End of the Journey

We are still in Pahrump and the weather continues to be quite warm.  We were planning on staying until Wednesday, but the weather forecast has heat warnings as they are predicting temperatures in the 40c range.  Now that is definitely too hot.  Based on the forecast further north, there should be decent travelling weather, so Monday morning we head out.  Day one was a short one.  There is a beautiful campground north of Las Vegas that we like to stay at so that was where we stayed.  Here are some photos around this campground.

Next morning was a fairly early start but the ever ready bunny knew where he wanted to spend the night and it was about 700 miles away - Twin Bridges, MT  - we made it.

All we need to do now is another day - same distance - and we are home.  Well we did it - tired but home.   Here are a couple of photos on the trip home.

Our border crossing was interesting.    We pull up to the border and there are pylons across the road.  We stop and wait for a few minutes and no one comes out so we decide to have lunch.  As luck would have it, we just start to eat and out someone comes.  This lady comes out, gets our passports, and asks us a few normal questions (ie: cannabis, guns or ammunition, over $5000 cash, etc).  Then she tells us to follow her into the building (this is the U.S. customs).  As we  go around the corner, she tells us to go inside as someone will meet us there and she is going to inspect the motorhome.  Now anyone who knows our motorhome knows that you have to hold your mouth right to be able to open the door so I say quietly to Gerry "I want to see her open it".  A couple of minutes later, she comes in and asks if there is a trick to opening the door?  Gerry says "I will come out and open it".  She says "no, you can't do that" (I guess against protocol).  Gerry replies "then you  won't get it open".  She says "OK, I will meet you out there".  At the end of the inspection, they were all very nice and quite friendly.  The purpose of this inspection - apparently it is to secure the border.  This is done on the US side next to the Canadian border, by US customs officers so......  Then we go through the Canadian border with Canadian officers.

We finished another 700 mile day, tired, but home.  The next day we unloaded, refueled, and put the motorhome away until our next trip.  Fortunately, the travelling weather was terrific.  Other than short stretches of some side winds, we had either no wind, or a tail wind, which is always a travelling dream.

It's been a great winter, the weather had been most pleasant, and it was terrific to meet up with some old friends again, as well as meet some new friends.  Thanks for joining us on our winter get away so until next trip, keep healthy, and keep safe.

This Week - Not Like The Others

 We started the week still near Oatman, AZ so we decided to take a drive along the old Route 66 to Kingman, AZ which at one time was the only road through this area and many parts are very narrow and winding (there are 191 curves in 9 miles).  In some areas, the flowers were blooming although we did not see the hillside filled with California poppies as we have in the past. 

Along the side of the road is a place called Shaffer Spring.  It is a natural bowl  up a short and steep path and has been stocked with goldfish.  The colour of this water - hmmm - how do the goldfish survive? 

And of course, the burros along the highway waiting for someone to stop and feed them.

Monday morning it's time to pack up and move.  One of the jacks did not want to totally retract, so this is fix one.  Along the way, we stop at a service station at a Casino as it has been advertised to have cheaper fuel.  We get there and the advertised price is still pretty reasonable, but the diesel pumps are covered.  Oh well, we will carry on as we really don't need fuel yet, but we go by another station and yup, the diesel pump is also covered.  Perhaps it might be of concern that this is what we could expect, but we carry on.

We cross over into Nevada near Laughlin and head towards Las Vegas.  The road is very good, except it is a rather steep climb.  As we head up, we are going slower and slower and the engine starts getting hotter and hotter so we pull over to the side of the road to let it cool off.  As the engine was running to cool off it got HOT!  We get out and check and there is antifreeze everywhere.  We call roadside assistance, a mobile mechanic comes out and determines that a hose clamp let go, he replaces it and we are on our way.  

At the top of the hill there is a rest area where we decided to reconnect the Jeep.  All is good, we stop to reconnect, and oops, not so good - it's leaking again.  I give the mechanic a call and he comes to us and determines that he did not tighten the clamp tight enough as there didn't seem to be a problem anywhere else.  By now it is 5 pm so we spend the night in the rest area.

Next morning, the step would not retract so again, another repair job.  Actually it wasn't a repair but make it not a problem and away we go.

We go to Pahrump, NV to revisit a place we visited every winter in years past.  We are planning on staying a week so we stay at a campground and get some final chores done, and to replace the step motor.  The motor is ordered, received, but not installed.  The motor that is supposed to fit does not so that will be a fix down the road.

We took a tour of Death Valley which is really pretty amazing.  The scenery is every changing and spectacular.  There is a super bloom; however it is not as we remember in the past.  There are a lot of flowers but the  variety is limited. 

It is beautiful to see the landscape covered in colour.  We drove along the Badwater Basin which is the lowest level in North America. 

Due to the big rains at the start of the year, there is still a bit of water in the basin and you can walk out on the salt flats right to the water. 

We drove and we stopped and we drove and we stopped.  The weather has been hot but being in Death Valley, and the low elevation, I found the heat a bit tough to tolerate.  All in all it was a super day.  There are so many photos so I created a video - just click (or double click) on the video.

This morning we went to a flea market at the Legion.  There were a lot of vendors - some with produce, some with jewelry, some with crafts, but a lot with junk!  Here was the cutest vendor of all - each chick was $5.

Of course the price of fuel is over the top.  If this continues, here goes the kid's inheritance!

The weather this week is again supposed to be unusually hot but the good news is that it extends a long way north.

I hope everyone has a great week.