Southward Migration

When I last updated I was boondocking in an abandoned mine area off Highway 50 between Carson City and Dayton Nevada. 

While we were there I had a friend stop over for a night on his way south.  An overnight guest?  But where would he sleep?  Turns out my office can double as a spare bedroom.

Here is my office in office mode.

And here it is when the fold up bunk bed is flipped down.  Our guest slept fine there.  (Scrappy is modeling the bed).

This boondock served us well for the 14 days we were allowed to stay there.  On 9/11, the last night we were there, we had a scare when many cars blocked us in.  We heard music and people speaking in Spanish.  There were lots of cars, and in such a remote dirt road area, late at night, that's frightening.  After a while it became clear they had come to our choice camping spot because they wanted to party.

I came out of the RV and attempted to greet them in Spanish.  Was that smart?  Probably not.  But I heard female voices among the crowd and that made me believe they weren't as nefarious as one might imagine.  A little while after I yelled 'Hola' to them the cars all left.  We slept through our last night with no more incidents.

This praying mantis on our ceiling is another visitor we had during the boondock.

My mother's medical stuff is as done as its going to be.  It's just too hard to get stuff done in Reno.  She's going to see her more accommodating doctor in Las Vegas.  I'm going to be a guest at a convention in October and they're flying me out of Vegas.  So Pahrump, near Vegas, is our ultimate travel goal.

On 9/12 we moved to the Washoe State Park.  I thought it would be a cheap night's stay where we could shower and maybe do some bucket laundry.  Since it was $15 per vehicle and we moved both our RV and car there, it was way too expensive.  But anyway, we got showered, dumped, got water, and did one bucket of laundry.  

I didn't take any pictures of the park, but it's a beautiful place to dry camp.  Large, spacious, level RV spaces that are spread out on two loops.  There's a lake there also, but it's too dry for boats to use the dock.  I didn't actually check out the water.  We just showered, dumped, the usual. 

The only problem with the state park, and the boondock, is that Juniper trees REALLY STINK.  I don't know if they always smell this pungent or if it's some special blossoming happening now, but they reek.  The park is full of them.

I'm trying to get to Tonopah, to a boondock we stayed at a year ago.  Tonopah is halfway between Reno and Vegas and there's a Passport America campground nearby where we can shower and do the rest of our laundry. 

So did we start heading towards Tonopah?  No.  We didn't.  We went east back to Fallon to stay at the Bonanza Casino again.  Because we suck.  We wasted money as usual.

During cold weather our cats Sultan and Scrappy will tolerate being near each other.

Tomorrow we will be making the long drive to Tonopah in one trip.  That's 4 hours to the boondock.  We'll stay there until we need to dump and then will check into that campground I mentioned.  After that, we're going the rest of the way back to Pahrump.

It's all familiar places right now, but we will be getting off the beaten path soon.  More on that later.

Carson City At Last!

BEHOLD this crappily lit picture!  For in it is life for us as it should be, with our SUV and RV riding together.  You can't imagine how grateful we are to have our car back and functioning well.  ;_;  Seriously...the last month and a half was tough.

For the last four days we were in Fallon Nevada camping at the Bonanza Casino.  Part of their parking lot is a full hook-up RV park that only charges $15/day.  I mean, it's pretty dang good for full hook-ups.  Obviously we usually boondock, but it was crazy hot.  Over 100 degrees.  We were grateful for the AC even though we also needed our fans.  Man it was hot.

The RV park was on a blacktop.  No grass.  No showers.  No laundry.  No typical RV park amenities.  Most people would snub their noses at it, but my mom and I like to gamble.  We often seek out casinos that allow RVs to overnight in their lots. 

Now, my original plan was to boondock near Carson City on BLM land while my mom saw to her doctor appointments.  After our ordeal with the car (and yes, I know I keep harping on it, but it was really stressful AF for us) I just booked an RV park.  Let's spend a month not worrying about AC, showers, laundry, or dumping.  Let's just relax and recover.

I'm at Camp N Town RV park in the middle of downtown Carson City.  We just arrived today but have a good impression so far.  Yes, it's wall to wall RVs, but that's how RVs parks are.  You want amenities, you have to give up wide open spaces.  As long as we have room to park the SUV and open the slides we're satisfied.

The park is an urban RV park where people are basically just living in their RVs while they live and work in Carson City.  It's well-kept, with owners who lay down the law about anyone who tries to make their area look dumpy.  Obviously most of the RVs are permanent residents, but the rigs still look nice and neat.  The bathroom was great.  It's wonderful to have showers!  The site is level.  And there's a Pho restaurant across the street!!

Of course, it's not cheap, because Carson City is a nice town.  With the electric deposit, bathroom key deposit, and rent it cost me $555 to move in.  My normal boondocking budget is $200/mo, and for RV Parks it's $450 tops (which is what this place cost before the other fees) but, you know what?  I can afford it.  I'm not going to deprive myself after what my mother and I have been through.  SCREW IT.  Let's enjoy the month.

Last year around this time we boondocked in the travel trailer at Baldini's Casino in Sparks.  After arriving in Carson City we drove into Reno to treat ourselves to Red Lobster, or as my mother likes to mistakenly sing:  Reeeeeed Lobster! Yum! (the Red Robin slogan).  After stuffing our faces with food that cost half a month's worth of my entertainment budget, we sought out a casino.  I went to Baldinis for old times sake.  I found out that RVs may now only camp in the back lot if they play $25/day.  -_-  Lame.  I guess this is off our boondocking list. 

My mom caught a Pokemon.  (Actually one of the tiny frogs who were all around the RV park in Caliente)