Finishing Our Summer 2021 Tour and Back Home in Pahrump

 Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, August 21^st, when we arrived at the Pony Express RV Resort in North Salt Lake, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. That evening we had a line of thunderstorms come through that produced a lot of rain, but thankfully, not the hail that had been predicted. The worst it did was mess up some of our TV programs.

Sunday, August 22^nd, the first thing I did was go out to try and find a Sunday paper. I tried four different stores and all I found was last week's paper. It turns out that the major paper in Salt Lake City stopped daily papers in 2020 and now just has a weekly version, which apparently doesn't come out until late Sunday or early Monday. Oh well. After lunch we went out to do some errands. We both needed haircuts and toe nails done, so we went to a Great Clips and got haircuts. Not very good one's, but it'll grow back. Then we went right next door and I got my toe nails clipped, along with a chunk of one big toe, and Jackie got a pedi. The pedi was the only thing that came out right. We also did a few geocaches, getting four new finds. We then did a Walmart run at a Supercenter that had it's own parking garage. You went from the garage into the store. Great for inclement weather, which I guess they have here in the winter. After the Walmart run we went back to the coach and relaxed. I had made a pot of chili colorado in the crock pot, which we had for dinner. We then watched some TV and went to bed. All the wind and rain from yesterday evening was gone, as was most of the wildfire smoke. Yea!

Monday, August 23^rd, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove to a restaurant here in North Salt Lake called Janet's Sunshine Cafe. This was a small breakfast and lunch place in a strip mall, but it had great reviews on Yelp. We quickly learned why. The food was really good, the staff friendly and attentive, and the price moderate. We had a great meal, breakfast for Jackie, lunch for me. After lunch we drove to nearby laundromat to do three weeks worth of laundry. It took us a couple of hours and by 3:30 we were back home putting stuff away and making the bed. It was warm today, in the low 90's, and in the late afternoon we had an issue with low power on one leg of our 50 amp service. I checked everything and then switched to the 30 amp service with our voltage booster connected and we were OK. I had sent an email to the park and after a couple hours someone showed up and checked the power and it was now good on both legs. A little embarrassing, but I know what was going on a couple of hours ago. I am guessing that it was a brown out on the part of the local power company rather than a park issue. The rest of the night everything was fine. We watched TV until bedtime and went to sleep on our new, clean sheets.

Tuesday, August 24^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some exploring of Salt Lake City and some geocaching. We drove to the downtown area, which is quite large, and drove by the Mormon Temple. We had visited the Temple grounds the last time we were here a few years back, so we didn't go this time. We didn't even take pictures because the Temple is apparently undergoing some renovations and repairs because it was nearly completely cloaked in scaffolding and surrounded by construction fencing. We drove around Capital Hill and took a few pictures, then went to the campus of the University of Utah and looked around. We then went to the area south of downtown to do some geocaching, getting six new finds, and one DNF, in an hour or so. After caching we headed back to the coach and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We had leftover chili colorado for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, August 25^th, our last full day in Salt Lake City. We left the RV park about noon and drove to the nearest In N Out burger place for lunch. I also got a tee shirt. All the In N Out tees are the same on the back for any given year, but the small front logo also has the state the shirt is from. I now have Utah, so I have one from every state they currently have stores in. After lunch we drove west to look at the Great Salt Lake, which we found after we got there, is not as great any more. Like every other lake in the West, it has shrunk considerably. It is more obvious here because the lake is very shallow, only a dozen feet on average, so a little less water makes a big difference. We went to the Great Salt Lake State Park, which sets on the Southern shore of the lake. It has a marina and a small visitors center. We spent an hour or so there, going through the exhibits and watching the informative movie. The marina has very few boats because only small power boats can navigate the shallow channel leading out to the lake. Sailboats are most popular here, but they generally have keels which are too deep for the current water. We did a geocache at the park, and then a few more on the way back home, getting three new finds for the day. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the coach relaxing.

Thursday, August 26^th, another travel day. We left the RV park about 10:00 and continued south on Interstate-15 148 miles to Fillmore, Utah. We arrived at the Wagons West RV park about 1:00 and got parked and set up for our one night stay. We didn't even unhook the car and never left the coach after we got set up. Fillmore is a small farming community, named after Millard Fillmore, American President. The population is about 2,700 and it sets an an altitude of 5,100 feet, nearly as high as Denver. Friday was another travel day. We left Fillmore about 10:00 and continued south on the Interstate, headed for St. George, Utah, about 158 miles away. We arrived at the St. George RV Park about 1:00 or so after a quick fuel stop on the road. We got the basics set up in this pretty dumpy looking RV park given the $55 a night price, then left to get a late lunch. We found a place called Pita Express so Jackie could have her gyro. I had a meat ball pita, which wasn't bad despite the fact that pita bread doesn't hold up well to spaghetti sauce. After lunch we grabbed the three geocaches that were located in the shopping center and then headed back to the coach. We were back in 100 degree plus temps, so after we finished setting up we just relaxed and tried to stay cool for the rest of the day.

Saturday, August 28^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some exploring of the area. We drove around downtown St. George, and then out in some of the suburbs. It was well over 100 degrees and too hot to do any caching, so we just drove around. We stopped at a Home Depot store to pick up some cleaning stuff that Jackie wanted and while we were in there we saw a large, portable swamp cooler on sale. Ever since we left Pahrump we have been babying the front air conditioner in the coach because the fan motor is on the verge of failure. I wanted to get it fixed before we left, but parts were hard to come by and when the time came to leave we didn't have time to have a service guy come out. It has been working up until this morning when it quit, on a super hot day of course. We decided that a cooler was better than nothing, so we bought the cooler. After our touring we went back to the coach and set up the cooler. It did help cool the front of the coach a little, but of course it also raised the humidity inside. It was a kind of miserable night until we went into the bedroom where the A/C was working fine. I hope that we will be able to get a service guy out soon after we get to Pahrump. We picked up some KFC for dinner and stayed in the coach for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, August 29^th, another travel day. We left St. George about 10:30, but ten miles into the journey we hit the Arizona strip and went back to Pacific time, getting our hour back. We were headed for Las Vegas, about 130 miles southwest. We arrived at the Arizona Charlie's Casino RV park about noon and got checked in. It was hotter here than in St. George, but as soon as we got the basic stuff set up for our two night stay we left to go to Costco. After our Costco run we came back to the coach, put stuff away and finished getting set up. It was a miserable night as even the one air and the swamp cooler couldn't get the coach comfortable. Tomorrow we will go over to my brother Russ's house to see he and his wife Zen and Tuesday we finish our summer travels by heading up to Pahrump.

Monday, August 30^th, we left the coach a little after noon and drove to my brother's house in North Las Vegas, about 10 miles north. We got there just before 1:00, just as Zen was putting lunch on the table. As usual, she made way too much food, but it was good. She had the Filipino version of spring rolls, called lumpia, some chicken curry, and a beef in peanut sauce dish, along with white rice. We had a nice meal and then spent the next several hours catching up and visiting. We also had some cheesecake for dessert that we had bought yesterday at Costco. We left Russ and Zen's about 5:00 and drove back to the coach. We had our evening cocktail, then relaxed with the TV for the rest of the night. Tuesday was another travel day. We had some rain come through the area about 5:30 in the morning, but when we got up at 7:30 it was mostly clear and dry. We had the coach packed up and were on the road by 10:30, heading the last 66 miles of our summer trip, over the hill to Pahrump. We didn't hook up the car for the relatively short trip, hoping it would make the climb over the Spring Mountains easier, but the coach still started overheating and I had to stop a couple of times to cool it down. Actually, the first time I stopped was to clean up water that spilled out on the floor from our new cooler, which tipped over when I had to slam on the brakes at a stop light. It was just coincidental that it gave the coach a chance to cool down some. We finally made the summit and the last 30 miles was down hill and easy. We arrived at the Escapee's Park in Pahrump about noon. We got parked on one of the park's rental units, just two spots down from our own. The concrete contractor should be out in the next day or two to put in our new concrete slab, and they need access to the whole lot while they do it, so rather than have to move, we just elected to take a rental spot for a week while the work was done. We got parked and set up, then tried to stay cool. We went over to our friend Millie's place for cocktails at 5:00 since we weren't quite done setting ours up yet and it was kind of a mess. By 6:00 we were home and watched TV until bedtime. It's good to be home.

Wednesday, September 1^st, the 23^rd anniversary of when Jackie and I got together after I moved from Phoenix to Indio, California. Today was a chores day for the most part. I first ran over to the RV Superstore here in Pahrump to see if I could find any of the various parts I need to fix some of the many issues we have with the coach. I was able to get the part for the toilet that I needed to fix the problem we have with the flush valve sticking. After I got home I spent quite a bit of time online locating and ordering parts, filters for the water system, a wand to flush out the water heater, a new trickle charger for the coach batteries, some new switches for the jack system, and a few other things. The concrete contractor came out and measured and paint-marked where the forms will go for the new patio on our lot. I was there with him and we got everything marked out the way we wanted. After lunch we went out and picked up or mail at the UPS store and did a quick Walmart run. It was a busy but productive day. We did some burgers on the BBQ for dinner.

Thursday, September 2^nd, about 11:30 a service guy came over to look at and repair our refrigerator. Yesterday we had stopped at the new and used appliance store where we had bought the refrigerator for our shed earlier this year and mad arrangements for their service guy to come to the park today. I had emptied out the freezer and transferred everything to the fridge in the shed. He opened the freezer door and told me that it was just what I had thought it was, the circulation fan was bad and the fan was banging on the metal shroud. He told me this was a common problem with Hotpoint/GE fridges and he had a new motor on the truck. Within an hour he had the fan replaced and the fridge sounding just like it used to. The whole thing was a well spent $100. Also this morning the concrete crew arrived at our lot and laid out the forms and the rebar for our patio. They worked for four hours or so and by mid afternoon they were done and it was ready for the park's Construction Committee to inspect and approve. They told me that they would probably pour the cement next Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend. After the fridge service guy was done we went out to lunch at the Artesian Cellars restaurant as a delayed anniversary lunch. We each had some wine and a nice lunch. After lunch we went to the Pahrump Nugget to game a little bit, with both of us losing a few dollars. After our gaming we went back to the coach and I spent an hour fixing the toilet. It now works as it should and there are two chores crossed off my extensive to-do list. Millie came over for cocktails and we sat a chatted for a while, then after she left we made dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, September 3^rd, I went out a little before 10:00 to go to a meeting at the clubhouse. I am on a committee that reviews and recommends changes to the governing documents of the Co-op. When I left the coach I was surprised to see that the contractor had already poured the cement for the slab and there was a finisher hard at work finishing the slab. I was surprised since I didn't expect it to be poured until Tuesday. My meeting went about 90 minutes and when I walked back to the coach the finisher was just leaving. We now have a nice 10x36 concrete patio. Yea! Since the new slab is about 3 and a half inches high, I called the office and asked them to have someone deliver some fill gravel/dirt so I could fill in a little around the slab. Within ten minutes a volunteer was coming with the front end loader bringing five loads of fill and dumping it on the driveway. I will get out first thing in the morning to spread it around. I want to give the concrete time to set up well. About 1:00 the RV repair guy came to fix the front air conditioner. The blower fan has quit working. I had bought one online and just needed his expertise to install it. After an hour on the roof the repair guy gave me the bad news that he couldn't replace the fan. The unit was old and he couldn't get to the fan like he can on the newer units. This means we have to shell out for a new heat pump A/C. Rats! At least he will buy the almost $200 replacement fan from me because he said they are hard to get and he gets calls for them all the time. Now I have to research A/C prices. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the coach, had a light dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, September 4^th, I got out early in the morning and raked down all five piles of rock and dirt, spreading it around the edges of the new slab. Got a few callouses, haven't had one of those in a while. About 12:30 we left and went to lunch at Chathai Bistro, one of our favorite Thai restaurants here in town. They have a unique dish, a creation of the owner/chef, called Saki Shrimp. It is sauteed shrimp, mushrooms, pineapple chunks and bell pepper, mixed in a coconut milk sauce with skinny egg noodles. It is to die for and not something you can get at any other place. Great lunch. After lunch we picked up our mail, then headed back to the coach. At 5:00 we left to go to the Elks for karaoke, our first since we have been back. Our friends Tom and Phyllis were there, but Len and Debbie were not because Len is still recovering from a recent hip replacement. The usual crowd was also there. I had a good night singing and listening to others, Jackie spent some time on the slot machine at the bar. Didn't win, but didn't lose much either. Karaoke was over at 9:00 and we went home, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Sunday, September 5^th, a travel day. Well, sort of. I went out and got the Sunday paper and we had a relaxing morning. After lunch we packed up the coach for travel and I drove around the block and pulled into our own spot next to our brand new patio. Today, and for the next three or four days, we are still in the low 100's, so I didn't do much outside because of the hot sun. We did get set up for our stay here, which will be until just before Thanksgiving. We got a few things done inside, but mostly just had a relaxing day after our brief travel. Monday, Happy Labor Day 2021. Today was a stay at home day. We are still in the middle of a heat advisory for the Southwest, so I did a few chores around the coach, did a little bit outside in the shade of the patio, but basically we just relaxed. We had cocktails at 5:00 and Millie came over for a visit. She is leaving tomorrow on a month long trip, including heading back to her old home turf in Utah, east of Salt Lake City. Next week their family is holding a “Celebration of Life” for Millie's husband Dick, who died of Covid in Yuma back in January. She is then going to do a little traveling. Since she sold the big 40 foot diesel pusher they used to travel in, she now does car camping, sleeping overnight in her Jeep Grand Cherokee. She still goes into campgrounds for the safety aspect, but doesn't set anything up outside. After Millie left we did some steaks on the BBQ, watched some TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, September 7^th, I was supposed to go the dentist at 9:00 this morning to begin treatment for a series of issues the dentist found in June, before we left for summer vacation. However, last night I got a call from the dental office that the doctor had a family emergency and was canceling all appointments this week. As a result, I had some unexpected free time. The first thing I did after a cup of coffee was go outside to clean out the hot water heater. We had it put in new a couple years ago, but recently noticed the hot water pressure wasn't as strong as it used to be. A lot of what I read online said it could be the calcium built up in the tank, so I decided to clean it out today. It only took about an hour to do and the pressure was improved a little bit. Later on in the day I did a little more work outside decorating and cleaning the storage shed, but not too much as it was still 108 for the high today. We spent most of the day inside, Jackie painting some rocks and me just doing some office work and other stuff. We did a meatloaf on the BBQ for dinner. It's great because it works just like an oven without heating up the house. After dinner we watched some TV and went to bed.

Wednesday, September 8^th, we went over to the clubhouse a little before 2:00 to attend a meeting. The park is having their annual elections for members of the Board of Directors and the seven candidates for the three open positions were having a “meet the candidates” event. It didn't last too long because the candidates didn't really have too much to say and little of what they did say was specific. Two of the candidates are running for reelection to the seat they already have, and four of the remaining ones are individuals who have served on the Board in the past. Not a lot of new blood in the group. After the meeting we went back to the coach and spent the afternoon relaxing. The RV service guy was supposed to come over in the afternoon to clean and service our back A/C, which is still running OK, but he never showed up and never called. The problem with little communities like Pahrump is the lack of consistent, reliable and competent service companies. We had leftovers for dinner and then watched TV until bedtime. Thursday we went out about 12:30 for lunch and to run some errands. We ate at a pizza place called Farinata Pizza that opened here in Pahrump a year or two ago that we have been wanting to try. It gets really good reviews, so we thought we would give it a try. Their menu is pretty much limited to a couple of appetizers, lots of artisan pizza choices, and a few desserts. I say artisan pizza because they only have one size, medium, which is probably enough for two, and lots of variations in vegetable toppings, cheeses, and a few meats. They had very few choices that I personally thought were desirable. Jackie likes the artisan pies with things like artichoke or egg plant. We ended up going with two different pizzas, an egg plant one for Jackie and one with pepperoni, salami and prosciutto for me. Jackie thought hers was very good, I thought mine was very lacking. Not enough sauce and not enough cheese. We also had a meatball appetizer, which was two pretty tasty meatballs and a couple of pieces of white toast they called brochette. Neither of us thought we would come back and can't recommend it despite the great reviews. After lunch we picked up our mail, then headed back to the coach where we stayed in the rest of the day. We had both taken half our pizzas home, so I had leftovers for dinner and Jackie had popcorn. We watched TV and went to bed.

We are now about three weeks since our last posting, so it's time to close out this chapter. We are just beginning our three month stay here in Pahrump and hope to be doing more when it cools down in a week or two. Until next time, remember that true friendship is having those weird and wonderful conversations with your friend and thinking, “if anyone heard us, we’d be put in a mental hospital.” See ya soon.