Thursday, March 23, 2017

Continuing northward... no wait eastward...

Well, after a week hanging around Walker Lake waiting to see which was the least undesirable direction to head (big rain/wind storms on the coast, cold on the prairies) we decided that northeast was the lesser of the two evils.  Couldn't hang around Walker Lake much longer as there are no T-Mobile towers around there and we'd used up all our US roaming data for the month.  So, north through Fallon to I-80 and thence to Winnemucca (I love that name).  North from there, or east to Wells and then north.  Sounds like a great plan...

We stopped at the Cosgrave rest area (40.78945, -117.99736) along the way for free dump and water (I love free dump and water)

and then stopped for a couple nights at Water Canyon BLM (40.92940, -117.67357) near Winnemucca (I love that name).  It's a decent camping spot (and the price is right: free) but if you stop here bring extra levelling boards because you'll need them.  And watch out for the Lizard People as I think there's a portal up in the mountains... no other explanation for the amount of traffic up and down that dead end road.  

Look close at the mountains in the two pictures above.  Yup, snowed the second night there.  Too close for comfort...gotta move along.  So, head a little further east... stop overnight at Carlin Canyon (40.72755, -116.01972)...

and then an unplanned stop at the California Trail Interpretive Center in Elko (highway billboards DO work, at least on us).  

Being reminded of the hardships that the pioneers faced crossing the country made me appreciate the conveniences of an RV and an interstate highway, and feel a little silly for complaining about having to turn on the furnace and put long pants on.  But not for long, of course.  

Weather forecast for Idaho and Montana was not looking very spring-like, so the new plan (I think we're up to about Plan G now) was to stop over at Bonneville Salt Flats for a day or so to see if the weather over Montana would clear up a bit.  

Unfortunately the salt flats were having some pretty big winds (which of course means sand/salt storms) so we passed on through with barely a stop at the viewing area.  New destination:  Grant's Reservoir (40.54396, -112.51222) southwest of Salt Lake City where we'll hole up for a few days waiting for a break in the weather northward.  Brrr.  See?  Didn't take very long at all to forget about the pioneers and start complaining again! 



Sunday, March 19, 2017

Northward migration

Because we had the time this year we figured we'd drift north at a bit more leisurely pace than usual.  On the theory that spring comes earlier on the coast we thought we'd head up through western Nevada and then either northwest through Oregon or northeast through Idaho depending on how spring shaped up.  One thing we knew for sure: we weren't hanging around Arizona for long now that air conditioning season was here!

Spent the first night enroute at the Beatty Pond (36.88209, -116.75419)...

...and then hung out for a week at Walker Lake Sportsman Beach BLM campground (38.69357, -118.76665) watching the weather forecast.  It's a beautiful lake and a nice campground, sadly the lake is drying up (click this link for the story).  

At the south end of Walker Lake (or, where the south end used to be) is the town of Hawthorne.  Its main claim to fame is the... 

Who knew?  Definitely not me!  For the full details click here.  By the way, this is as close as I got to the base itself.  

We did however go to the town park

 and the Ordnance Museum

but we never could figure out when the Mineral County Museum was open (it wasn't the hours posted on the door).