Death Valley

We spent Friday with Trish and her brother Bill on a marathon sightseeing trip to Death Valley. Trish summed up Nevada real well.....God gave Nevada gambling because there's nothing else here. It was a 250 mile and 9 hour trip. There's only 2 pictures of Death Valley (California) because there's nothing else there. The temp topped out at 97. We also stopped at a ghost city, Rhyolite, to see the bottle house & a wacky artists place. In 1903 they discocered rhyolite in the mountains and said it was lighter than air, people could float. Remember, this was in CA. I am convinced that between the 1960's drugs the artist did and the desert sun his noodle is burned out, really. We also toured Scotty's Castle in Death Valley. In the 1930's this eccentric showman and con artist convinced some easterners he discovered gold so they invested in his "gold mine" and he spent the $$$ building a castle. The main investor figured out it was a sham but liked Scotty & his tales and used the castle as a vacation home. It was in CA so you understand they are wacky, the land of fruit and nuts.

Pahrump, NV

We pulled out of Bullhead City, AZ on Wednesday and travelled 145 miles through Laughlin and Las Vegas, NV on our way to Pahrump, NV. Although it was a short distance there were two hard climbs, the one coming out of Laughlin and the Colorado River which wasn't too bad. After passing Las Vegas we had a 5500 foot pass to climb and the Ford was working hard all the way up the 7% grade for about 8 miles. We crested the mountain doing 35 or 40 mph. The CG we are in is very nice. It's quiet and we are in the back of the park with a good view of the high desert and snow covered mountains. I finally got a new camera and have had a struggle to get the pictures transferred to my computer. I have ended up transferring them from the camera to Judy's PC, then to a memory chip and then to my PC. Also in the pictures is Dave Wood and Tank. We are traveling with Dave & Trish plus Trish's brother Bill.

Bullhead City & Oatman AZ

We spent 3 nights with Dave & Trish in Ehrenberg visiting with Joan & Rich. On Thursday we went with Dave & Trish up to Bullhead City, AZ 123 miles through the CA desert. That will be the only time we'll be in CA in this trip west. Trish's brother Bill was already there so the three of us are parked together. You can see across the river to a casino in Laughlin as you look down the palm tree lined entrance/exit to the RV park in one picture. On Friday the ladies went shopping so the guys spent the afternoon across the Colorado River in Laughlin, NV at the Golden Nugget. If you spend $10 in the video poker game at the bar you can drink free so we took advantage of the opportunity. Saturday we stayed put but on Sunday Judy & I went to a new Lutheran church and in the afternoon Dave & Trish went with us to Oatman an old mining town where burro's wander in the streets. It was a nice drive in the AZ boonies. Thanks for Dave & Trish allowing me to use their camera.