A Month in Pahrump

Welcome back friends and followers. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, October 17^th when we arrived in Pahrump, Nevada, our official home of record. Peggy and Vernon Bullock, who had been at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta with us last week, came with us to Pahrump to spend a few days with us here at the Wine Ridge RV Resort. We are going to be here for a month.

Sunday, October 18^th, we had a leisurely day. Last night was a bit restless as we had a couple of good thunderstorms roll through. We had some hail, but fortunately it was very small. The power also went out for a couple of hours. After I got up I went out and got Sunday papers for both us and the Bullocks and we spent the morning reading and relaxing. We went out briefly in the afternoon to do a Walmart run. In the afternoon some good friends of Peggy and Vernon, Pat and Tammy Kight, came into the RV park after a stay out in Death Valley. We know Pat and Tammy through the Bullocks and have been to their house for dinner. The Bullock's and the Kight's came over about 5:30 for dinner. We chatted for a while and then did some nice steaks on the BBQ. We had a great time and about 8:00 everyone left for their own rigs and we watched a little TV until bedtime.

Monday, October 19^th, was, for the most part, a stay at home day. I got a few chores done around the coach, paid bills and did some other office work. After lunch Peggy and Jackie went out and got pedicures. We got together for happy hour and dinner at the Bullock’s. Peggy made a very nice dish of shrimp and grits. It was very much like a jambalaya with grits instead of rice and it was delicious. We talked for a while and about 8:00 we went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Tuesday we were up early and out on the road about 9:30 with the Bullock's to do some geocaching. We checked on some of our caches we have hidden to do owner maintenance and also let Peggy and Vernon find them. We ended up with 13 new finds and Peggy and Vernon had about five of our caches in addition. After caching we had lunch at Mom's Cafe. We all had a great lunch before heading back to the RV park so Peggy and Vernon could let Belle the dog out. We got together at our coach for happy hour and dinner tonight. After drinks we did some carne on the BBQ and had a great Mexican feast. Again, about 8:00 they went back to their coach and we watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, October 21^st, Peggy and Vernon packed up and left about 10:00, starting to work their way back towards their home in Northern California. We went out and did a few errands, but had a quiet afternoon for the most part. Thursday morning I took the car to the Jeep dealer for service. We had a check engine light come on a week or so back and my fault checker indicated that it was a couple of bad glow plugs. I took the car into the dealer and waited most of the morning, but it became clear that they were not going to get it done today, so I had the shuttle take me back to the RV park. Since we had no car we spent the rest of the afternoon in the coach, relaxing and doing light chores.

Friday, October 23^rd, the Jeep dealer called me in the morning and told me that they had diagnosed the problem and would have the car fixed before the end of the day. It was the glow plugs, as I had already figured out. About noon some friends of ours, Warren and Marla James, came over and picked us up for lunch. We had planned lunch with them for today expecting to have our car back. We know Warren and Marla from several of our FMCA Chapters and cross paths with them at various rallies, including every year in Indio at the Western Area Rally.

We went to a place called Sugar's Shack, kind of out in the country north of downtown Pahrump. It is a very nice little steakhouse and cafe and the owner, Sugar, is the daughter of the woman that owns Mom's, where we ate the other day. Jackie and I both had hamburgers, which were great. They have a really nice dinner menu with some good looking steaks, so we are planning a dinner night there sometime before we leave Pahrump.

After lunch Warren and Marla dropped us off back at our coach. Not too long after the Jeep dealer called and said the car was ready. The shuttle came and picked me up and I retrieved the car. The check engine light was fixed and they also did two recalls that were out on our model. One was a new ignition switch because the old one was prone to shutting off, although we never had the problem. This was a good thing because it meant that we got two new electronic key fobs. Our old ones were becoming pretty worn and weren't working real well. They are very expensive if you buy new ones, but the new ignition switch, which was a no cost to us fix, came with two new ones. Yea! They also did a reprogramming of the transfer case, a recall I wouldn't of had done had they asked me before they did it. The first recall from two years ago was a reprogramming of the transfer case that caused all kinds of problems, including not being able to get it into neutral to tow the car. We finally got that problem fixed after six months of arguing with Jeep and hadn't had any problems. I really didn't want to start problems again.

Unfortunately, after I left the dealership and started to drive back to the RV park I felt the car
periodically shuddering, as if the power was cutting off. It wasn't doing this when I took it in on Thursday. I went back to the dealership and told the service writer about this new issue. He told me that the techs were gone for the day and to bring it in tomorrow for them to take a look at. I hope this is not the beginning of a new set of problems. After I got back to the coach we relaxed for a while before heading down to the clubhouse at the RV park for karaoke night. There was a packed house for karaoke and the rotation ended up being about 20 or so singers. This meant that most of us only got to do two songs. There were a lot of good singers, so it was a generally enjoyable evening even if I didn't get to sing as much as I would have liked. We finished about 9:30 and went back to the coach for a little TV before bed.

Saturday, October 24^th, I got up early to take the car to the shop, but when I got there I learned that the people I dealt with yesterday were not in today. Since the car was acting up, but seemed to be drivable, I decided to just wait until Monday to take it back. I went back home and after lunch we went out to check on some of our geocaches and then stop at one of the casinos to game a little. We also decided to cancel our trip to Las Vegas tomorrow because I didn't want to take the car that long distance until I had a chance to take it back to the service guys. We went to the Gold Town casino and gamed for about an hour, but didn't have any luck. After that we went home and relaxed the rest of the day. Sunday we had a nice relaxing morning with the paper, coffee and Sunday morning news shows. After lunch we took a trip to Walmart for some supplies, but then went back to the coach for the rest of the day.

Monday, October 26^th, I got up early again and took the car into the shop. It was clear that it was not going to get fixed quickly, so I took the shuttle back to the coach. About 12:30 my brother Russ and his wife Zen came up from Vegas to visit. We had planned to go down to see them and their new house, but not having a car that worked messed that plan up. We had a great afternoon just talking and catching up with Russ and Zen. It has been a year since we saw them, so we had a lot to talk about, including our visit with Russ's daughter, Raquel, back in Indiana this summer. I contacted the shop late in the afternoon and learned that the car was still broken and wouldn't be back today. About 5:30 we had a nice dinner, turkey breast, sweet potatoes and broccoli. About 7:00 they left to drive back over the hill and we watched TV the rest of the evening. Tuesday, still no word from the dealer regarding the car. Since we are car-less for the time being we stayed home and did some chores. Jackie seems to be coming down with a cold, I hope it doesn't get into her chest really bad like it usually does.

Wednesday, October 28^th, I talked to the service rep and got some really bad news on the car. It seems that whomever designed the vehicle put the engine computer on a shelf under the battery. Over the last seven years corrosion from the battery has built up and ruined the computer and wiring harness. The dealer has no idea how long the fix will take, or what it will cost, but it is going to be in the thousands. Crap! We spent another day at home feeling sorry for ourselves. Jackie really is sick now, a very bad cold that has gone into her chest. Thursday I decided to go ahead and rent a car for a week so we can get around. I had Enterprise, the only rental outfit in Pahrump, come and pick me up and I drove out in a new little Buick SUV. At least we can get around now. I took Jackie to the urgent care and they decided that she was on the verge of pneumonia, so they gave her some steroids and antibiotics. She is really feeling bad now. I spent the afternoon doing some chores, cleaning closets, that kind of thing.

Friday, October 30^th, we have a car, but Jackie doesn't feel like going anywhere. I spent another day doing cleaning around the coach and making some repairs and maintenance. I did stop by the dealership while out running some errands, but there is still no definitive time frame for our Jeep. Saturday, Happy Halloween. I had decorated the coach some a couple days ago for Halloween, but the wind came up and I ended up taking most of the decorations down. I did some more work around the coach during the day and after dinner I went down to the clubhouse for the Halloween karaoke party. I got to do three songs. Jackie didn't feel like going, so I was there by myself.

Sunday, November 1^st, another new month. We had our usual relaxing morning with the paper and TV. Jackie still wasn't feeling well, so we stayed at home for another day. I did a few things around the coach and spent a little time in the hot tub. Monday we went out briefly after lunch so Jackie could get a haircut and we picked up our mail.

Tuesday, November 3^rd, Jackie still didn't feel good, so we stayed at home. I went out and ran a couple of errands. Wednesday, we finally went out for a little while after lunch and did some geocaching. We were able to get eight new finds and no DNFs for the afternoon. Still no word on the car. We are sad.

Thursday, November 5^th, I went out in the morning and checked on the car. We are still not getting any definitive information, other than the car isn't done and won't be for a while. It is getting very frustrating. Since we were not going to get the Jeep back, I renewed the rental for another week. After lunch we went out and did some more geocaching, getting five new finds and one DNF. Jackie also went back to Supercuts for a “rework” on her haircut and then we did a Walmart run. After we got back to the coach we had some unexpected visitors knock on our door. Mike and Darlene Neighbours had arrived in the park today for a couple of days. They are on their way to Death Valley for the annual 49ers Gathering, but decided to stop in Pahrump. We last saw Mike and Darlene in Albuquerque when they came over to the Monaco Balloon Fiesta group for a visit. We had cocktails and talked for an hour or so before they left and headed back to their coach for the evening.

Friday, November 6^th, we met Mike and Darlene at Mom's Cafe for lunch. Today's meal was a little disappointing, the first time we have had that at Mom's. I had the special, fish and chips, and it was not much fish or chips and pretty pricey. This was the first time I didn't get a big plate of food for my money. Jackie said her chicken fried steak and eggs wasn't as good as in the past either. We hit a couple of stores so Jackie and Darlene could shop. After that we did a quick Walmart run and then headed back to the coach for the night. Mike and Darlene came over again for happy hour and we talked for an hour or so. They are headed out tomorrow, so we said our goodbyes and then watched TV the rest of the night. Saturday I helped Jackie in the morning with her hair color. We spent the rest of the day working around the coach.

Sunday, November 8th, we read the paper with coffee in the morning, then about 10:30 we left and drove over the hump to Las Vegas to visit with my brother Russ and his wife Zen. This past year Russ and Zen bought their first house together in North Las Vegas and moved out of the apartment they have lived in for a long time. We had not seen the house yet. It is in a nice tract development near the North Palm Springs airport. We arrived about 12:30 or so and spent

the afternoon with them. The house is very nice, seems to have been well maintained and has a nice yard. Zen fixed a great Asian themed lunch for us, a dish that was a little like beef stew, but with a peanut sauce that was wonderful. She also made spring rolls that were very good. After lunch we talked and watched the NASCAR race on TV. We left about 4:30 to head back to Pahrump. We made a quick stop at Costco for a couple of things before starting back over the hill. We got back home about 6:30 and watched TV the rest of the evening.

Monday, November 9^th, I went out in the morning and stopped at the dealership to talk about the car. I got in to talk to one of the managers and complained about the way they were dealing with the car, especially not seeming to car about keeping us advised of the progress. The manager listened to me and then went in with me to talk to the service writer. I hope that this spurs them into a little more action, although I don't have high hopes. After talking to the dealership I went to the motor vehicle office to get my drivers license renewed. It doesn't expire until February, but we will be in Yuma then and in Nevada you can renew up to six months early. There was a four hour wait, but they have a phone texting system where they send you texts to keep you apprised of where you are in line. After that I went back home for lunch and waited for a text.

About 2:30 we went back down to DMV because I was like now number 5 in line. It still took almost an hour, but I finally got to see the gal and got my renewed license taken care of. We then went down and picked up a ring that Jackie had dropped off with a jeweler a couple weeks ago to have a small diamond replaced and to re-size the ring. After we got the ring we went to the Elks Lodge for a cocktail. This is our home lodge, although we are here so rarely no one really knows us. We had a couple drinks and played the slots at the bar for an hour or so. After that we headed home and stayed in with the TV the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, November 10, Happy 240^th Birthday to the United States Marine Corps! After lunch we took Jackie to the chiropractor for an adjustment. We are hoping that this will help the chronic headaches she has been getting. After that we did a quick Walmart run and then headed back to the coach for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, November 11, Veterans Day. Thanks to all who served. We went out after lunch to the mail store and picked up our mail. One of the things in the mail was my new Android tablet. Back in May 2012 we bought our first tablet computer and after three and a half years it was no longer working correctly. The on/off button was going wonky and it was constantly resetting itself. As regular readers will know we replaced our RV refrigerator with a residential fridge this summer when we were back in Indiana. After we bought the fridge the company, HHGregg, sent us $150 in rebates, but they were on company Rewards cards. HHGregg only has stores in the Midwest and by the time we had the cards we were out of their area. I thought we could use the cards to help towards a new tablet from their online stores, but when I made contact with them I was told that they didn't accept the cards for online purchases. This led to a long series of Facebook posts, emails and phone calls which, after a couple of months, led to a change of policy. Last week I ordered a new Samsung Galaxy Tab-A tablet and was able to use the cards. So the new tablet only cost me a little over a hundred bucks. Great deal. After our mail run we headed home and I spent the rest of the night setting up the new toy. Yea!

Thursday, November 12^th, we left the coach a little before noon and headed out to do some errands. Our first stop was the Enterprise Rental office to renew the little Buick we have been driving for another week. We hadn't heard from the dealer and it was clear we were still going to need a car over the weekend. After that little chore we went to a fairly new restaurant in town called Chadthai, a Thai restaurant that had great reviews on Yelp. It is in the same strip mall as the rental car place and is a very nice, if small, cafe. The food was every bit as good as the reviews would lead you to believe. We had a great meal at a reasonable price and the service was excellent too. It is all family operated and we would recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Pahrump hungry for Thai.

We went over to the dealership to check on the car and talk to a manager about getting some of our rental car costs reimbursed. We believe that they piddled around with the car for almost two weeks before actually doing anything and we were out the money for the rental. We had to wait a while, but we finally got to talk to the Service Manager. He listened to our story and apologized for the fact that things took so long. He explained some, but still said it should not have been as long as it had to get parts ordered. He offered to give us a free loaner car for the rest of the time we are in Pahrump without our Jeep, so we took the Buick back to Enterprise. He also said that he couldn't reimburse us or Enterprise for the rental costs, but that he would work on the final bill for the repair of the Jeep to reflect some consideration for our out of pocket expense. We also learned that it was possible the vehicle would actually be ready next week, so we told them we would extend our stay here until next Friday to give them the full week to fix the Jeep. We left in a nice, candy apple red Chrysler sedan. Not new, a 2012 with 50K on the odometer, but it runs and it's free, sort of.

We then headed back to the RV park where I extended our stay by four days. I also changed our reservations in Santa Maria, our next long stop after Pahrump. We then drove to the chiropractor's office so Jackie could get another adjustment. That took and hour and she took advantage of our extended stay to make two more appointments for next week. We then went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Friday, November 13^th, eek, Friday the Thirteenth! We went out after lunch and did some geocaching since the wind wasn't blowing and it wasn't too cold. We had a good couple of hours, getting eleven new finds and no DNFs before heading back to the coach. We had an early dinner and then went down to the clubhouse for karaoke. The rotation was a little shorter tonight because some of the regular singers were over in Death Valley at the annual Forty-Niners gathering, so I got to do four songs tonight. After karaoke we went back to the coach and watched a little TV until bedtime.

Saturday I was up and out about 8:30 to go and do my qualification shoot for my Federal concealed carry permit. I have to requalifey every year to keep my permit valid. I went out with the same instructor I used last year and was done by 10:30 or so. We had lunch at the coach and we realized that we were getting bored with Pahrump. We have gotten all the caches that we can get without having a high clearance vehicle, which our new Chrysler loaner is definitely not. There is no mall and no movie theater. We finally went to the Nugget casino and gambled for a few hours. Didn't win anything, but didn't lose much either. We then went back to the coach and I went into the hot tub for a while. We had dinner and relaxed the rest of the night.

Sunday, November 15^th, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove over the mountain to Las Vegas to have lunch with my brother Russ and his wife. We arranged to meet at a place called Steiners on the south side of town, so we wouldn't have to drive all the way up to the northeast where Russ and Zen live. Zen wasn't feeling well, so she didn't come, but we and Russ had a nice lunch and talked for quite a while. Steiners is a sports bar and, although the food was quite good, it was really noisy on a Sunday football afternoon. After lunch we went out for an hour or so and did a few geocaches. Russ and Zen are some of our caching “children” that we got interested in the hobby. We got five caches before the weather started getting iffy and it was getting dark and cold. We dropped Russ off at his car and we drove back over the hill to Pahrump. We were in light rain most of the way and got back to the coach a little after 5:00. We watched TV the rest of the evening.

Monday, November 16^th, we left the coach after lunch to run some errands. I took my paperwork to the sheriff's office and got my new concealed carry permit, good until November of next year. Now I am legal again in all states. Yea! Given what has been going on in the world lately, I may start carrying my weapon more often. I have always considered a gun a tool, not a status symbol, but the way things are going we made need to keep our tools closer at hand. After the sheriff's office we picked up our mail and went shopping at Walmart. The wind was blowing 40 miles an hour and it was cold, in the 40's, and apparently everyone else decided this was a good day for shopping too. The store was packed. After groceries we headed back to the coach and stayed in listening to the wind rattling the coach for the rest of the day and evening.

Tuesday, November 17^th, we went out after lunch so Jackie could go to her chiropractic appointment. After she was finished we drove around town a little, stopping at a couple of antique and thrift stores. We also stopped at the new Terrible's Casino. When we first came to Pahrump one of the three big casinos was a Terribles, and they also had a smaller casino with an RV park called Lakeside. A couple years ago the company had hard times and went bankrupt. Their gaming assets were bought by the Pahrump Nugget company, although Terribles kept the gas station and convenience store properties. This past year they have now opened this smaller, but very nice place in Pahrump. It was really nice because Jackie walked out with a hundred bucks! Yea, we finally left with more than we came in with. After our gaming we headed back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the evening. I did get a call from the dealership late in the afternoon that they had all the parts in and were working on the car. Yea! Wednesday we had a stay at home day. Got a few chores done, but mostly relaxed. We did get a call from the dealership telling us they thought the car would be done on Thursday. Yea!

Thursday, November 19^th, we went out after lunch and did our laundry. We are going to Santa Maria next and we didn't want to have to do laundry while we were there visiting with family. After our laundry we went back to the coach. Later in the afternoon I participated in an informal jam session with several other people from the park. There were three other guitar players, a mandolin and a percussionist. We played a couple of hours, until the sun went down and it got chilly. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the dealership called and said the car wasn't ready, but should be tomorrow – again. We then had dinner and watched TV the rest of the night.

Friday, November 20^th. We ran a few errands after lunch, picking up our mail one last time and getting a few things from Walmart. About 4:30 I took the loaner car back to the dealership and turned it in. The service writer told me that they were still working on the Jeep and that it was still putting out bad codes from the computer. Finally, about 5:30, Zach came to me and said they just couldn't figure out the problems and the car was not going to be done. I explained to him that we were leaving town and would be back the week after Thanksgiving, hopefully to pick up the Jeep. I then had the dealership provide a ride back to the coach. We spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Saturday, November 21^st, we left the RV park about 10:30 without a tow car. We made a lunch stop in Baker, California, as we always do when we go out the back way from Pahrump, at the Mad Greek Restaurant. Jackie says they have the best Greek Pita anywhere. I had pastrami, but that's just me. The food was good and we were back on the road after lunch. We made our first stop in Yermo, California, just north of Barstow. There is an RV park there that we go to whenever we pass through the area. The RV park is right across the road from the huge Marine Corps Logistics Base, where the Marine Corps maintain and process all their equipment. Since we didn't have a car we just got setup and stayed in the coach for the rest of the day and evening. On Sunday we left about 10:00 and headed across the Tehachapi Pass towards Bakersfield. This route goes north of Mojave and Edwards Air Force Base and is the shortest route between Southern Nevada and Bakersfield. We stopped at another of our usual stops, although the place has been sold and instead of Bakersfield Palms it is now Desert Palms RV Park. It is a Passport park so the site was only $15. Again, no car, so we relaxed in the coach the rest of the evening.

Monday, November 23^rd, we left Bakersfield about 9:30 and headed west towards Santa Maria. The shortest route is Highway 166, which is a designated truck route, but still a challenging road. The last half of the trip is up and down and curvy two lane road. Fortunately, there was little traffic, so I just took my time and we arrived in Santa Maria at the Elks Lodge about 12:30. We got settled into our spot at the Elks RV park, a full hookup, 50 amp site, and got ourselves completely set up for the first time in three days. About 3:00 I called Enterprise Rental Cars and they came and picked me up so I could get a car to use for the week we are here. I had reserved an economy car, but I was nice to the manager that was helping me and got an upgrade to a premium car, a nice Toyota Avalon, their high end, full size car.

As soon as I got back to the coach we got in the car and headed to Arroyo Grande, about 16 miles north of Santa Maria, to the hospital where Jackie's Aunt Donna is undergoing treatment for pneumonia. She has been in the place for a week, but seems to be getting better and they are talking about releasing her tomorrow. Corey, Donna's grandson who lives with her as her caretaker, met us in the room and we spent a little while catching up. He left to go home and we stayed with Donna until about 6:30 or so. They are still talking about releasing her tomorrow, so hopefully the next time we see her it will be at her home. Donna is the widow of Jackie's Uncle Barky, her mother's brother. We had visited with them many times over the years that Jackie and I have been together. We stopped on the way back to the coach to pick up some In and Out burgers, which we have missed the last six months. We went back to the coach, ate dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

It has been over a month since we published the blog. Since we weren't doing much during our stay in Pahrump, I just kept putting off publishing until the chapter got a little longer. Our leaving Pahrump and coming here to Santa Maria to be with family over Thanksgiving marks a good place to finally get this episode published. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and remember the words of Teddy Roosevelt. “Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.” Bye for now.