May 19, 2013 - Nevada: South-to-North

We've made it to northern Nevada tonight, after a challenging and long day on the road. We left Cattail Cove two days ago, heading north (between impossibly steep passes and high mountain ranges) towards Idaho. On the good side, central Nevada is far more scenic than we anticipated. If one likes high mountains (some still snow-capped) with huge valleys/basins, then Nevada has a lot to offer. Overall, the drive across the last two days has been very nice in terms of scenery. However, today held some challenges for us. Given the limitations...

Apr 7, 2013 - Eastward to Elko, NV

I sure had a wonderful week visiting with friends. I got a good start from Gail's home in Reno this morning and arrived in Elko at 2:30...just when the wind was really starting to pick up. I parked the 5th wheel and headed to town with the truck to get diesel and go mini shopping. Got back and the cable TV connection would not work. The maintenance man "didn't have time to deal with it today" so I am missing my Country Music awards and Revenge. I know, that's just aw shucks, but I'm bummed. Also noticed the back right tire on the 5th wheel...

Sep 13, 2012 - Back to Elko

Drove around Driggs and got photos of the white buffalo herd, then left for Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Twin Falls and on to Elko. Most interesting feature, the bridge over the Snake River Gorge into Twin Falls, which is used by BASE jumpers. As we were driving across the bridge, a guy on the other side of the bridge jumped, clad only in bermuda shorts, sneakers, what looks like a bicylce helmet and his parachute. The drive from Twin Falls to Elko is in a word dreary. Nothing but miles and miles of desert, puncuated by a wide spot in the two...

Sep 9, 2012 - Elko and getting here

Leaving home we cruised up I-80 to Sparks, and stopped at Scheel's, a sporting goods store to end all sporting good stores-290,000 sq ft of sporting goods. I checked out some items and found they were cheaper at home, at my local small sporting good store, so all I got here was pictures. We then set out for Elko, where were spent the night. Elko has changed some since the last time I was here. Some, but not much. The Raley's grocery that was sparkling new before is now a well worn and sorely in need of update store. But since the chain is...

Jul 30, 2012 - First Day Out

We got an early start...on the road before 8am. A very familar route up I80, over the Sierras. Nothing out of the ordinary...beautiful as usual. We did see a big herd of wild horses when we stopped for lunch between Reno and Fernley. Our stopping point for the day is about 20 miles past Elko, NV which is booming from all the mining activity, mainly gold. The RV park where we stayed was mainly inhabited by people who are clearly temporary to the area. Lots of pickup trucks came home around 6pm and left early the next morning. Elko is the...

Jul 30, 2012 - July 30 to Elko, Nevada

Brenda and I started out tired today. During the night, I alerted her to unfamiliar sounds by barking emphatically. She thanked me each time, but I could tell she thought my pronouncements were excessive. The cool air refreshed us both as we headed out to the interstate. I had my head out the window until we made it up the ramp and hit our cruising speed. Brenda noted the presence of those funny green colored Forest Service vehicles she remembered from when they spent time in Utah. These were labled Fast Shot Fire Suppression - or something...

Jul 17, 2012 - On The Road Again

This is the first cross country drive I've made since the middle 1970's. It will be interesting to see how much has changed since then. We did pretty good getting out of the Bay Area. We had planned to leave by 9:00am and ended up pulling out of the driveway at 9:45. The car was not near as full as I had expected and is very comfortable. Today's drive was a bit over 600 miles. Google maps said it would take 9 hrs 32 min but we made it in just under 7 hrs 30 minutes. Probably has something to do with driving 80-85 once we got past Reno.....

Oct 22, 2011 - Elko, Nevada

Friday morning we left Salt Lake City around 0800 headed for Elko, Nevada. The weather was excellent with some high cirrus clouds for the first 30 miles and then cloud free skies. The temperature was cool, the wind was minimal, and traffic was light. Both of us felt we were on the mend as our sinuses had cleared significantly and neither of us was coughing as badly as we had been. The 112 miles from Salt Lake to Wendover, Nevada is simply mile after mile of salt on a surface so flat it would seem that a giant grader had graded the entire...

Aug 15, 2011 - Elko, Nevada

We had a very long driving day today, about 350 miles. All we saw was a lot of desert. It is also very hot. :-) What a change after being in Montana for four months. We are staying at the Gold Country RV Park. It is right behind a motel and not much to brag about, but it has full hook ups with 50 amps. We need 50 amps to have both of the air conditioners running. Did I say it was hot? :-) I think we should have waited another month in Montana in cooler temperatures. We will be exploring several areas in Nevada for a few weeks before...

Aug 2, 2011 - Middle of Nowhere

We are not in Elko, but we are in Wells, NV, just over the border from Utah. There is so little going on here that the blog site doesn't pick it up. There are 4 casinos in town, 2 of them are closed, and the other 2 are in gas stations. We only had to go 180 miles today, so we had a leisurely morning (trying to get on the internet). We drove on I-80 the entire way. There were areas of wind, but for the most part it was good. We took a rest stop and lunch by the Bonneville Salt Flats. We had 3 Mountain Advisories (warnings of steep slopes)...

Aug 1, 2011 - Tumbleweeds

There's not really much to be said for Nevada. It's hot, it's dry, and it's kind of ugly if you have a preference for seeing things growing. It has a lot of sage brush, but not much else. There was some amusement in seeing tumbleweeds when we stopped at a rest stop, and we saw some dust devils, and even got caught in a brief (thank goodness!) dust storm, but I am more a fan of forests than deserts. We were surprised in crossing the border into Nevada (entering at a town called Jackpot) to see that within yards of the border there were...

Jul 5, 2011 - Onward to Yellowstone..

I rose pretty earlier and left the boys sleeping while I packed up all the gear. Missy took care of the inside packing. The boys had gotten every bike, chair and sports gear out that are available on the bus so it took a while to repack. On the other hand who can pack up their whole house with all the essentials in an hour and then hook their car to the back and change home sites? We headed out 300 miles north on the first of three long driving days to Yellowstone, MT. The drive was nice with the first flat stretches of highway since...