Stealth traveling

As our travel plans for the summer changed, we decided to surprise our daughter for her landmark birthday.  We left Pahrump on Saturday and traveled to Mojave.  As we were traveling the highway to Baker, CA we passed relay runners as well as all of their support personnel.  I was able to learn from the internet that Southern CA police departments were hosting a Baker to Las Vegas race (120 miles).  There were 262 teams from across the country and two teams from Europe.  It was 92* a little after 9 a.m.  Bravo to all of those running in the desert heat.

We stopped in Yermo for diesel ($4.43 a gallon - welcome to CA lol) and an early lunch.  Once we got settled in Mojave, we had hoped to see my sister who lived in Lancaster.   When I called her as we were 10 miles from Mojave, she told me that two weeks earlier she had moved to Lawndale (a suburb of LA).  Oh well, best laid plans.

On Sunday, we left Mojave and headed for Los Banos.  We have been very lucky with not having to deal with strong head winds since leaving Tucson.  Kind of unusual heading west across the desert.

Monday found us arriving in Sacramento.  Our original plans were to surprise Melissa at her workplace on her birthday.  When we learned that she was taking the day off to spend a girl day with her best friend, new plans were set in motion.  We conspired with Kelly to surprise Melissa at lunch on Thursday.  Gosh, it was so hard to be in Sacramento and having to cool our heels in seeing our daughter until Thursday.  Luckily, we had a friend drop by and we spent Wednesday evening with John's sister and brother-in-law that all helped to pass the time.

So today was the day that we could finally see our precious daughter.  With Kelly texting us when they would arrive at the restaurant, we get there after they were seated.  We were able to walk up behind Melissa where I slid a birthday card in front of her.  She looks down and I could see that she was perplexed as the card had my writing on it.  She slowly looked over to us where we said Happy Birthday!  Her eyes got large and her jaw dropped.  Success!  Hugs were soon shared.  She asked if we were staying at her aunt and uncles and we said no, we were at Cal Expo.  A big smile crossed her face when we told her we were going to be her for almost a month.  At that point of time, the wait was well worth the reward of seeing her reaction.

Death Valley NP

As we were in Pahrump, we decided to make the drive to Death Valley because the distance was only 30 miles . . .  to the outer boundary of the park but certainly not the interior.  As it was suppose to be 102* in Death Valley, we decided to get an early 8 a.m. start.  We were a couple of miles down the road when John said he forgot to turn the air conditioners on so we turned around to get them turned on as they were going to be needed later in the day.  We are then a few miles out of Pahrump when John's phone ring so we pulled over to have a nice conversation with a friend.  Ha, ha so much for our early start.

As we are headed towards Furnace Creek, we saw some pretty colors in the mountains.

This sign is almost 20 miles in to the park.

Views of Death Valley from Dante's Viewpoint

We then headed to Furnace Creek where we had lunch were serenaded by a road runner sitting up in a tree.  It took us a while to spot where he was sitting.  I tried getting a picture of him but he was so close to the trunk that you can't really see him.  We watched a movie on Death Valley and then went outside to take some pictures.  

At noon it was 96* and the heat was oppressive.  Not sure if we just aren't acclimated to hot weather or if being below sea level had an effect but we weren't to thrilled to continue any sight seeing.  Also, to drive to Stove Pipe Wells and Scotty's Castle would add at least another 100 miles round trip to get back to Furnace Creek.  We decided that we really weren't too interested to drive those miles and then have to pay these diesel prices to fill up our tank.

If you go to Death Valley, I would suggest you plan on doing it in the fall or winter and be prepared to drive to see the sights.

This is my personal opinion but here we are in Death Valley and see the sign above for a golf course?  Seems like an obscene waste of the precious resource of water in the desert.  But that is just me.

Prescott Valley - Kingman - Pahrump

Yep, we are indeed on the move once again but first a recap of our last day in Prescott.  We did make it to the Smoki Museum with Rick and Y.  So what is the Smoki Museum?  Click here for more information about the museum and who/what Smoki is.  

Goodbye Prescott Valley - we really enjoyed our stay.

We left PV and drove to Kingman, AZ for our overnight stay on Tuesday.  It was an unusual driving day as we had absolutely no wind.  As all RV drivers know that means better than normal mpg's - whoo hoo!  We did have to hit up a store to buy a new blow dryer as mine died before I was able to get my hair dried boo hoo flat hair.

This morning we headed for Pahrump, NV.  Why?  Well, ever since 2004 when we saw an RVing story about Terrible's Lakeside RV Park, we have wanted to stay at this RV park and this time around seemed as good as any.  Still a little cool further up north so we headed for Pahrump.

Here is a shot of our first view of the Colorado River.

So we got to drive over the new bridge and I must admit we were a bit disappointed.  We saw the bridge under construction in 2008 and it looked to be so high (it is) but you can't see Hoover Dam from the bridge.  There are a couple of overlooks but when you are pulling a 36 foot 5th wheel, you can't exactly pull over.  

A shot of Lake Mead whose water level was very low.

View of Las Vegas casinos from the 215.

View of snow cap mountains north of Pahrump.

So I need to tell you the rest of the story.  We wanted to stay at Terrible's Lakeside:

Sadly, they were booked up :(  As we drove through the RV Park, John kept saying WOW (I know honey, that is why I wanted to stay here LOL).  So our backup plan was to stay at the Escapee Co-Op, Pair-a-dice.  Not as esthetically pleasing but as Escapee members, it is a very nice park and very friendly.

Hunkered down

We woke up to a dusting of snow this morning.  I've got soup cooking in the crock pot, am getting our laundry done, and we are comfy cozy indoors so bring it on - snow that is.  So far the snow comes and goes with nothing much sticking to the ground.  

Our original plans were to leave on Friday 13th and go up to the Grand Canyon.  Those plans got scratched when the weather reports were for a high of 41* and inches of snow.  Nope, that isn't the way we want to visit the Grand Canyon.  I'm sure it is beautiful but way too cold for us.  So we stayed put here in Prescott Valley.  We are enjoying the area very much and the time is just flying by.

Here is a bit of recap:

Tuesday visited with Larry and Geri in the morning and then headed out to the grocery store and Trader Joe's.  

Wednesday we did some touring around with Rick and Y and picked up two pies to take to Bruce and Jenna's as they were having the six of us (Rick, Y, Larry, Geri, John and myself) over for dinner.  What a nice evening we had.

Thursday we saw Larry and Geri pull out after hugs and safe travel wishes as they continue on with their travels.  The four of us stopped in the office to extend our stays and did some more touring around.

Friday saw us headed to Chino Valley and then Jerome to look around.  This was the first time Rick and Y had been to Jerome.  We stopped at Haunted Hamburger for lunch, John really enjoyed his hamburger, Rick said his was ok, while Y and I each had their Hawaiian Chicken sandwich which could best be described as uninspiring.  At least one of us were really happy with our meal LOL.

Town of Jerome - old mining town

View of San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff looking out over Cottonwood/Verde Valley

Looking for a geocache - found it!

We have had one wrinkle thrown into the mix and that was being notified that our main credit card had some fraudulent activity on it so it was shut down.  New cards are on the way but what a pain to have to notify everyone we have bill direct to our credit card.  We had to make a run in to Prescott to pay our Verizon bill as it was due on Friday and I was able to make our AT&T payment on line.  Hopefully, we will have the new cards Monday or Tuesday at the latest.  I hope to have all our accounts updated before other items gets billed.  What a pain in the tush.  We are very grateful that our credit card company keeps an eye on these things for us. 

Yarnell, AZ

With Larry driving, the six of us got in their truck and headed up to Yarnell, AZ to visit The Shrine of St. Joseph of the Mountains.  Larry and Geri discovered this  gem while staying near Congress, AZ.  On a nondescript road in a small Arizona town lies a sanctuary in a shaded grove of oak trees and granite boulders.  The Shrine is built as the Stations of the Cross that have been hewn out of rock.  I couldn't possibly give a better description of the Shrine than you can find here.  We are so glad that Larry and Geri not only told us about this place but shared the trip with us.

What a beautiful moving experience.

After visiting the the Shrine, we loaded up and headed to the Ranch House for lunch.  Not only were the portions huge but the food was very tasty.  John once again surprised everyone with the quantity of food he eats as he not only ate his huge burrito but most of mine as well.  John has been riding from the RV park up 89A up towards the mountain summit just above the town of Jerome.  From 5,000' foot elevation to over 7,000' feet so I guess he can eat whatever he wants :)  Here is proof of his accomplishment: photo taken from John's cell phone.

We then drove over to North Ranch (Escapee Park) outside the town of Congress where we got a tour of the grounds and stopped in to met Mike and Pat McFall.  Mike and Pat were distributors of the Pressure Pro System that we and the Dyers purchased several years ago.  The Pressure Pro System allows us to keep track of the tire pressures on our trucks and trailers and to alert us to problems.  Neither of us had met Mike and Pat so Larry and Geri took the opportunity to stop at their house.  Unfortunately, Pat was not at home so we didn't get to meet her.  Mike was very gracious and gave us a tour of their beautiful home.  I was even able to give some loving to their Angel kitty - Megabyte.

After we got home, we hopped on our bikes and took a short spin around the park and down the dead-end road.  Then we all sat outside and chatted some more.  What a nice day.

Having fun in PV

PV stands for Prescott Valley - want to sound like a local LOL.

Friday morning we had the surprise arrival of friends, Larry & Geri (former owners of Broken Arrow Campground in Custer, SD).  When we last spoke, they were at the Escapee Park, North Ranch, near Congress, AZ which is about an hour south of us so they decided to join the fun and we are so glad they did.  Friday afternoon, we all sat outside sharing laughs and companionship.  Several of us got a bit sunburned sad to say.

Picture of our three rigs:

Saturday, we met up with friends Bruce and Jenna and were treated to a tour of their new home.  Must say that their home is lovely, spacious, and best yet, they got a good deal.  We then went out for lunch and was given a tour of Prescott's Town Center area.  We are liking this area and can understand the draw for living here.

Using Larry and Geri's garage on their toy hauler, the six of us enjoyed a tasty Easter dinner.  Again, good company and conversation kept the laughter coming.

High tailed it out of Tucson

We left a day early what with favorable winds plus we wanted a jump on the possible Easter weekend traffic.  Driving through Phoenix is a trip - that is one large city.  The drive up to Prescott Valley was uneventful which is always a darn good thing.  We did get to see a large hawk fly right over us with a large rat in its talons.  Pretty cool.  We know what he was having for lunch.

We are staying at the Yavapai Fairgrounds RV Park.  The rate was very favorable and even better when we were given the Passport America rate (discount camping club) for the week.  Whoo Hoo!  We decided on this park as the other RV parks in Prescott were just not big enough for our rigs (Rick and Y are with us) or were too pricey.  Will try to remember to post a picture of our site which is on an angle (head on to the prevailing wind) with enough room to park three cars along side the rig.

After getting all set up, the four of us went to dinner at Applebee's and then came home to settle in for the night.  Almost home and I spotted some Pronghorn Antelope; nice.  John is now fussing with the hot water heater as the nylon fitting is weeping a bit of water and that is not at all acceptable.  Ah, no more weeping fitting, my guy is happy once again.

Guess that is all for today.