Pahrump and Death Valley

I want to wish all my friends a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR, another year gone, hope it was a good one.

I can't believe that I haven't done another blog.  I have been so busy having fun there has been no time.  After I left Lake Mead I headed to Pahrump, it was only an hours drive.  Most of the drive is up a 6% grade of a mountain so it was a long slow drive.  I have a campground membership where I can stay for 35 days for $3.50 a night and after that $12.50 a night so I booked in for two weeks.  I was going to go with a singles group to Death Valley, but I had enough of dry camping for awhile and was tired out from the drive west.  So I stayed 7 weeks and would have stayed longer, but it turned cold and would you believe it snowed.  It went down to below freezing every night in December and only up into the mid 40's.

While in Pahrump I did go up into Death Valley quite a few days and hooked up with the singles group.  Pahrump was the area where the Shoshone Indians hung out. Pah means water in Shoshone and rump means rock.  It has a abundance of artesian wells so the area was a great place to farm.  Alfalfa, cotton and cattle were raised. Before the 60's there were no roads, phones in or out of the Pahrump Valley. The town being an hour away from Las Vegas  became a place where people wanted to move so, the telephone lines and paved roads began.  In 2000 there were 25,000 people but that has grown a lot since then.  Its called an exurb because almost all agriculture has stopped.  Michael Jackson bought a home here in 2008 and lived for a while with his kids. There were parts of a few pictures shot in the Pahrump area, Rain Man, The Amazing Race and Mars Attack. From Pahrump you have access to Death Valley, Shoshone, and Rhyolite (a ghost town)  just north about 50 miles.  Pahrump is very unique it has brothels where you can go for lunch and get the tour.  One is the Chicken Ranch, we just looked outside and Sherri's Ranch where we had lunch and a very interesting tour with one of the girls, who was dressed in a very tiny bikini and stiletto shoes.  The place was very high class and very friendly.  They had different rooms that the men can go to with hot tubs, jazzcui tubs and a Bud Weiser room.  Beautifully decorated, we didn't ask the price for the girls.  What they do is parade by the men who are sitting in a very up scale sitting room and they pick.  I was impressed.  The girls come to the ranch for a week or two then go back to their normal lives.  I am told they make very good money. Forgive my spelling on some words.

I went on a couple of tours with the singles in Death Valley and one was Shoshone.  What a interesting town there are a couple of restaurants the buildings from the early 1900s. There is a museum with a lot of history including a dinsours that were found in the area.  Lots of mining equipment.  I love the old pictures and a lot of them show how the woman survived. They celebrate once a year with Shoshone Days.  There is a cemetery there with over 55 people in it and just by the side of the road.  They still use it.  In the hill side there is what they call Dublin Gulch, in the 1920's miners carved dwellings in the caliche clay (don't know what that is).  The name comes from an area of the same name in Butte Montana.  Some caves have split levels, stovepipes and garages.  It is hard to believe that people lived in them for years.  Of course being in the desert it is a lot warmer.  No one has lived in them since the 1970's.  A lot of old buildings that house restaurants, motel, high school and swimming pool. They even have a small airport.

This blog is short want to get it done by Christmas.  Have a great one.

Las Vegas Here I Come

I left the campground early to get into the gas station just down the road.  It was Saturday and I thought it would be an easy in and out.  Well was I wrong.  There was a big transport truck parked right in front of the gas station so I couldn't get in.  When I asked the guy how long he would be he said about 20 minutes, ya right.  An hour later he left, but in the mean time another truck parked on the road, no access.  He did move and I managed to get in.  Some of these stations are very small and if you don't get close enough the hose will not reach.  It took me three times to get at the right spot and the hose just reached.  Guess what Visa card wouldn't work you know the drill, finally was on my way just after nine.   The scenery was very boring, flat and desert, and no rest areas.  I finally reached Kingman and found a place to pull over thank goodness, I have my bathroom with me.  As you come into Kingman there are big signs saying no transport trucks, trailers or buses are allowed over the Hoover Dam.  mmmmm does that mean motorhomes?  It doesn't say.  I don't want to go the long way around because the hills are really steep and from Laughlin up to Vegas it took me 20 minutes the last time to get up the hill.  Sooooo I took the short route and wondered all the way if I would have to turn around and come back.  I didn't see a lot of RVs on the road.  To get to the dam you have to go down really big hills and they curve around the mountains.  Brakes are pressed to the limit, but what a beautiful view.  At the bottom I breathed a sigh of relief they let me through.  I had to get out and open up all my storage bays plus they went inside to look around and I had to open up my car.  The security here is very tight since 911.  I have nothing to hide so just did what they wanted. I commented to the guy that I smelled something - da it was my brakes he said.  Talk about feel stupid. 

It took me almost an hour to get through this two lane highway, it was Saturday and crowded with people.  Lots of signs saying give way to pedestrians and they do move slow. 

Here is some information on the dam - It was built during the depression to give people jobs.  It was started in 1931 and took 5 years to build.  It is 726.4 ft. high and weighs more than 6,600,000 tons and was finished in 1936.  They employed 3,500 people and it was the first man made structure to exceed the concrete mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza.  Dam tickets are $9.00  for Seniors and the Visitors Centre is $8.00 for Seniors.  The Power Plant Tour is not listed so it is probably a lot more.  They are building a bypass around the dam and it began in  January 2005.  The finishing date is late 2010, but that is questionable.  The winds that blew hard a few years ago blew over some of the spans so they had to repair these before they could continue.  This bridge will span the Black Canyon 1,600 ft south of the dam.  It will connect Arizona and Nevada with approaching highways 900 ft above the Colorado River.  If you want more information go to http://www.hoverdambypass.org/.  I am not interested in this stuff so have never taken the tour. 

I stayed at the Boulder Dam campground with a group called the Wandering Individual Network  WINS for short.  It is a group of singles that are very active with Kayaking and hiking.  They do a lot of over night trips, I don't have a kayak and don't have the stamina they go for hours.  This is a National Park called Lake Mead.  I used my pass and saved $25.00 and $6.00 everytime I went out.  The sites are in the trees and quite big.  You pick a spot you like and then take an envelope from the box they provide and put your money in it.  Not being an American I had to pay $10.00 a day U.S. seniors get a Golden Age Pass they can use at any National or State park and they pay half price.  The campground used to be at the edge of Lake Mead, but now with the water down so far you have to drive to the beach about a quarter mile away.  These sites are dry camping, but they have a dump station if you need it. There are two casinos just down the road so we went for breakfast a couple of mornings.  You don't need lunch after that.  You get two eggs, hashbrowns (these are really good) the size of a small plate and bacon. All for $2.99.  The other casino had 99 cent draft beer, hot dogs, shrimp cocktail and a humungus strawberry shortcake made by the waitress.  Almost too big to eat it all, but I finished it, it was so good.  One night we went to the Elk's for a dinner and dance.  They had BBQ pork on a bun with coleslaw and potato salad, desert was ice cream.  A great dance band, yes I did get to dance, haven't done that in a few years.

Of course I had to find a Wal Mart and a Bath and Body Works store.  For years I have been stocking up on my special body lotion when I come to the states because they weren't in Canada.  They have finally came to Toronto and they opened a store in the Georgian Mall just before I left so I don't have to bring any back.  My car needed an oil change so found the Honda Dealer and spent a morning getting that done.  It was fast and when they were finished they even washed my car.  It didn't last long with all the dust around the west. 

We went to Freemont Street in downtown Vegas the Friday night before I left to see the laser light show, have dinner and just enjoy the crowd.  We went to Binions for prime rib, it was two for one so the cost per person was $6.95.  It was so tender it melted in your mouth, the size of a greeting card and one quarter inch thick.  Baked potato and veggies.  The picture on here is me beside $1,000,000.  Will never get that close again.  We wondered out into the street and checked out the people, some were dressed for Halloween and lots of Halloween things going on.  The Frankinstein rock band played the Rocky Horror Picture Show songs with some great dancers.  Another stage had a magic show where the guy drilled his body with a big drill and then ended with him being locked up in water. The end was the girl was in the water and he was out of his chains. Quite impressive.  I didn't gamble, you had to get a players card and needed ID which I didn't bring.  By the time you get a players card for all the casinos you would need a purse to carry all of them.  The laser show was great they did some Halloween things, a lot of the oldies songs with pictures.  They project pictures onto a ceiling that goes the length of Freemont St.  The colours are amazing.  One of the pictures had a rocket taking off with the fire following.  That night the parking was free which was nice.  We were out of there by 11, thank goodness I wasn't driving I would never have gotten out of the city.

As you can see left the ceiling over the street goes a long way.  It was hard to see it all it moved so fast.  You would need to be at one end for a better look.

The one thing I have found out here people eat early, which I like. You have to go early before the crowds or you wait in line. Everyone is home by 9.  I am still having trouble with the time difference.  It doesn't help that I have Eastern Satellite and by 11 o'clock Eastern Time it is only 7 here so nothing to watch.  I have started to use my Tivo and record the daytime shows, then I watch them after 7.  This year I am getting all the TV stations.  The last few years as you go west some of your eastern stations don't come on.  I was told that the satellite wasn't in the right place to get them.  I wonder why now.  Bell does like to play with their customers.  I can't complain about anything to them because we are not supposed to take our Satellites into the states it is illegal.  What they don't know won't hurt them.  Not nice Ma Bell. 

On to Pahrump and Death Valley next.  I am almost caught up with myself here in Pahrump.

GRAND CANYON continued

As one of my blog readers asked a question I thought I should explain why I have so much trouble getting my credit card to work at gas stations down here.  A few years ago some of the gas stations started asking for a ZIP code when you used your credit card at the pumps.  It wasn't a problem back then because I would just avoid them.  Well almost every one I went into this year asks for that ZIP and being Canadian it will not accept our Postal Codes.  They want you to tell them what price figure you want to put into your car, well I don't know and with an RV I try to fill it up then I know how long I can go before a fill up.  Gas guage isn't that accurate although I have never run out yet.  If you don't tell them what you want they want to keep your credit card while you pump the gas.  I will not do that at any time.  What I have done is put an American address as the prime address on my Visa.  I am hoping this will work and will find out after my next fill up.  When I come back home I will change it over to Canadian again.  I also do paperless bills so they don't send the monthly statement to the U.S. address.  I won't be at that address all the time.  The reason they are doing this is quite a few people fill their cars and then take off with out paying.  I think you will see this in Canada in the near future.

I parked near the Visitors Centre in the Grand Canyon and hopped on the shuttle bus.  What a great way to meet people, just ask a question and everyone jumps in.  I went to the far end of the Canyon called Hermits Rest and is only accessible by tram.  I walked back about a mile to the next tram pick up spot. The elevation is 7,000 ft (2,100 m) so even a small walk is an effort with the thin air. I did make it but was breathing hard and decided I wouldn't do any more.  They have beautiful walking paths with lookouts all along the way.  They also tell you how long it is from one tram stop to the next.  This closed part is open during the winter to passenger vehicles.  The temperatures range from 50-60F in the summer and 20 to 50F in the winter. So I got on and off on the way back.

I stopped at the Bright Angel trailhead and had lunch in the restaurant.  The meals are so big here that I hate to order anything big so ordered a chiefs salad.  It was big, but I managed to finished it.  I have to say it was the best salad I have had in a long time.  There is a history room in the same building filled with information on Fred Harvey one of the pioneers that made the Grand Canyon what it is today.  He saw that peopled were getting poor food and services and high prices so he took over and improved the services and food for the railway passengers.  He hired thousands of women to work in his restaurants, waitresses  known as the Harvey Girls.  He hired college educated women to conduct tours of the Southwest.  Mary Colter was hired to do all the architectural work on his buildings.  Her influence directed the early architecture in the National Parks. There were some interesting antiques from the past in this museum.  I looked through the gift shop and was looking through the kids books when a lady came over and showed me a book that her grand child loved "Who Pooped In The Park".  I figured all kids love anything to do with poop.  One Xmas present down a few more to go.

As I was sitting eating my meal the tables were full.  There was a table of German people who spent around $100.00.  The waitress's comment about the tip, which was only $1.00 was cheap.  I giggled to myself because German tourists have a lot of money. Picked the tram up and worked my way back.  It was really busy in the afternoon and was glad I got there early, everyone was looking for a parking space.  Some more information -  The South Rim and North Rim are only 10 miles apart as the raven flies.  It is 215 miles (356km) by road.  The South Rim is open all year and the North Rim is closed from Oct. to May because of the snow.  The South Rim gets a sprinkling of snow a few times in the winter. By four o'clock I was really tired, still fighing this darn flu I have had.  It's an hour drive from the campground I was staying at.

The day was great, missed most of the traffic on the way up and the way back.  Next stop Las Vegas.

Grand Canyon

I left Albuquerque around 8 am and went to the Flying J just down the road.  I got in very easily and it wasn't busy.  Well I figured in an out, not.  Most of the gas stations now want your Zip Code number and being Canadian we don't have one and they don't accept our Postal Code.  I gave my bank an American address and said to put that as my prime address.  That didn't work so phoned them and of course they couldn't send the bill to my home address they would have to send it to the american address where I will be off and on.  A fix they said was to get a paperless bill soooo I did that and of course they will send me a pin number.  I wish I would get paid for all the hours I am on the phone to these people and Bell.  Now I wait.  To continue the story, they want you to leave your Visa card with them and that I won't do.  Well I was holding up the BIG line so one of the managers turned the pump on.  After an hour I was on my way.  Also some Flying J's propane fills are the wrong way so the MH's have to wait for the spot to be empty then pull in the wrong way.  Lots of fun on the road. 

There are not many rest areas on this route, but did stop at the Arizona Welcome Centre.  It was very interesting, I walked around and enjoyed the history of the area.  The hills were beautiful different colours as I drove.  I learned that Buttes are a single hill in the middle of no where, a Messa is flat level hill I guess you would call them.  They are not high but very flat and a Plateau is a lot of the flat rocks that go for miles.

I had enough of dry camping so stopped at the Meteor Crator Campground just past Winslow. It was a Passport America park.  It was a nice clean park and run by the rangers.  The crator was about five miles from there, but I had picked up a flu bug and was feeling really lousy so I just sat and enjoyed some TV over night.  The wind was blowing hard and the dust was in everything again.  I did do a wash had no underwear left.  I know it needs to be done when I have a couple left.  Yes I know it is more information than you need to know, but that is life on the road. You have to lug your laundry bag, soap and fabric softener to the laundry in the campground then wait.  I do a lot of reading.  You also hope that it isn't busy.

It was only an hour and a half to Williams where I camped at a Passport America Campground.  This organization has a lot of campgound you can get into for half price.  The full price was $35.00, it is the closest one to the Grand Canyon.  I paid $19.00 per night.  Williams is one of the few towns that is still part of Route 66 and goes right through it.  Interesting little buildings, but mostly tours to the Canyon.  The train leaves for the Canyon everyday from Williams.  I was there for four days and took a Jeep ride into the Canyon down to the Colorado River.  We took a van to the Canyon Caverns and took a tour.  You took an elevator down 16 stories.  It took about an hour of walking through these beautiful rocks and formations. This is a dry caveron so there is no water. The guide was interesting and gave the story of how it was found and how they took people down.  Well they didn't take people down they were showed where to go and they even had to take their own flashlights.  Today it has been modernized to the point that some people have their weddings down there.  They were trying to build a place where you could stay over night, but all it did was make it look awlful and it still isn't finished.  We saw a mummified bob cat and a rabbit.  They also put some fake skeltons in among the rocks.  Of course they had a gift shop, but I am trying to get rid of all the stuff I have now so don't buy anything.  This caveron was used as a bomb shelter, they stored food and water there.  It has been down there for years.  The joke is that you would die from lack of air if you had a lot of people staying there, not lack of water or food. The air changes every two weeks.

We picked up the jeep and had to get permits to go onto the Hualapai Indian territory.  The guide was very interesting and kept us laughing all the way down.  There were 7 in our jeep including two cute little girls from Tucson.  We stopped a lot on the way down to take pictures.  One of the places was the "Hole in The Wall" where the outlaws hid from the sherriff.  It was 19 miles down on a very bumpy rock road with a few washes where the water was washing over the road.  Washes are sudden rivers that come down from the mountains when it has been raining and can sweep you up and carry you for miles.  All the guides are very watchful of the weather and they won't go down if there is a threat of rain.  The girls loved it when he raced through the water spraying everywhere.  When we got to the bottom there were quite a few rafts that had stopped for lunch.  A lot were coming out at that point so it was busy.  It is the end of the season so they are having a last kick at the cat.  We had a very nice lunch, you had your pick of different meats and on whole wheat bread.  Usually its that awlful white bread.  They even separated the lettuce and tomatoes so no soggy bread.  Apples, oreos, chips and water or gaterade. On our way home we stopped at Saligman another small town on the old Route 66.  Picture below.  It was where they filmed the movie CARS.  I would love to go back and spend some time there.  Neat stores and restaurants.  The cost was $216.00 and I used a coupon for $10.  It was an all day trip from 9 in the morning till 6 at night.  It didn't do much for me feeling so sick, but hey I wasn't going to miss it.

The next day I headed for the top of the Grand Canyon.  I left really early to avoid the lineups and to get a parking spot.  It is a busy place every day.  I bought a seasons pass for $80.00 now I can get into all the National Parks in the U.S.  It will pay for itself fast because I will be going to a lot of these parks.  You can take a van tour into the park, but I found out there is one section you cannot go into except by trams.  So instead of paying $80 for a 4 hour day I got to start at one end and see it all.  It is so much faster taking these trams they run every 15 minutes and they are free.  What can I say it was amazing.  There were people hiking all the way down to the bottom, staying overnight and hiking back up. I talked to a lot of people and learned where to go and what restaurant was good.  As you can see by the pictures it is a beautiful peaceful place.

The picture to the left is the hole in the wall.  Next on is down the canyon to the Colorado river with the big rafts getting ready to go down the river.

Will continue this later don't want you all to get tired reading.  You all have a great weekend.

Balloon Fiesta Continues

The balloon field is 56 football fields long and they have them lettered from "A" on down the alphabet and the width is 10 numbers wide. It is all grassed so they don't have to put their tarps down.   There is just enough room for your truck and to lay out your balloon.  Its amazing to see 10 balloons in a row inflating.  I didn't work the first day so I was able to take a lot of pictures.  They let the public wander the fields and check out the balloons every time they ascend.  There were hundreds of people there every morning at 6 am and at night at 4pm.  If the wind is low they will take off in the morning and at night they just have the glow.  The glow is all the balloons inflated and at the count of three they all light their burners.  See pictures below.  There are vendors all around the field selling anything and everything.  Food mostly boritto's and mexican things.  They were selling last years clothing for $10 but didn't get there in time.  I did get a nice demum shirt with balloons on it at the local Casino 30%.  I crewed for the Strawberry a picture below.   These balloons run from $15,000 to over $100,000.  The higher priced were the speciality balloons. 

They had the helium balloons there they do a Great American Race every year.  These look like regular balloons that you blow up and they fill them up with a long hose.  I watched them trying to do this in the wind, it was probably about 20 to 25 miles per hour.  They had 6 of them and after they are finished they have to weigh them.  It cost $6,000 to fill them so you are looking at $36,000 for them all.  Well they waited two days for the wind to die down and that didn't happen.  They cancelled the race and emptied the balloons.  The Fiesta pays for the helium and they said only one fill.  These balloons go for miles and days.  They take all their supplies with them, food, cloths and anything else that they need.  The last balloon that is in the air is the winner.  Some have gone as far as Nove Scotia.  As they lose the helium they have to get rid of the weight so they throw things out, I guess where it is safe.  I would have loved to see them take off, but wasn't to be.

I crewed for almost the whole week, morning and night and I suffered the next week, but it was worth it just to get a ride.  Will I go back, if I am in the neighbour hood yes and crew again.  The pilots get all kinds of free stuff and usually take their crew, but not my guy he supposedly had personal problems and wasn't very nice.  Some are great some are not.  Lots of the balloons came over my motorhome and landed in the field in front of me. Some our group helped when they came into land, others just set down and picked up a rider.  The Colorado river is close so a few of them dipped into it, it is supposed to be a tradition, but not recommended.

They have a Balloon Museum on the grounds with the history from the start of ballooning until the present day.  A very interesting place with hands on things you can do.  Lots for the kids too.  Cost was $2.00 for seniors.
It rained one day so didn't have to get up and rush.  There were busses that picked you up near your motorhome and dropped you off when you came back.  I paid $25.00 a day because I stayed over 9 days and the first and last days I got for $15.00.  No hookups but cheaper than some of the tours. Below on the left is the balloon I rode in the Strawberry.  I get air sick but this you just float like on a cloud hard to describe. So I worried about nothing.

I hung out with a group called the Boomers people who were born from 1940 to 1960, what a fun group even though they are all couples.  I had a couple of problems in the motorhome so asked and there was always someone that would help.  Got my 12V plug for my back TV fixed and Barry, the guy that came over, gave me a lesson on Voltgage.  I now have a voltage meter permanently mounted on my wall so I can tell when I need to put the generator on.  I did drain my car battery some how but now I can keep a check on it.  Also found out that my propane tank I use for my portable heater had a bad valve so it is useless unless I pay $25.00 to get it fixed.  I bought it because it was small and I could handle it.  I have three 20 lb. tanks at home of course.

Albuqurque is at 5,000 elevation and the air is very thin.  Went for a walk one day and could hardly breath.  Didn't do that again.  Also very dry and your skin flakes and your nose bleeds.  They say you get used to the height, but I could never get used to the dryness.  I also picked up a bad bug which really knocked me down.  It was going around the group. My bucket list has two things crossed off now.  The cow is Canadian sponsored.