers... Is that word even still in use? 
Perhaps Walking shoes is more like it. 
So we wondered on over to check them out. I was suprised to find a large mall full of stores. 

There was a Reebok Outlet Shoe store that we found.  We got two pairs [one for each of us] 
of DMX Max Ultra III Walkers. Reg. $65 outlet price $55 and second one 1/2 price.

The above sez 68 stores and a 9 plex movie theater. 
With the state of the economy we only saw a couple of store fronts vacant. Amazing.
The stores were full of inventory, but since it was a Monday afternoon, not much action or shoppers. 

Here I go again.
Me thinks the way this works is the husband is having a bonding experience at the poker table and he sez to his wife or whoever he brought along on this trip... Why don't you go to the outlet mall and go shopping. She sez not a problem as he gives her his almost maxed out credit card which he hopes to recharge with his winnings if she would just leave him alone at the tables. (Bet she has her own card connected to his bank account.) 
After all he is getting FREE drinks and now alone, so he can concentrate on his cards.  Dammit!

We did see a couple or two, with purchases under their arms in the outlet mall. So see, there are a few good men who do go shopping with their significant others. (Under protest, me thinks) Men just don't like shopping unless they think they are getting something out of it for them. Or they have learned, If mama aint happy they're screwed. 
Or she said you go shopping with me NOW and later you can go gambling while I'm at the pool. He sez have we returend from the mall yet!

By The Way, we did get to Walmart today for TP.  We were running very low...
Now I can wipe without worry... I was using more than normal, along with an itch,  if you know what I mean. 
Sleep tonight will be good knowing my itch has calmed down. 
More than you wanted to know to be sure, but you did click on our blog now didn't you!
Like you don't have these problems from time to time. 

Our blog is about Life as we know it after all.  Smile!

It's all about the food...
People don't come here for the gambling DO they?

We were tired of buffets so we headed over to the Riverside Casino on Saturday night to The Rice Garden which offers some the most popular Chinese dishes served quickly! Per their ad. 

To say the least this choice was not the best one we could have made.  We started with hot and sour soup... It was neither... To top it off it came to the table cold along with all the rest of the food. So we asked to have it all nuked. It came back hot but that didn't improve its taste.  I have to say it was just plain awful! This is a fast food outlet on the gambling floor and not a restaurant so to speak. We had gone up several escalators and walked through miles of slot machines to find this place. So we ordered. Mistake... All served on plastic plates... should have know better. Hungry and tired, bad combination. Shall try to work on that flaw. It's called planning me thinks.

We we couldn't just give up, so on Sunday we went for $9.99 (no players card needed) Champagne Brunch at the Tropicana Express Casino where we had had such a great Prime Rib Dinner Buffet last week.  ($7.99 Sunday - 
Thursday with players card.) 

     (pics from Tropicana web site)

Sunday Brunch was pretty much the standard fare and we ate to much.  I was confused with all the food. So much but nothing special. After awhile buffet offerings seem to look and taste the same. I think we are now over trying to see how much we can eat and back to the quality of what we do eat. Sounds like the way to go, we shall see. Only problem we still have four free breakfast buffet tickets (two each) for the Riverside to use. Do we not use them. We're to cheap not to, (we do have over another week of staying here) but may just try to sample the foods and not pile it on. Taking bets if we can do that...

Went out late Sunday afternoon (I had to take a nap to recover from brunch) to Safeway and Walmart for a few things and to get a Sunday paper which we had wanted. May read that Monday morning. We get current news on line so the Sunday paper is for in-depth local news not found online. The main reason we went out was to get TP and when we got back no TP. We stopped at Safeway and had it in our cart, but put it back as we were also going to Walmart for bulk Tea (which Safeway doesn't carry), and though we could get TP cheaper there. Now we don't have any at any price. We have a roll on the spindle butt how long will that last. Short wipes are in order... 

Did I say it is still HOT and we are not heading south anytime soon. We are booked here till Oct. 27. 
$109 [$113 with tax] for 14 days in the Riverside RV Resort with FHUs right on the casino strip in Laughlin, NV. 
How you ask?  See their ad in the free RV Journal Mag and clip the coupon. You have to give it to them.  (Hint they have a stack of the mags. in their RV check-in office.) They are not going to tell you about it, you have to tell them you have the coupon and cut it out of the mag. for them and ask for the special rate. 
Why should they when they can get so many RVs pulling in to their 720 site park that don't have a clue and pay full rates. Do see my warning below about temp charges they will put on your credit card. But after jumping through all the hoops this is one great deal. 
 

We went to the Friday night Seafood Buffet at the Riverside Casino. (We are in their RV park after all) I read the reviews on the web and a few were a little negitive on the Riverside. 
But after checking out the other options we went anyway. 

And guess what, we were amazed at the offerings in their seafood buffet. 
Much more than we would had expected and for $14.95. Some other casinos wanted over $22 for theirs. 
Service was very good and later we did stop to play a few slots... I started off right away getting ahead, but you know how that goes, and when they had me, I kept adding funds to try to recover. So ended up a bit short. Not out of line, and did have fun. But wont go back to loose any more. Let's jsut say it was under $50 when done. Peanuts to a true gambler me thinks.  The place was busy with people hitting the double down button and watching the screens flash back a them.  But Ya Know they all had happy faces. There must be primal reason people like to watch spinning wheels and tingly sounds as they shove their money into a colorful box. 
Humans are a strange breed. 
(Guess we got over looking up at the sky at the blinking stars over the milliminus and now we hold up in casinos looking a the blinking stars on the slot machines and are just amazed)

I was mesmerized hoping to hit it big, knowing that the odds were againt me, but that, just this one time it could be ME, who won and all would wonder how that happened.    The chance of it, could happen to you... 

That is UNTILL I had no credits left and the bubble breaks. So much hope for a time... Next up and off wondering if there is a seat open on the next flashing slot machine section with an even larger progressive grand prize flashing above. 
Sort like the Japanese who are hooked and love to play Pachinko.  Do read more about it. 
It commands 40 percent of Japan's leisure industry. 

Back to daylife on Saturday... 

We held up in the afternoon today watching football on TV. Not that we are big sprots fans, when it is HOT outside you need to do something while inside on the net. Had several cell calls and emails from friends who are in Q or on the way so we kept up with the action here and at home. 

The gambling industry knows we are an easy target and plays to our lust to get something for nothing. 
AND we fall for it... 
Ask me later as we are going out for the night on the Casino strip to find out if we can prove them wrong. 
Silly, aren't we..

Me thinks we could do a lot worse than hanging out here in Laughlin at a full hook up site on Casino Drive at a great price for a week or two. What... it's not like we are on vacation now are we. 
We're living it, not pushing it.
 

Yep we're still here in Laughlin. NV... Relaxing and just hanging out. Got oil changed in the truck at the local Chevy dealer right up on the Bulhead City bypass on the AZ side. We could see our 5er from their dealership across the river. The views from anywhere here are great. They were a little slow but they did change out a oil drain plug gasket that had been screwed in too tight at the last oil change. They were not busy but glad we had them do the work as don't think a quick lube place would have fixed the drain plug problem to say the least. 

Now a hint of things to watch out for when you hand a credit card or debit card over to a merchant. 

We are here at Riverside Casino and RV Park in Laughlin, NV

A 720 RV Resort connected to the first and largest casino in Laughlin. 
We are the dish center bottom.

Well they had signs in the registration office that they would only take credit cards as debit cards could be a problem. I didn't ask why, but NOW know why,as in the rest of the story. 
I was checking my bank statement online and I discovered a $420 temporary authorization from them against my account. What the hell was that. I know I've been through this for gas stations etc. that put a $1 charge but nothing like this. It was 4 times the charge for our RV site. What gives them the right to hold my credit card hostage for four times the amount I owe them? Today I notice the charge had been reduced to the correct amount... $113. This is just a bad business practice me thinks.  Several web forums suggest the only way to dicourage this is to complain. I printed out the bank statement and will in a day or so after I calm down, stop by to express my views.   I know I'm not going to change how they do business. But I will ask why they think they need to do this.  Who knows they might give us more free buffet tickets. Can't hurt. Do make sure you have a big cushion in your credit cards to handle these temp charges. I have a zero balance on mine (Just use the  debit card unless like here they insist I do it their way and use a credit card.) Not a problem for us, but how many these days are at the top  end on their cards. 
Looking back on my post, might be that CASH, is the best option when I encounter places like this. 
What you think, they may want me to give them $400 cash and when I check in and offer to give back $300 when I check out. I bet you can't even get in here paying cash...
Maybe I should get more cash from Walmart each time we go through the checkout. 
I have gone about this long enough... You would think I could come up with more interesting things to post about... 

Left Pahrumph this morning (see map below) about 9 or so. The weather report was calling for heavy rain in CA and wind. We did hit a bit of head wind south of Las Vegas, The diesel shifted down to force through the wind for a time, but later it calmed down.  Some RVs did pull over to sit it out. We have landed at Riverside Casino and RV park in Laughlin, NV right across from Bullhead City. They had a deal on page 65 of the RVJournal mag. for $109 for one week and the second week free and two free breakfast buffets. This park has about 720 sites. Huge. They later gave us four buffet tickets because they forgot to give them to us on sign in. 

We wanted to come to Bullhead City as the NuWa web site showed a HitchHiker RV dealer here. We needed service on the weather strips on our slide outs. They are sticking and coming loose. Well after driving to it, we found the dealer had changed to other RV brands. Called Ron at the factory and he agreed to ship us all new weather strips for our 5er to Quartzsite. Now that is service me thinks. I lost a little sleep about this issue but with NuWa I should have had faith they would do us right. 
So now we are getting settled in and watching the weather (big storm coming across CA heading this way) and will get the oil changed in our truck and looking for day trips we can take the next few days. One we will do is go up the AZ side to Hoover Dam and check out the new bridge to see its progress. 

Will I drop a few bucks in the slots? Yes I think so, maybe. Why, might be their marketing campaign is working.  Gambling is a vice I don't feel is an inner need of mine. I can take it or leave it. Now don't get me started on my other vices I have yet to kick. I did give up smoking a few years ago.(I don't miss it at all anymore.) And pot many, many years ago. Didn't do anything harder. I don't do drugs except those prescribed by my doctor. Nothing that makes me high, Damn. 

Time for a shower and see if we want to eat in or go to a buffet... 

Made a Friday move down from Beatty to Pahrump, NV to Preferred RV park. All of about 60 miles. We are staying here through the weekend to relax, take in a buffet or two and just hang out. 

Nice to be here (78 °) as we just got a call from Iowa where it is snowing. 

Next week we are going to wonder on down to Laughlin, NV which is right across from Bullhead City in NV.   I'm researching a deal at one of the casinos in their 720 space RV Resort for $99 a week.  They have said that's the deal on the phone so we shall see. You have to name the promotion when you check in or you wont know it's available. The weather has been unseasonably cool. It only got to 88° when we were in Death Valley on Thursday. We are thinking it is going to heat up again in Quartzsite so we are moving south ever so slowly. 
And I should say we like the price of diesel in NV. $2.59

There is a nice big Walmart Supercenter here in Pahrump and it occured to me after being inside these supercenters for a time, when I emerge, I have to do a double take, look around  to remember what city I'm in. 
 

We are not on a schedule so we stayed at Bailey's Hot Springs and RV just north of Beatty, NV  for another night. It would give us a chance to do a day trip to Death Valley. Who could pass up going there and a hot springs to soak in when we get back. Read More about it  at Death Valley National Park official site. 
Another great site about Death Valley

They are getting with it geek wise with ATM entrance stations. The best part is the statement right up front (below) that sez people with a Senior Pass that this park is FREE. Now that's my kind of  National Park. 
Even so (if you to have a Senior Pass) you should stop at a Visitor Center so they can count you and give you a window sticker. We stopped for a holder for my Senior Card to hang on the rear view mirror.
You know, like all things today, they need the head count for their budgets. I wonder about life as a NPS employee here in DV. Do they ask to be assigned here. Or is this where you get rotational to. Or do they request this assignment? Don't think that is a question I should ask. Might get more info than I wanted to know. Sure some may love this as a challenge, to move up the ladder in the NPS.  Is that how they climb the NPS ladder, or am I just full of it. The busy season starts about Oct. 15 per the signs as that is when they open up the other campgrounds. Sort of opposite of other NPS areas, but this is Death Valley at below seal level and NOW is the prime time to visit. Who would think!

Now back to the adventure... I got off track, sorry. 

Terry ran off to get pictures at the FIRST overlook entrance station. I yelled Heal and for him to return. 

I took this shot form the station. Kind of hazy but still looked good to us. 

Later stopped at the Borax Works. 

Took the one way drive through Artist View. 

 

We returned from the southeast entrance and drive forever to get back to Beatty and our Hot Springs campground.

After checking email and getting the blog ready (I got frustrated as it did'nt want to upload)  So started happy hour and a little later we went for a soak in the hot springs. 
We just go back from doing a nice long soak... I'm so refreshed. I will try to stop at more hot springs as we encounter them on down the road. Mother Earth gave this to us,  and we are grateful. 
Along with so much more....
Now I would be less if I didn't get a map up.  This is Beatty and we are north on HW 95 
at Bailley's Hot Springs, We took HW 374 into Death Valley, a very steep road DOWN. Not the best route in an RV me thinks. Signs declare trucks are forbidden on this road. You go from 3300 ft to below sea level in just a few miles. There are other routes not this steep. So do your homework. 

We are off to Pahrump, NV in the AM for more adventures and to land for the weekend. 
I have emailed a couple of PasportAmerica  RV parks asking  (since our cell serive her is iffy) 
if we can get in a how long we can stay. 
 

UPDATE:  We went for a soak (see story below) about 7 PM Terry had already done a couple earlier.  It was wonderful. About a 20x20 pool about 2 feet deep. Inside a locked building. Three buildings. I was in heaven and wanted to float but Terry said not to as to keep the water out of my ears. He read it's not a good idea. As I already have water on my ear drum didn't get my head under but I wanted to. Me thinks we'll go back tomorrow and I might step up from the cooler pool [98-101°] to the med. pool [103-105°]. This is great, want a hot tub in Q me thinks... I'm hooked. That is as soon as we buy a lot and get off the BLM. 

Now back to regular programing... as in the orig. post...

We didn't sleep well so we got up and were on the road by 9 AM for a drive to Beatty, NV, the gateway to Death Valley National Park. 

We drove for miles and miles... On HW 95 NV is endless. 

We landed at Bailey's Hot Springs and RV park. (by the way it is for sale, 90 acres) 
which is about 6 miles north of town. 

You can see tthe steps up to the three private hot pools. Each are at different temps.
Hot 105-108 deg. Med. 103-105 and the last pool Cool at 98-101. 
The notice was to only stay in for 30 min. 
They give you the door keys so you can lock the door and have each pool room to yourselves. 

After we were set up (Internet dish on top and HD tripod dish up and both locked on to signal)  all before noon. 
How did that happen? I would normally just keep on driving till late afternoon. But this time I knew Terry was looking forward to the hot spring baths here which are included in the RV park fee. Under $20 for all. Here I go again... me thnks a good deal. Once in a while I do try to make Terry happy. He loves to soak in hot springs. 

We later took a drive 6 miles south to town and looked around. A couple of small casinos and motels. Like most deset towns rundown and hanging on but good still happy to be alive. It's cool today here at low 70s can not imagine what it is in the summer. The tourest season should be starting about now as it is now cool enough. 

We spotted this fellow on the main drag. Holding a yard light and bottle of Jack.

You can see they have fun around here. Or are heat stressed. 

(Time for my bloggers statement)... Notice I don't have pictures of main street Beatty, NV.  As we encounter a new location we take many pictures and have to choose what to show. Sure, could do an article like format, but don't think we want that.  Me thinks, just shots we feel reflect the mood of the time and place we're at. 
For details we try to do the Read More About It  link like this one on  Beatty, NV. (lots of info)
They spend big bucks to produce a site of what they are about. We are here to share our reactions of life as we find it. Not to porduce documentaries don't ya think.

Now back to the program... 

After the short tour of town we headed out on the road to Death Valley to see the gost town of Rhyolite, NV. It is olny a few miles out, so a short drive to visit, then come back to the campground. 
Need to study more before we head all the way into the land below the sea. 

 Rhyolite Historic Townsite  link. (Great in depth site)

My how times flies... Stayed in Tonopath, Monday and Tuesday nights. 

Terry went museum trekking in  Tonopath, NV  on Tuesday as I was not up to it, and happy to stay in and recover.
He sez if I select the pictures he will write about them and his outing. 

Ron begged off on my adventures today,  I think that the 6,000 ft elevation does not agree with him, along with his aversion to all things museum.  There are two museum attractions in Tonapah, the Tonapah Historic Mining Park and the Central Nevada Museum.  The Mining Park has many of the original buildings with the original equipment in place giving a much better picture of how and what happened here in the early 20th century. 

Approaching the mining park the remnants of the miners cabins are in evidence along the street.  Many of these seemingly dilapidated homes are still in use,  I can't see why, but it preserves a bit more of Tonapah's past.  I also think that there are a lot of very poor people living in the town,  the mines closed and those that could get out did,  those that chose to stay try to hang on. 

A Mural on the side of the Mizpah Hotel.  The Hotel has been closed for a couple of years, but has recently been sold and hopefully reopened in the future.  There is another hotel building across the street that has had all of its windows removed in preparation for remodeling to reopen in the spring of 2008.  Guess they missed that deadline,  hope the building does not deteriorat to badly setting in the open with out any windows, its a great old building and it would be a shme to let it fall to pcs 

In  the same area as the two hotels is the Otteson Turquoise Store.  They mine Turquoise in the area and sell the completed jewelry in their store.  I was hoping for a bit more of a rock shop rather then a jewelry store. 

Did not buy any of their Turquoise rough,  what they had on display was all smallish chips at a fairly steep price,  besides I am not a Turquoise fan to begin with, but I would have gotten excited about bargains....

In the Mining Park you can look out over the town of Tonapah and the surrounding valleys.  The timbering held a tram way from the mine head frame to the bins where they collected the ore to load onto Rail cars.  Mining in the area lasted into the late 1940's when the RR was scrapped and removed, the cost of shipping to ore by truck was just to much and the mines were closed. 

The RR trestle is all that remains of the once extensive network of tracks in the area and through the desert.  The Park staff told me that there are plans to reinstall the tracks throughout the park--some time in the future, along with more signage that would tell the story of the mines and explain what the various pcs. of rusted equipment were used for. 

Had to get this last shot, one of the original head frames in the Tonapah Mining Park.  Spent all morning wandering through the park,  I enjoyed the park and would highly recommend it to anyone going through the area. 

In the afternoon went to the Central Nevada Museum,  which is the local historical society museum,  They have an extensive library and lots of research documents, but very little else.  A few  arrowheads and a couple of baskets for their Indian display,  a couple of fossils and a bit of signage to tell of the geologic story of the area, and the usual assortment of old clothes, photos and knick-knacks found in a Historical Society Museum. 

They have a bit of old mining equipment on the outside, but having been removed from its setting and context looses the drama of its story. 

(hit BACK to see our Monday post when we got here and prior last few days posts)
 
 
 
 

Go  BACK       Go to  INDEX  Page     Go FORWARD

See where we are at right now. DataStormUsers map ID 98  Have question or comment about our blog life... We love email.   Just email rbunge@hitchitch.com