The Last Two Weeks in Pahrump then Finally Starting Summer Travels

Hi, glad you're back. Our last episode concluded on Saturday, June 8^th, with us still at the Wine Ridge RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada, our legal home of record. Sunday was a quiet day, I went out in the morning and got the newspaper but other than that we stayed in and just relaxed for the day.

Monday, June 10^th, we decided we needed a day out, so we left the coach about 10:30 and drove into Las Vegas to see a movie. The movie theater we went to is located inside of the South Pointe Casino and Resort, which is the southernmost casino on Las Vegas Boulevard, the Vegas Strip. We saw the movie Rocketman, which is a musical bio-pic about the life of Elton John. It was really a great movie, lots of song and dance numbers, all to the sounds of Elton John music. There was a lot of stuff that went on in his life that I was not aware of. The movie was very cleverly written, starting out with a fully costumed John arriving to a group session in a treatment facility. The rest of the movie is out of stories he is telling to the group, starting with his early childhood. The acting and singing were good and the music was outstanding. Great movie. After the movie we stopped in the casino, we had to walk thorough it to get to the garage, and gamed for an hour or so. Jackie lost her $20, I ended being up $7. We then drove back to Pahrump, getting back to the coach about 4:30. We had cocktails and did hamburgers on the grill for dinner, then went to the clubhouse for poker night. Jackie was up about $5 and I broke even again. After cards we watched a little TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 11^th, we mostly had a stay at home day. We left the coach about 3:30, went out and got one new geocache that had recently been placed on the southwest side of town. We were the second to find on the cache. After that we went to the medical center for Jackie's appointment with her cardiologist. We waited quite a while for the doctor to come in, the perils of being given a late day appointment, but once he came in he was very pleasant and unhurried. He went over Jackie's perception of the angiogram, then discussed the results and gave Jackie a copy of the report. He talked to her again about symptoms and basically said that she needs to lose weight, exercise, watch her diet and probably take some meds to reduce the blockages and blood pressure. He confirmed her being on the low dose aspirin, but said he needed more data to decide on blood pressure meds. We will have to regularly take her blood pressure and come back to see him in October when we come back. The best thing he said was that she was at low risk of a heart attack or other cardiac event. Yea! After the doctor we went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, June 12^th, we left the coach about 1:00 and went to the China Wok for lunch, then went and picked up mail and did a Walmart run. After Walmart we went back to the coach and we stayed in for the rest of the afternoon. Summer has finally hit Pahrump, with temps in the 100's for the next few days at least. About 6:30 we left again and drove down to the VFW hall for karaoke. The Duffins, as well as some of our other friends, were there. The rotation was short, only 7 singers at the most, so I got to do a lot of songs. We had a good time and sang until about 9:30 when we left and went back to the coach. We watched a little TV and went to bed. Thursday we were up and out of the coach by 10:00, heading to the dermatologist's office. After a pretty long wait we got in to see the doctor, actually the Nurse Practitioner, for our appointment. Jackie talked to him about a couple of cysts she has, but when he told her that he could take them out, but it would require at least one followup appointment, she decided to wait until October. The doctor told her he didn't see any problem with that as they seemed small and did not appear to be infected or irritated. He looked at the three places on me where he cut off some lesions a couple weeks ago and found they were pretty much healed up. He also told me that the labs came back negative on all three samples, good news too. After the doctor we went home and spent the rest of the day in the coach. I had a nice batch of Chili Colorado cooking, which we had for dinner. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. We had a good night, I ended up $9 to the good, and Jackie was up $3. Yea! We went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Friday, June 14^th, we had a quiet day at home. Got a few things done, but never left the coach except to do our walk in the morning. Saturday we left the coach about 12:30 and drove 25 miles to the Mountain Springs Saloon for lunch. The saloon is located in the little community of Mountain Springs, which sets at the summit of the pass through the Spring Mountains between Las Vegas and Pahrump on Highway 160. In the 12 years we have been Pahrump “residents” we

have talked about checking out the saloon when we drive over the pass. You can't see the saloon from the road, but they have a big sign. Today we decided to finally check it out. It is actually a complex of small, old wooden buildings just off the highway in the woods. The saloon is small, dark and has dollar bills tacked up on every surface. There is an attached game room, although it is at a different level, uphill from the bar. The restaurant, actually a BBQ cook shack, is separate and further up the hill. Most of the seating is outside, except for a few stools at the bar inside. Definitely a kitschy, dive bar, with a reputation as a biker hangout. Not too many bikers around today, in fact, there were only a dozen or so people in the area. We ordered food, Jackie had the “burnt ends” plate, which is the end pieces of ribs and briskets that are smoked. She said they were very good. I had a Zombie burger, which was a big, half pound burger with everything on it. The food was actually quite good and filling. It was also cooler up at the 6000 foot level and we had a nice lunch outside. We also had a drink with lunch. After lunch we drove back down to Pahrump, then stayed in for the rest of the day.

Sunday, June 16^th, my oldest daughter Tye's birthday, and also Father's Day this year. We had a stay at home day for most of the day. We did leave about 6:30 in the evening and drove over to the Escapee's RV park for another of Millie Duffin's little get togethers. There were a dozen people there, most of whom we know, or at least have met in the past. We had some snacks, played some games and just had great conversations. We left about 8:30, went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Monday, June 17^th, we left the RV park about 10:00 a.m. and drove into Vegas to go to the movies again. This time we saw The Secret Life of Pets II, which is an animated film. We had seen the first one in the theater a couple years ago, and just watched it again on TV a couple days ago. It is a cute movie, made for kids but with plenty of laughs and “inside” jokes for adults. We really enjoyed the film. The Cinemark Theater located in the South Pointe Casino has $8 senior tickets on Mondays, and they take another $4 off each ticket if you have a casino players card, so it only cost $8 for both of us. After the movie we went to Costco for gas and a few things in the store, then stopped so Jackie could get a haircut. After our errands we headed back over the hill to Pahrump. At 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse for poker. As good as I did on Thursday, I did just as badly tonight. I didn't win a single hand until the last half hour of play and ended up down $6. Jackie was down $2. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 18^th, was laundry day. We left after lunch, did our laundry, then picked up our mail. After that we went home, put everything away, made the bed and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Wednesday we went out about 1:30 and went to the nail salon so Jackie could get a pedi and I could get my toenails trimmed. After the nail salon we did a Walmart run, then went back to the coach for a while. After dinner, about 6:30, we left again and went to the VFW hall for karaoke. We had a good group tonight, a dozen friends, about half of whom were singers. It was most of the group of friends who come to the Friday night karaoke at the RV park. We had a really good time and listened to some good singers and songs. We left around 9:30, went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Thursday, June 20^th, the last day of Spring. We left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the Red Sky BBQ restaurant for lunch. We met our friends Richard and Regina Rubinstien there. We had a wonderful lunch, with both Jackie and I ordering full racks of ribs. Their ribs are great and relatively inexpensive, and we wanted to be able to take leftovers home. After lunch we did a Walmart run and then went over to the Escapee's RV park to check where we are on the list to get in. We are now number 26, so maybe 18 months if we are fortunate. We then went home and relaxed for a while. We went down to the clubhouse for Texas Hold'em at 6:30, our last poker night until October when we get back here. I ended up down $5, after being down, then up and then down again. Jackie lost a dollar. We went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed. Friday was a quiet day for the most part. I spent an hour or so cleaning up some of the outside decorations in preparation for our departure (finally) from Pahrump on Monday. Our friends Linda and CJ, who used to stay in Wine Ridge, but recently got into the Escapee's RV park, came over to talk. Linda is a karaoke junkie, and is an excellent singer, and she wants to get into doing karaoke gigs when the opportunity arises. She wanted to talk about equipment requirements, getting song files, and karaoke software. There were here an hour or so. After they left we just relaxed and spent the rest of the day in the coach and out of the wind.  Today a group of three vintage travel trailers, towed by classic vehicles, pulled into the park for the weekend.  The one that parked right next to us was an early 60's 18 foot travel trailer pulled by a nice, restored 1956 Chevy station wagon.  The wagon was painted purple and cream and the trailer had purple highlights on it.  The other two were also vintage trailers, one pulled by a late 60's Chevy stepside pickup, the other by a 68 Chevy El Camino.  Very nice looking neighbors.

Saturday, June 22^nd, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove to the Lakeside Casino for lunch. They have a great cafe and because the casino is a little ways out of town it is rarely too busy. We had a wonderful lunch and then stayed and gamed for about an hour. Both of us lost $40, but this will likely be our last casino stop until we get back to Pahrump in mid-October. After gaming we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. About 4:30 we left again and drove to the Elks Lodge for karaoke. We had just learned that within the last month or so they had started having karaoke on Saturday nights at the Lodge. Even though we are members of this lodge we didn't know about it because they never put anything in the monthly bulletin. We learned about from our friends Len and Debbie Forrest. After we got to the lodge all of our karaoke “group” of friends arrived as well. At one point we had as many as 12 singers in the rotation, but the singing went until 9:00 so we had time for five rounds. With a few exceptions all of the singers were great and we had a really fun time. I wish we had known about it weeks ago. After karaoke we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Sunday, June 23^rd, our last full day in Pahrump. After lunch I spent a couple of hours doing some outside cleanup, getting ready to leave tomorrow. About 5:30 we left and drove to the Duffin's place at the Escapee's RV park for another party. This was a smaller group of friends, only a dozen or so, but we had a good time. We played some games and had some great conversations. The weather was really nice so we sat outside and talked until almost 9:30, after which we packed up and went back to the coach. We watched a little TV and went to bed.

Monday, June 24^th, the first of three travel days. We left the Wine Ridge RV resort about 10:15 and started our trek West towards our ultimate destination of Santa Maria, California on the Pacific coast. We stopped at the Smith's store in Pahrump to fuel up the coach, then headed out. Our first day was about 145 miles to Dagget, California, a little town outside of Barstow. On the way we stopped at the Mad Greek restaurant in Baker, California, a regular stop for us when passing through the area. We arrived at the Desert Springs RV park about 2:30. This was a one night stay, so we didn't unhook the car and did minimal setup. After we got set up we just relaxed. Tuesday we were up and out early to avoid the heat, leaving the park about 9:15. We continued West, passing through Barstow and then up and over the Tehachapai pass. We got an early enough start that we avoided overheating on the climb up the pass. We arrived at the Shady Haven RV park about 12:30, got checked in and parked. Again we left the car hooked up and just relaxed for the remainder of the day.

Wednesday, June 26^th, we were again on the road by 9:15, continuing West. We arrived in Santa Maria and the Elks Lodge about 12:30 and were pleased that instead of 105 it was 75 degrees. Yea! We had a little snafu when we arrived in that after we checked in at the office we found that there were no empty spots in their RV park. I checked with the office and the girl finally determined that they had mistakenly put one of their volunteer people in the full hook up area even though they had reservations for all the spots. They called this person and told him he had to move back to the partial hookup area. We finally got into our spot about 2:00 and got everything set up for our two week stay here. We are primarily here so Jackie can visit her family that lives in Pismo Beach, about 20 miles north of here. Her Aunt Donna, who turns 94 this week, and Donna's grandson Cory have a nice house on the hill overlooking the beach. Since we were tired and didn't finish setting up until late afternoon, we just stayed in for the rest of the day and evening.

Thursday, June 27^th, we left the Elks about 2:30 and drove north to Pismo Beach and Jackie's Aunt Donna's house. Donna's grandson Cory greeted us along with Donna and Pia, Jackie's cousin who lives nearby in Grover Beach, was also there. We had a great family reunion and sat around and visited for several hours. Sadly, Aunt Donna does not appear to be doing well since the last time we saw her, back in September of last year. Her health is deteriorating as well as her mental state. She still recognized Jackie, which is good. We left Donna's about 5:30 and drove back to the Elks. We cooked some chicken on the BBQ for dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. Friday was a shopping day. We left the coach about 1:00 and went to In N' Out for lunch. We then

went to Best Buy to check on TVs. The small, 22 inch TV in the bedroom has quit working and we are looking for a replacement. We then went to Walmart. Because the Central Coast will not allow Super Walmart's, they have a regular Walmart and then a Walmart Neighborhood Market almost next to each other in the same shopping area. After visiting both Walmart's we went to Costco and spent a pile of money replenishing our freezer stock of meats. After our shopping we headed back to the coach and spent another hour putting everything away. We had dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, June 29^th, we left the coach about 2:30, stopped at KFC for a big bucket of chicken, then headed back to Pismo Beach. Today is Donna's 94^th birthday and we were going to have a little family celebration. It was us, Cory, and Pia, but we sang happy birthday, ate dinner and then had some ice cream cake. It was a good celebration and Donna was a little more chipper today than she had been the other day when we were here. We left about 7:00, drove back to Santa Maria and then just stayed in for the rest of the evening.

We are going to be here in Santa Maria for another ten days before moving to Northern California, and this marks three weeks since we published. With all that, it seems to be a good time to close this episode and get it published. Until next time, remember to go through life like a duck. Majestic on top, kicking like hell underneath. See ya next time.