At Home in Pahrump - Part I

Hello there, welcome back. Our last chapter ended on Sunday, September 7^th, when we arrived at the Wine Ridge RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada. Regular readers will know that Pahrump is our place of legal residency. It is the place where we have our regular mailing address, our voting records and from where our driver's licenses are issued. This year we are planning on being “home” for five weeks, a couple weeks longer than has been the norm.

On Sunday we got the basic setup done with the coach, but since we arrived in the afternoon and the sun was very hot, I didn't do any of the outside stuff. We just stayed in the coach trying to be cool for the rest of the day. Monday I got up early and went outside to do the rest of our setup. I washed the windows and put the sun shade screens on, put up my flagpole and did the rest of the outside decorations. I didn't do lights or setup and fancy patio because it is still in the 90's most of September and we are not likely to be spending much time outside.

After lunch we drove down and picked up our mail in person for the first time in a year. The gal who runs the UPS store was excited to see us. We are in touch with her off and on all year, but don't get to actually see her much. After we got our mail we went to Walmart for some supplies and then headed home. We spent the rest of the day at home.

Tuesday, September 9^th, we went out after lunch to check on the geocaches that we have hidden around the Pahrump area. We currently have fourteen caches hidden here. Over the summer we noticed that all of a sudden most of our caches were being DNF'd by people looking for them. We learned that someone, or a group of someone's, probably kids, have been going around Pahrump stealing caches. We contacted another cacher in Pahrump that we know and he told us they lost a whole bunch of caches. Today we went out and replaced most of the missing caches. We still have three to fix, a couple that needed a little extra construction work because they were special novelty containers. We now have eleven of our caches back up and ready to find. We also changed all of our caches to premium, which means that for someone to see them on the geocaching.com website they need to be paid members. Most kids won't spend $35 to become premium members, they will just get on and look at the regular caches and go steal those.

We went back to the coach and relaxed for a couple hours and then at about 6:00 we left and went to the Pahrump Elks Lodge for a cocktail and to attend the Lodge Meeting. Although we go to a lot of Elks Lodges in our travels, we rarely attend lodge meetings. Since Pahrump is our home lodge we decided to go to the meeting tonight just to be good Elks. We haven't been to a meeting in a couple of years.

We had a cocktail at the bar and played a little on the slot machines before the meeting started at 7:00. The meeting went for about an hour and was a pretty typical meeting. It is still good to go and see the rituals again, they make you feel like a real Elk again. After the meeting we headed home and watched TV until bed.

Wednesday, September 10^th, we were up and out of the coach by about 11:30, heading for Las Vegas, about 60 miles or so southeast. Folks in Pahrump call this “going over the hump” since you have to climb to 5,500 feet over Spring Mountain Pass to get between Pahrump and Vegas. Our first stop was the Jason's Deli for lunch. Jason's is a national chain and the reason I like to go is that they are about the only place outside of Louisiana where you can get a mufaletta sandwich. A mufaletta is ham and salami on a toasted roll with an olive relish. I fell in love with them a couple years ago when we were in Louisiana and a year or so back I discovered that Jason's Deli served them. I had a quarter sandwich, which is normal because the actually full roll is about 14 inches in diameter. Jackie also had the mufalleta, but with turkey instead of ham and salami. Not a “real” mufaletta, but it still has the olive relish.

After lunch we headed for Sam's Club for some stuff and then on to Costco for some more stuff. This was a fill the freezer back up trip. We also picked up one geocache in the Costco parking lot, just so we could have a Las Vegas cache. After Costco we headed back over the hump to home. We got to the coach and put away all the stuff we bought, then went to Albertson's for a quick regular grocery run. I guess today was just a supply day. After we got home we had dinner and watched TV until time for bed.

Thursday, September 11th, Patriot Day. Of course, we spent some time in the morning watching the news coverage of the attacks, and talking about where we were. Being on the west coast, the all three planes had already hit in Washington before we had left for work at 7:30. I watched the towers fall while I was at work. Actually, not a lot of “work” was done that day, we mostly stood around and watched the TV.

After lunch we headed out to fix the last three of our caches that needed to be replaced. After we got those taken care of we went out to find a few caches because we were within three of our next milestone. We got four new finds before we decided it was too hot, one of which was number 6,600. Yea! After caching we headed down and picked up our mail then went home for the rest of the day.

Friday morning, about 10:30, my brother Russ and his wife Zen came up from Las Vegas to visit for the day. My brother has lived in Vegas for about 25 years and works as a boxman on a high stakes craps table at the Golden Nugget Casino downtown. We usually get to see Russ and Zen once a year when we come through Pahrump. We either go down to visit them or they come up to see us.

We talked and caught up until close to 1:00 when we decided to go to lunch. We went to a place called the China Wok, which just a couple days ago opened at a new location in Pahrump, right on the main drag. They used to have a small place in a strip mall behind the Walmart, but over the last year they built a big new, standalone building and it just opened on Wednesday. We had eaten in the old place a couple times and enjoyed it. The new building is very nice and we had the buffet. It didn't seem like the buffet was as extensive as others we have been to, but that may be because we were there for lunch. They did have a sushi bar which pleased Jackie. I thought the food was OK, but a little bland for my tastes.

After lunch we went back to the coach. Sometimes when they come up we do some geocaching because we got Russ and Zen started in caching about four years ago and they really enjoy it. However, today it was close to 100 degrees and very sunny, so it was way to hot to go out in the desert caching. We sat in the coach and just talked and enjoyed each other's company until they left to drive back to Vegas about 7:00. It was really great spending time with Russ and Zen and we will probably see them again before we leave since we are staying here for an extended period this year.

Saturday, September 13^th, was a stay at home day. I got a few administrative chores done, but mostly we just played and relaxed. Sunday we had a relaxing morning with the Sunday paper. After lunch we went out to one of the local casinos, Gold Town, for a little gaming. We played for a couple of hours, both losing about $20 or so in the process. After the casino we stopped at Walmart for some groceries and then headed home for the rest of the day.

Monday, September 15^th, we went out after lunch to do laundry. That took a couple of hours, after which we picked up our mail and Jackie stopped to get a haircut. We then went home and had a nice pork loin cooked on the BBQ for dinner and watched TV the rest of the night. Tuesday was another stay at home day. Although it was really hot, in the middle of the afternoon we suddenly had about fifteen minutes of heavy rain. Although the weather was talking about the remnants of another Pacific hurricane, there was no thunder and after the rogue cloud passed, the skies cleared up and it was nice again.

Wednesday, September 17^th, we were up and out early, about a quarter of nine, to drive over the hump to Las Vegas so I could go to the ophthalmologist about the floaters in my right eye. I went to see him last year and he said it wasn't anything serious, just annoying, but to come back if it didn't clear up. When we got back in town I made another appointment because they don't seem to be any better. After an examination he said that I had some allergies that were causing film on my eye, as well as excessive watering and he told me to get some drops and use them for a week to see if that helped any. If not, to call him back.

After the doctor we stopped at Outback for a late lunch. We both had a rack of ribs, so no dinner tonight. We couldn't do any caching because the doctor dilated my eyes and it caused it to seem way too bright. Jackie had to drive home because the light was bothering me too much. After we got home we just settled in and relaxed the rest of the night. I did go to the pool for a little while, which was really nice in this heat.

Thursday, September 18^th, we left the coach after lunch to do some geocaching. It was a little cooler today, in the low 90's, the humidity had left and there was a breeze, so it wasn't unbearable. We went out and found six new caches in about an hour and a half. Because we have cached so much in Pahrump the one's we haven't found are quite a ways away, which limits the numbers we can get in a set time period.

After caching we dropped off our requests for absentee ballots at the County building. We are going to be gone from the area in November when the election comes around. We then went down to the Verizon store so Jackie could upgrade her phone. She has been dying to get a new Samsung S5 and had to wait until our contract period was up so she could get an upgrade. We spent over an hour at the store, but we managed to upgrade her to a new Samsung and I took her old Motorola, so I now have a smart phone for the first time. We also upgraded the MiFi because we could for only fifteen dollars. We also changed our plan to 12 gigabites of data shared between the three devices, and unlimited text and talk. We had 12 before, but it was 10 for the MiFi and 2 for Jackie's phone. This way I didn't have to get another data plan to keep Jackie's old phone. We also saved $20 a month by upgrading the plan. After Verizon we headed home and spent most of the evening fooling around with our new phones and stuff.  Jackie took her first picture with her new Samsung, a pic of me for her contact list.

Friday, September 19^th, we went out after lunch to do a few geocaches again. We were able to get four new finds, along with a couple of DNF's before we decided it was getting too warm to desert cache. We then made a quick run to Walmart before heading back to the coach. About 5:30 we left to go visit some caching friends of ours who live here in Pahrump. John and Nancy Bingle have lived here for about ten years and are avid cachers. They have several hundred caches set out just here in the Pahrump area, as well as several hundred more in other areas. We first met them a couple of years ago at a geocache they had put out near their home. We have run into them a couple of times a year since, mostly at caching events or when we are here in Pahrump. We had been in contact with them today because one of our DNF's was one of their caches and when we filed the DNF online John called us. He invited us to come over and visit this afternoon.

They have a very nice home on an acre of land only about a mile south of the RV park. We sat and talked with them for several hours, mostly about caching, but also about Nancy's ongoing battle with breast cancer. We left their place a little before 8:00 and made a run to the local Carl's Jr. for a hamburger for dinner. We then went back to the coach and watched TV until bed.

Saturday, September 20^th, I was up and out of the coach by about 9:00 to go to the range for my annual weapons qualification for my Federal concealed carry permit. The way the Federal law is worded you have to renew the permit each year and a range qualification is required. The guy I contacted this year uses a range not too far from the RV park and by 9:30 I had shot, qualified and had the signed off paperwork in hand.

I went back to the coach and Jackie was just getting in the shower so we could get out early to do some geocaching. The people we had visited last night had put out a dozen new geocaches that were just published overnight and we were hoping to get a few First to Finds, or FTFs. We don't get many FTFs because we don't tend to be early risers. Well, today was no different. We found when we got to the first cache that we were already third in line to sign it and it was the same for all the rest of the new one's we went to. Nonetheless, it was a nice morning and by noon we had gotten nine new finds, all new caches. However, we were not FTF on any of them. (sad face) We stopped and picked up our mail and then headed back to the coach for the rest of the day. We did a few chores and around 5:00 we actually went outside and sat with some friends of ours who were parked in a site across the street. It had gotten overcast and the temperature actually dropped to 80 and it was comfortable to sit outside.

Len and Debbie are people we met five or so years ago at one of the Western Horizon's parks. They are also full timers, but they travel with a pull trailer, so we don't see them at rallies like most of our other friends. However, they tend to frequent the same parks we do during the winter, so we often meet them in Pahrump, Indio and other places that are frequented by full timers in the winter. We sat and chatted with them and another friend, Phyllis Deal, who we had met a few years back when she was the assistant manager here at the RV park in Pahrump. She and her husband Don liked karaoke and we became friends starting with that. After the park was sold to a private owner, Phyllis worked for a year or so before she left. They actually have a house here in Pahrump. A few weeks ago Don had surgery for a tumor on his lung and, although the surgery was a success, a day later he had a stroke and is now in rehab working on recovering. We have kept up contact with Phyllis through Facebook, but this was the first time this year we had a chance to actually see and talk to her. We ended up staying outside and talking until about 8:00 when we finally went back inside and watched TV the rest of the evening.

Sunday was a relaxation day. We had the newspaper in the morning and I watched the NASCAR race in the early afternoon. Both of us got a few chores done, but mostly had a restful day. I even got over to the pool for a little while before dinner. Monday we went out after lunch to do some geocaching. We did part of a series that we had started last year when we were here and, because the caches were very close together and pretty easy to find, were able to get a dozen caches in just about an hour and a half. After caching we made a quick stop at the Verizon store because Jackie had some questions about her new phone, then we went to the Saddle West Casino for some gaming. An hour, and forty dollars, later we left and went to Walmart for some supplies, then back to the coach for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, September 23^rd, we didn't do too much as the heat was back for a couple days. After lunch I took the car to the car wash for a badly needed cleaning and then we drove down to the pawn shop in town to see if they had an inexpensive digital photo frame. Our last one gave up the ghost a while back and we like having one in the coach. Well, they did have a couple, but they were no bargain. All of the stuff in the shop was expensive, about the same price as you would pay at Walmart. I was a little disappointed. After the pawn shop we hit the nearby Smith's food market to see what they might have on sale that we wouldn't get at Walmart. We got a couple of things then headed home. We had cocktails with Len and Debbie on the patio then BBQed some burgers and watched TV until bed.

Wednesday, September 24^th, for the most part we had a quiet day at home. Around 1:00 we drove to a local Mexican place for a late lunch. We wanted to have a late lunch because we are planning on going to the VFW post for karaoke around 5:00 and we didn't want to have to worry about dinner. We went to a place called El Vaquero which had really good ratings on Yelp and we hadn't been there yet. The food was pretty standard Sonoran Mexican fare, but it was spiced nicely and you got a pretty good portion. Both Jackie and I had the same combo, chili relleno, taco and enchilada. She had chicken in her taco and enchilada, I went with a shredded beef taco and a cheese enchilada. The service was very good and the ambiance OK. We will probably go back to this place at some point, which is more than I can say about the other two Mexican places in town.

A little before 5:00 we left the coach and drove to the VFW for karaoke. The place was pretty busy and we were greeted by a gal by the name of Janice. She was an off duty bartender and was clearly from New York. She gave us hugs, welcomed us and introduced us to most of the people at the bar. Not too long after we sat down with our first cocktail we were joined by Len and Debbie, who where the one's who told us about the VFW karaoke on Wednesdays. They both like to sing too. They had a fairly long rotation, as many as a dozen singers at one point, and some of them were pretty good. There was one black guy named Terell who came in later in the evening who had a fabulous voice. Because of the long rotation I only did four songs, but we had a great time and will probably go back. After karaoke we went back to the coach and watched some of the new TV shows until bedtime.

We still have another two and a half weeks here in Pahrump, and it has been about that long since we published last, so this seems like a good time to get this one online. Until the next time, enjoy life, smile more and stay safe. See ya.

The Road to Pahrump: On our way Home

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Tuesday, August 19th when we arrived at the Corps of Engineers RV park near the Columbia River, not too far from Rufus, Oregon. This is a nice little park that sits right on the edge of the John Day River, where it flows into the Columbia. We stayed here once back in 2005 and wanted to come back again. Our friends Peggy and Vernon Bullock came here from the last of the rallies, the one in Prineville, but they are only staying for a couple of days.

On Wednesday, the four of us left the coaches around 10:30 for a day of exploring and geocaching. We drove west to The Dalles, a city in Oregon on the south side of the Columbia River. This town of 15,000 or so was founded in 1857 and was mainly a river port town for traffic on the Columbia River. Later the railroads came through the area and the town became centered around rail traffic. It is a cute little town with a lot of really pretty old buildings that have been well maintained for the most part. We had lunch in a place called the Baldwin Saloon, which is one of the oldest buildings in town. It was built in 1867 and has seen a number of uses, including warehouse, saloon and restaurant. In 1991 the current owners reopened the place as a restaurant after extensive renovations. Much of the interior and exterior decoration is original to the building and it is a very neat place to visit. The food was good too, although a little pricey.

After lunch we drove around town doing some sight seeing and geocaching. We also crossed over the bridge into Washington to find a couple of caches. We ended up with six new finds for the day. About 3:30 we arrived back at the RV park and rested for a while. At 5:00 we had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon and then had dinner at Peggy's. She made the penne pasta dish that I love and Jackie made a salad and some garlic bread. We had a great dinner and headed back to our place about 8:30.

Thursday, August 21st, Peggy and Vernon were packed up and out on the road by about 7:00 this morning. They are headed to Rapid City, South Dakota, where they have their "official" residency. They need to renew their driver's licenses and have to be there in person. We are staying her at the river for another three days. We had a quiet day today and stayed around the coach taking care of some minor chores.

Friday we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some geocaching. We crossed the river into Washington and drove up the highway for about 20 miles finding a few caches along the way. We went as far as the little town of Goldendale, Washington, before some storms started moving in and we decided to head back to the coach for the rest of the afternoon. We ended up a half dozen new finds to our credit, along with one DNF. Saturday was another stay at home day.

Sunday, August 24th was another travel day. We packed up and left the John Day River about 10:00 and started east and south on Interstate 84. We are now on our way to our "home" in Pahrump, although it will take us a couple weeks to get there with a number of two night stops along the way. Our first stop was in Baker City, Oregon, 188 miles southeast of where we started. We ran into a bit of rain along the way, but mostly it was an easy trip. We arrived at the Oregon Trails RV Resort about 2:30, got setup and settled in and just stayed in the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Monday we went out about noon and drove into the little town of Baker City. There are around 10,000 residents of this town, which was founded around 1870 as a way station on the Oregon Trail. The town has continued as a railroad town and support for local agriculture. We stopped for lunch at a place called Rising Sun Palace and Sunset Lounge. Quite a mouthful, but it had very good ratings on Yelp. It is a Chinese restaurant, but also seems to be the hot spot in town for evening drinking and entertainment. The restaurant was very nicely decorated and the food and service were certainly up to the ratings. We both had lunch specials for under $9.00 and there were four selections in each, plus soup. I also ordered egg rolls and if you check in on Yelp you get a free appetizer, we chose pot stickers. As you might guess, we took home almost as much as we ate. The quality of the food was great and the service was good, even though there was only one server. Angie was very friendly and helpful, even looking up the address and phone number of the local Elks Lodge for us. I would highly recommend this place if you are passing through Baker City. It's not even that far off the Interstate for a quick lunch.

After lunch we did some geocaching in Baker City, ending up with seven new finds, along with two new DNF's. The caches took us on a pretty complete tour of the town, which was a lot of fun. After caching we stopped in at the Elks Lodge. The bartender, a young guy, probably in his mid twenties, looked at our cards and told us he grew up in Pahrump. He had never had any visiting members from Pahrump and was very friendly and chatty. He moved to Oregon before we changed our residency to Pahrump in 2007, so he was not familiar with a lot of the changes that have come to the area. The lodge was very friendly, even bought our second drink, and we talked to several members as well as the bartender. Jackie even won twenty bucks on the slot machine, although I lost my twenty, which made us even. We also got our first new Elks Lodge Pin in quite a few months. After the Elks we drove back to the coach and watched TV until bed.

Tuesday, August 26th, another travel day. We left Baker City about 10:00 and headed down Interstate 84 towards Homedale, Idaho, a small town just northwest of Boise. The trip was only a little over a hundred miles, so we arrived in Homedale about noon. We were a little concerned about the RV park we picked when we were routed down a narrow farm road into an industrial area and then a half mile gravel road to the RV park. However, we were pleasantly surprised when we found a large RV park with huge grass lawns and sites sitting right on the banks of the Snake River. We pulled into our site and we are facing the river, only a hundred yards away, and it is beautiful. We have full hookup 50 amp service, great satellite and phone service, all for $25 a night. An undiscovered gem of an RV park.

After we got setup and had our lunch of leftovers from yesterday's Chinese, we took a drive into Homedale to sight-see and geocache. There weren't many caches in town, but we did get one so we would have one for the area. We then decided to take a drive to Caldwell, Idaho, about twelve miles or so east to the Elks Lodge. This is another new Elks for us and they were open. Again, the bartender was very friendly, as were several of the other members in the bar. They also bought the second drink for us and we were able to get another new lodge pin for our banner. We left the lodge and did some caching in Caldwell, but we were only able to find two. The total for the day was three new finds and one DNF. We also made a quick stop at the grocery store for a few things and after caching headed back to the RV park where we relaxed the rest of the night.

Wednesday, August 27th, we left the coach about noon for a day of sightseeing and geocaching. We were heading for Boise, the Capital of Idaho, which is only about 30 miles southeast of the RV park. Our first stop was in the city of Nampa, which is nearly 90,000 population and second only to Boise in the state. We found a very nice Mexican restaurant called Jalapeno's which had good Yelp ratings. The food was good, but not outstanding. Jackie had fajitas, I had a combo plate. I would give the place something between three and four stars out of five.

After lunch we did a geocache in the parking lot next door to the restaurant then started towards Boise again. Our next stop was the town of Meridian, a bedroom community of Boise, where we did two virtual geocaches. Once we had these we headed into Boise proper and spent the next couple of hours driving around looking at the area and doing a few caches. We ended up with six new finds for the day. We took a few photos of the capital building and explored some very neat old neighborhoods. Boise was founded in 1863 as a fort intended to protect settlers coming along the Oregon Trail. The city also had a history of support for mining in the surrounding mountains. The population is a little over 200,000.

About 4:30 or so we drove to the Boise Elks Lodge for a visit. The Boise Lodge is number 310, which makes it one of the older lodges, chartered in the late 1800's. The lodge is on the outskirts of town it is very clear when you drive up to it that it used to be a restaurant. At one time it was a JB's, then a Chinese place. The Elks bought it a few years ago and are in the process of trying to fix it up inside. They only have about 450 members, so it is not a big lodge. We had a cocktail and chatted with the bartender and a couple of other members who were in the bar. We were able to get a lodge pin for our banner as well.

After one drink we left the Boise lodge and started driving west back towards home. On the way we stopped at the only other Elks Lodge in the area, the one in Nampa. This lodge was located right downtown in what looked like an old business building. We were the only people in the bar when we went in and were still the only ones there when we left after a drink. The bartender told us that it was usually pretty slow in the summer. We weren't able to get a lodge pin since the bartender said that they were out of them. After we left the Nampa Lodge we drove the last fifteen miles back to the RV park and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Thursday, August 28th, was supposed to be a travel day, but we so enjoy the view from this spot that extended our stay here by one day. We wanted to do two extra days, but the park has something going on this weekend and they couldn't accommodate us for Friday. We made today a stay at home and relax day and that's pretty much what we did.

Friday morning we were packed up and heading out of the park by about 9:30. Today is a long day, by our standards anyway, traveling 230 miles south to Winnemucca, Nevada. The drive was pretty desolate, mostly high desert, and we were on U.S. 95, which is a two lane road, making the trip a little more stressful. We arrived in Winnemucca about 3:00 and got checked into a nearly new RV park on the east end of town. It is called New Frontier RV Park and it seems to be a good choice. Huge, level gravel spots, no trees to deal with, and full hookup 50 amp sites for about $25 a night with discounts. We decided to just check in for the full four days of the holiday weekend, that way we don't have to deal with the traffic. After we got setup we just chilled for the rest of the day.

Saturday, August 30th, we left the coach after lunch and drove to the nearby county fairgrounds for a visit to the Tri-County Fair and Stampede. We had seen this advertised yesterday when we came into town and when I looked it up I found that it is put on every labor day weekend. We like fairs, so we decided to visit. We got there and the first thing we noticed was that there was no admission fee. The fair had a small carnival, maybe a dozen rides, an exhibit area with a whole bunch of antique tractors on display, along with some military equipment, and a few other tents with stuff for sale. We spent a half hour or so going through the 4-H building where all the kids have their animals on display for judging. Lots of rabbits and chickens in the small animal area and lots of pigs, goats and sheep in the large animal area. A few kids had beef, which was what was being judged when we were walking around. Little kids with great big steers. We only were at the fair for about 90 minutes, but pretty much saw everything. We stopped and did one quick geocache on the street near the fairgrounds, just we would be sure to have at least one in Winnemucca, then we drove up the hill to Walmart for some shopping. After Walmart we headed home and then stayed around the coach the rest of the day.

Sunday, August 31st, we started the morning with the Sunday paper, the first time we have been able to do that for a couple weeks. We have been in small towns without daily papers for a while. Later in the morning we took our dirty clothes down to the laundry at the RV park and started the washers. Since this is a brand new park there were brand new machines and it was convenient. By 1:00 we had finished our laundry and had lunch, so we went out for an afternoon of geocaching in Winnemucca. We did a few in the desert close to the RV park and then went into town for some urban caching. One of the caching was a virtual cache that took us to five different historical sites in Winnemucca, including a corner bank that was robbed by Butch Cassidy back at the turn of the century. We ended up with thirteen new finds, and one new DNF, by the time we quit about 4:00. We went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the day.

Monday, September 1st, Happy Labor Day, and Happy Anniversary to us! This date in 1998 I left Phoenix and moved to Indio to be with Jackie and begin the second stage of my life. This has been the most wonderful 16 years. We pretty much hung around the coach for most of the day, but about 5:30 we headed over to the historic Martin Hotel for dinner. The Martin is built right next to the railroad tracks and was one of the major hotels in town at the turn of the century. The Martin is also known for it's Basque restaurant. There are actually two Basque places in Winnemucca and Peggy and Vernon have told us about both of them. The other one, Ormachea's is closed on Mondays, so we went to the Martin by default.

The food was very good. It is a small dining room and the tables are all family style, meaning you will end up sitting with people you don't know. Shortly after sitting down we were joined by a couple from Salt Lake City who were just passing through on their way to California. We chatted with them for most of the meal. Another couple sat down later, but they were at the other end of the table and too far away to talk with very much. The service is also family style and you only order an entree, everything else comes automatically. They start with a chicken vegetable soup and then a salad and beans. With dinner you get vegetables and french fries and everything is served in big bowls that you have to pass around.

I had the Martin steak, which was a 16 oz rib eye that was smothered in mushrooms and garlic. It was cooked perfectly and was very tasty. I ended up taking half of it home because of all the other stuff they gave you before the entree. Jackie had lamb chops and said they were good too. She got four chops and took two of them home too. All in all it was an excellent meal and a great way for us to celebrate our anniversary. After dinner we headed back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, September 2nd, we were packed up and headed out of Winnemucca on Interstate 80. We are going about 135 miles south to Fallon, Nevada. It was an easy trip, mostly freeway and we arrived in Fallon about 1:00 or so. We found a parking spot at the Bonanza Casino, a place we have stayed before. The casino has a dozen full hookup sites out in the back parking lot and they only charge $15 a night. They are only 30 amp, but it is not too hot here, so we should be fine. Once we got hooked up Jackie left to go get a pedicure. I stayed with the coach and after Jackie got back we didn't go anywhere else.

Wednesday we were out after lunch for some geocaching. We did caching pretty much in Fallon and ended up getting a dozen new finds, along with three new DNFs, in a few hours of caching. After caching we stopped at Walmart for a few things and then went back to the coach where we relaxed the rest of the night.

Thursday, September 4th, we left Fallon about 10:30 and headed south on Highway 95 to the little town of Mina, Nevada, about 110 miles away. Mina is a turn of the century railroad town that is one step away from a ghost town now, with a population of 156. However, there is a pretty decent RV park just south of town at which we have stayed before. Highway 95 between Las Vegas and I-80 is a pretty desolate road with only a few towns along the 600 or so mile route. You have to set up your daily drives pretty carefully, especially if you don't like long drives (over 200 miles for us) or long days. The only reason to stop in Mina is the RV park.

We arrived in Mina about 1:00 and got setup in a nice pull through spot with full hookups. We were the only rig in the park and the office was closed. I didn't get registered until about 3:30 when I saw the owner's vehicle by the office. We are only here for one night, so we didn't even unhook the car. We just leveled, put the slides out and settled in for the night.

Friday, September 5th, we were up early, and had the coach ready for travel by about 9:00. I wanted to get an early start today because it was supposed to be hot, in the low 90's, and we had two 6,000 foot mountain passes to go through today on our way to Beatty, Nevada. The trip was only 160 miles, but the up and down concerned me in the heat. The Jeep is pretty heavy and really puts a load on the coach when it climbs grades. I really have to watch the temps as we travel.

Getting started before the heat of the day worked out as we made Beatty by noon and the coach didn't get critically hot at all on the trip. We checked into the Beatty RV park, just north of town, and got a nice full hookup, pull through spot with 50 amps, all for $25 a night. We are going to stay here for two nights as our reservation in Pahrump isn't until Sunday. I always try to build a little slack in our travel schedule between reservations so as to accommodate any necessary changes in plan.

After we got the basics hooked up we drove into town for lunch. When we asked the guy at the RV park for recommendations on lunch he told us there was only one restaurant in town where he would spend his money, KC's Outpost. It was mostly a sandwich and pizza place, but we went there and ordered a pizza. We also had some homemade clam chowder that was out of this world. The pizza was very good, although a little on the pricey side. I guess when you are in the middle of the desert you pay more for supplies.

After lunch we drove around town for a little while doing some sightseeing. It didn't take long as the town is pretty small. Founded as a railroad town and support center for mining in the surrounding mountains, the town has pretty much dried up now, with a population of just over a thousand. It relies now on tourism, touting itself as the gateway to Death Valley National Park. In a way it is as the park is only about 20 miles west and Beatty is the biggest community anywhere close. After our tour of the town we headed back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the day.

Saturday, September 6th we went out about 10:30 or so to do some geocaching and exploring. After an hour or so of caching we stopped for lunch at a place in Beatty called Mel's Diner where we had hamburgers for lunch. The burgers were excellent, having that old fashioned homemade drive-in taste. After lunch we continued caching and drove a couple miles south of Beatty to the ghost town of Rhyolite. Rhyolite was a silver mining town founded in 1905 with the discovery of a huge silver lode in the nearby Bullfrog mountains. Unlike many frontier towns, a lot of money was put into infrastructure in Rhyolite and in just two years the town had dozens of concrete and stone buildings, concrete sidewalks, electric lights, water mains, telephone and telegraph lines, daily and weekly newspapers, a monthly magazine, police and fire departments, a hospital, school, train station and railway depot, at least three banks, a stock exchange, an opera house, a public swimming pool and two formal church buildings. With more than 5,000 population in 1908 Rhyolite was the third largest city in Nevada. However, the city declined just as fast as the silver ore was depleted and no new finds were made. By 1910 the population was less than 1,000 and the mines closed in 1911. By 1920 the town was abandoned and vacant. It is now administered by the BLM which tries to maintain some control over the area to avoid total destruction of the remaining relics.

We drove around town, took a few pictures, and then continued caching, including a cache at the Rhyolite cemetery. We finally quit caching about 3:30 and headed back to the coach with 13 new finds and a couple of DNF's. One of the DNF's was a cache that was supposed to be hidden in the wreckage of a twin engine Beechcraft that made a crash landing years ago alongside the road not too far from the RV park. The only thing left of the plane is the aluminum structure, but it is still interesting to look at. You can see the damage from the crash landing on the right wing and the tail structure. We looked and looked, but couldn't find the cache that was supposed to be there. After we got back to the coach we just watched TV the rest of the night.

Sunday, September 7th, we left Beatty about 10:00 on our final leg "home" to Pahrump. We only had about 80 miles to travel and we arrived at the Wine Ridge RV resort about 11:30. We are going to be here at Wine Ridge for a full month, and then another week at another resort in Pahrump, so we have a good long while to enjoy the area. After we got settled into our site we did the basic setup and then relaxed for the day. It was very hot and humid, with thunderstorms rumbling around the area. The remnants of a hurricane in the Pacific. I decided I would wait until morning to set up the outside decorations and screens when it was a little cooler. Our arrival in Pahrump marks an excellent place to close this episode of the blog and get it published. As I said, we are here for a month, so I will probably have something in a couple of weeks or so. Since the last time I published we lost two of the brightest lights in the comedy heavens, Robin Williams and Joan Rivers. I will leave you with a quote from each. Williams; "Never fight with an ugly person, they've got nothing to lose." Rivers; "People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made." Until the next time, keep a sense of humor about you, it makes life much more tolerable. Bye.