Rock Springs is a medium sized town, about 19,000 people, but it is built around a series of gullies and hills so it is widely spread out and the streets run every which way. I normally have a pretty good sense of direction and don't have trouble navigating, but I kept getting lost in this town because you never knew which way you were headed with the streets twisting and turning. On Saturday we toured around the town, did a little shopping and tried to visit the Elks Lodge. Unfortunately, it was closed for the holiday weekend. We also did some local caching and managed to find five fairly quickly. On Sunday, the 31st, we left to head down into Utah. We had reservations at a park in Provo, about 50 miles South of Salt Lake City. We made reservations because of it being the holiday weekend. We arrived at the Lakeside RV Resort in Provo and found a very nice little park. Lots of trees and green space and down in a quiet part of town near Utah Lake.
On Monday, the 1st of September, we did a little touring of Provo and visited the local mall for the holiday sales. We also went out to dinner to celebrate one of our anniversaries, which is September 1st. This date marks the 10th anniversary of my moving from Phoenix to the Coachella Valley and moving in with Jackie. We have now been together for 10 wonderful years! Yea! We went to an Olive Garden and had a very nice dinner.
On the 2nd we spent the day touring the Salt Lake City area. We drove all around the downtown area, around the State Capitol campus, and the LDS area in the center of town. We also spent
some time walking around in Temple Square, which is where the LDS Church (Mormons) has their headquarters. Its sort of like the Mormon's Vatican City. They have the beautiful Mormon Temple, their headquarters building which is about 40 stories, a big hotel, a convention center, and a couple of historical buildings which go back to the 1800's when Joseph Smith first brought the Mormons here from the Midwest. Very interesting place to visit, even if you're not a Mormon. After touring the city we drove out to the Great Salt Lake and found that it was drying up. The area off of I-80 where the marina sits is now well over a mile from the actual shore of the lake. You can barely see the water from the marina. I guess the Western drought over the last few years is having its toll on the lake. After this disappointing visit, we went by the Salt Lake City Elks Lodge (actually in Murray, UT.) for a visit. We found them to be very friendly.On Wednesday, the 3rd, we drove East into the mountains to Heber City, Utah, to take the tour train that goes through the Provo River Valley. The Heber Valley Railroad is an historical tourist train that runs from Heber City South for about 25 miles
along the banks of the Provo River. About half the run is through a winding canyon which makes for very pretty scenery. The railroad uses old equipment for the trains. The two passenger cars and the "dining car" (actually a snack bar) were probably 30's vintage. There were also two open cars and an old caboose. Although the railroad has a couple of old authentic steam engines, our train was using a small diesel locomotive because the steam engines were undergoing renovations. The cars were not fully renovated and were kind of rough looking, but it still made for a fun ride. It took about an hour and a half to get to the turn-around point along the river. Of course, along the way we had to stop the train so we could get "held-up" by the obligatory horse mounted outlaws. I have been on both the Silverton train in Colorado and the Grand Canyon train in Arizona and
was held up on both of those trains too! Bad luck, huh? The only one that we weren't held up on was the wine train in Napa Valley. I guess they don't allow bandits in that snooty part of the country. After they attached the engine to the other end of the train, we went back to Heber City on the same path we took South. The ride is pretty cheap, $23 for seniors, and about 3 hours. If you like trains and nice scenery, its worth a trip if you are in the area.After the train ride, we went back down to Provo to do some more shopping at the mall and visit the Provo Elks. The Provo lodge recently completed their new building and it is gorgeous. It is a two story building with a dedicated Lodge Room and a nice bar. It is located right next to the big mall in town. The people were very friendly and we enjoyed the visit. The next day, the 4th, we went out in the afternoon to do some caching locally in Provo. We were able to find 13 caches in about 3 hours! This is a new personal best for us!
On Friday, the 5th of September, we left Provo for the ride South on I-15 to Beaver, Utah. Beaver is a very small town (2,500) and the only reason we stopped is because it was about halfway between Provo and Mesquite, NV. We stayed at the United Campground (which, in the Trailer Life book is called Beaver United!) which was a fairly nice little campground right off the interstate south of town. Our second day there, the 6th, we did a quick tour of town, including the local cheese factory (actually a Cache Valley Cheese Co. outlet) and had dinner at the Kan Kun Mexican restaurant just down the street. The food was passable Mexican, but pretty bland. At least we were able to identify the dishes, which we found difficult at the couple of Mexican restaurants we visited in the Midwest during our time there. I guess when you grow up and live most of your life in the Southwest, you think everyone should know what real Mexican food looks and tastes like. NOT! On Sunday we went out and did some caching in the local area and managed to find eight in just a few hours.
On Monday we left beautiful downtown Beaver and headed South on I-15 again, headed for Mesquite. Of course, to get to Mesquite, you first have to drive through the 35 miles of the Arizona Strip, between Utah and Nevada. This is some of the most beautiful roadway anywhere in the country. You are down at the bottom of the Virgin River Gorge and the road winds back and forth with thousand foot cliffs on both sides. Very pretty drive. We arrived in Mesquite early in the afternoon and set up camp at the Oasis Casino RV park. Pretty much an asphalt parking lot, but full hookups for $16 and night, who's to complain?
The next day we did a little caching and found eight. We also visited a couple of different casinos. Didn't win anything, but didn't lose too much either. We also went by the Elks lodge. We had stopped there on the way up from the Desert in April and had found it to be a very friendly lodge. We were again welcomed and found a large group of friendly folks in the bar. After the Elks visit we went to the Casa Blanca Casino for dinner. We went to the Purple Fez restaurant, which is essentially their coffee shop, and both of us had very nice porterhouse steak dinners for $10.50 each. The dinners were very good and I would highly recommend the Purple Fez if you are going through Mesquite.
On Wednesday, the 10th of September, we finally left Mesquite and arrived in Pahrump, Nevada - our "home". This is where we have our official mailing address which appears on our
Nevada driver's licenses and other official documents. We settled into the Charleston Peak Winery RV Resort, which is one of our Western Horizons membership parks. We are finally going to light in one place for two full weeks - the first time since we left Spring Grove, Minnesota back on the 2nd of August. We have a couple of different things we need to take care of while we are here, including my annual weapons qualification for my Federal gun permit, and getting our absentee ballots for the November General Election taken care of.On Thursday, we waited anxiously for the arrival or our best friends from Indio, Barry and Colleen to arrive. They live in their motorhome full-time in the Indio Outdoor Resorts, but are not retired yet. They are working towards full
retirement and are hoping to be able to sell their property there, sell Barry's business and hit the road like us. When they found out when we would be in Pahrump, they made arrangements to come up and visit. Since this is a membership park, the only way they could come up and stay here was to agree to attend the sales pitch for the park. That way they get a four-day, three-night stay. They arrived late in the afternoon and got set up and we just spent the rest of the evening talking and catching up.Friday morning Barry and Colleen had their appointment to listen to the sales presentation for Western Horizons. They ended up buying into the program so they are now Western Horizons members just like us. They actually ended up getting a better deal here at Charleston Peak than we did three years ago at our "home" park in Arizona! After they finally finished all the
paperwork we went out to the Nugget Casino for some gaming and dinner. A little later Barry got to feeling badly, so he went home. The girls played cards for the rest of the night. On Saturday we went out to another casino for a couple hours, then went over to the Elks Lodge. The Pahrump Lodge is now our lodge since we demitted from Indio last year. After that we went back to the park and had a very nice cookout. The girls played cards and Barry and I went in the back of the coach and did karaoke for then next four hours. We had a great time, as we always do with our good friends. Sunday morning Barry and Colleen packed up and headed back to the Coachella Valley.We will be here in Pahrump until the 23rd of September, when we will head South to Hemet, California and the Southern California Elks RV Rally. We haven't been to one of the SoCal Elks rallies in a couple of years so we are looking forward to seeing all our old Elks friends. There is a large contingent from Indio going, as well as folks we know from Desert Hot Springs and Fullerton. Until then, stay safe and live happy!
