Saturday, November 22

Today, it was supposed to rain. It did. It was also windy to start. The trailer did a little rock and roll from the wind, but it wasn't so bad. I could hear the pitter-patter of rain on the vents.

And then the noise stopped. Looked outside and it snowing. No more wind, and rain slowly turning to snow. The sky has lowered so much, you can't see the hills around this valley.

So Park City is supposed to get lots of snow today. And since Deer Valley is a short hop, skip and jump from Park City, it should also.

Before today, the weather has been alternating between cloudy to clear (but dry all the time). Today, I guess it is changing.

Next week is Thanksgiving and I have to go to Deer Valley to fill out all my employment paperwork. It is supposed to be nice on Tuesday, but we'll see. I start work December 1. Can't wait!

November 12

Today is November 12, 2014. It was supposed to be nice today (maybe somewhat cloudy, but not too bad). Monday it was supposed to rain and/or snow. It didn’t. Yesterday was supposed to be nice and it was – blue sky and a few fluffy clouds. Thursday it was supposed to rain and/or snow.

Today was supposed to be more of the same nice weather. Hah!!! At 9:00 am it is snowing onto my car and trailer. Not a lot of snow, right now. Fairly big fluffy flakes/bunches of snow, but this time it is sticking – a little.

A change on Friday was indicated. Instead of clear, nice weather, it changed. Not to rain and/or snow, but strictly snow. The temperature for a high is below freezing. The low is single digit.

I’m keeping my heater down to 62 degrees and may have to go lower in order not to use so much propane. One tank lasts about a week or a bit longer. I think next winter I’m going to be somewhere where the weather doesn’t get so cold.

BTW, the cats are sleeping, totally unaware of the change in weather. Lucky suckers!

A slightly later update: The sky is clear but there are occasional snowflakes flying around. Very sparkly.

Deer Valley

Wish I could sleep as easily as Ziva, regardless of the position!

 I drove up to Deer Valley just to see where it was and what it looked like before the season begins. It is obvious that some snow has fallen (and been made), especially in the shaded areas. It is an absolutely gorgeous area. Of course it is full of very expensive hotels/motels/apartments and a couple of older houses that are surrounded by hotels/motels/apartments.

 One of the neat hotels next to the ski area is this one. One part is at the ski area bottom, the other part is at the top of the hill behind it. Guests take a cogwheel tram up to the top part. I've been on one of these and it is scary, but fun.

I'm ready for the ski season to start. I've found out where I need to go to start my job. I can't wait.

Rain or Snow

Today it was supposed to rain. No problem. Rain I can deal with at this point. It was supposed to hit a high of 59 degrees – cool but doable.

So I’m sitting here at my computer – the power is off so my laptop is playing on battery power now. Of course, no internet, no TV, no heater fan blowing. You get my drift. Fortunately, it is not me, it is the whole park, maybe the whole city.

And it is snowing. Yes, the hills closest to me are now slightly visible and have a dusting of snow on them. As do I, after walking to the front office to see if the power problem was with the whole park and not me. It isn’t supposed to snow at 59 degrees. But I guess the weather didn’t tell the weather guessers (commonly called “weather forecasters”) that is was going to snow today.

Fortunately, it is not a lot of snow and it is melting as it hits my truck and the ground, so the world isn’t turning white. Yet.

Yea!! The heater just came on. So I guess I won’t need to bundle up in everything warm I own (not much) just yet. I’d better get busy finishing the mittens I started. My hands might get too cold to do much.

It’s supposed to be dry and only overcast tomorrow. We’ll see!

Next day!!

It actually dry and overcast. The hills are alive with the sound of . . . snow and snow-making. Deer Valley sent me info about my first day of work (December 1) and info about the snow-making at Deer Valley. Can't wait. Of course, I've got to get new tires for the truck and figure out how to keep my California dreamin' truck alive and warm during, what appears right now will be, a cold winter.

BTW, this picture was taken from my door steps. As I sit at the window with my computer, this is the view I get. I love it!

Heber City, finally

A few days ago, I went up to Heber City to see what it was like. It is a nice little city and, according to someone I talked to, the fourth fastest growing area in the country. Great.

On the way up, I turned off on a side road and found this sign, located near the Provo Shooting Club. I guess they are just as bad as Californians!

Heber City is located between two reservoirs, one above the valley, one below. The first RV park I was supposed to stay at happened to be located at the base of the dam above the valley. It also didn't have internet or cable TV, so I went to the other park.

It is located at the other end of town. Of course, I arrived while it was raining! It was also very windy! The clouds came down and blocked out the mountain tops. When the clouds went away, surprise! Snow at the highest levels.

When I visited Heber City the first time, it was beautiful and clear. I took a couple of pictures on the trip from Provo through Provo Canyon to Heber City. There was a little park with a beautiful waterfall and a pond absolutely filled to the brim with rainbow trout. They have a feeding station where you can buy food to feed the fish and a lot of people were doing so. I didn't have any change, so I couldn't. It was neat though.

Today as the sun was going down, there was an absolutely incredible sunset. As you can see from the picture, I took it from the RV park. Lots of RVs got in the way!

The Arches

Monday, I drove from Green River to The Arches National Park at 6:00 am. I wanted to see the sun rise and hoped to get some sunrise and arches. Didn't quite, but the sky was quite beautiful.

 I drove to the end of the paved road (at Devil's Garden Campground) and hiked to see two arches. The first was "Tapestry Arch" and the other was "Broken Arch". I found Tapestry Arch (there was a sign) and then tried to go back to the original trail.

 Instead of going back the way I came (the "logical" thing to do), I ended up going cross-country, doing all the bad things the NPS didn't want you to do (first thing is to stay on the trail and not step on the natural occurring bacteria for the desert to regrow). I followed some other footsteps and tried to avoid growing spots, but it took about 20 minutes to actually get to the trail to go to the other arch.

However, I never found the other arch.

I went to the "Devil's Garden" trailhead and took the improved trail to Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch and Landscape Arch. It was a fairly easy hike, only a few ups and downs and was another place I took too many pictures (85 I think). Thank goodness I'm not using film. I couldn't afford the film and the developing!

I'm not sure why this is called Pine Tree Arch, but it is still gorgeous. It is one of the few arches you can get underneath without a lot of huffing and puffing.

The next arch (after Tunnel Arch) was Landscape Arch. This one used to have a trail to stand underneath, until a 300 pound section of the arch fell, almost on top of some hikers. It's been closed since then.

 After that little hike, I drove down to "Balancing Rock". It really looks like it is balancing on the rock beneath. The lower rock has worn away and will probably wear away some more until the balancing rock on top falls over. Not too soon, I hope.

There was a path all the way around, so I did that little hike. That was the end of my adventure in Arches, except for a quick stop at the Courthouse area. The rock structures looked like many old courthouses and there was even a group of four rock "people" standing across the road.

BTW, the road into the main part of the park starts at the main highway into Moab and then makes some very sharp turns to climb up the rock face into the main section. Very dramatic and "let's not look at the view right now" kind of terrifying.

On Wednesday, I drove to Provo, UT. It was an easy drive. I made a quick drive to Heber City (about 25 miles away). More later.

Capitol Reef and Goblins

On Saturday, I drove to Capitol Reef and spent some time there. Most of the interesting stuff is located on dirt roads that are recommended only for 4 wheel drive or vehicles with high clearance. My truck isn’t 4x4, but it does have high clearance. I still didn’t go down any dirt roads. Too messy!

Right off the freeway seems to be part of the fold. If it isn't, it is still fascinating.

CR isn’t a park I had ever heard of, so it was interesting going there. Apparently there is a 100 mile long fold in the earth. It is called “Waterpocket”. It makes some interesting formations.

The layers that show up in the formations are really intriguing. For instance, this formation looks like a messy layer cake. That rock on top looks like it could fall at any moment.

In this picture, the different types of formations have different colors. The hard, smooth stuff near the base look like green-patined copper. Might be. The red may be iron. Wonder if any of these layers are from the time of the dinosaurs, or even earlier. Interesting to think about.

There is also a district in the park called “Fruita District.” There are a lot of fruit trees growing along the river, along with a few old buildings and a farmhouse. They sell fresh fruit “stuff” there, like pies, jellies and jams. I bought a pie. They also have an area that lets you pick your own fruit, when there is fruit of course. Not this time of year.

When I left CR, I decided to go to the Goblin Valley State Park. There was a small area for camping and an overlook to the Goblin Valley. The only bad part (besides the parking which was horrendous) was that everyone was climbing all over the goblins. They probably wouldn’t last long, but the info sign said that old ones were wearing down and new ones growing. I’m sure they were wearing down faster than they were growing new ones.

 There are a lot of differently shaped goblins. Some look like faces, some look like animals, some look like short fat "goblins". Some look like a specific part of male anatomy.

 I took a short walk among the goblins and noticed the shapes and the evidence of them being underwater and then above water with the water lapping at the structures. Really neat!

 The different colors also seem to indicate the different mineral content of the water and the sediment that was deposited over the years.

Wide Open Spaces

Dixie Chicks and Wide Open Space: “She needs wide open spaces, a place to make a big mistake . . .” That’s what I need. I so relate to this song.

 Traveling from Ely to Green River on Wednesday proved that point. Wide open spaces, lots of ups and downs, but it wasn’t as bad as I feared. I decided on Green River instead of Moab and boy am I glad.

I drove through Moab to get to the southern end of Canyonlands National Park Thursday, and Moab is a tourist trap. Every other business is a tour company, an ATV rental place, a motel, a river rafting company, you name it, if it relates to tourism at Arches and Canyonlands, it is in Moab. And the traffic – it was almost like rush hour on the California freeways!

This was a long trip (around 250 miles round trip). The scenery was incredible (except for Moab) and awesome. I met up with some cows on the road to Canyonlands (it is mostly open range). A group were in the middle of the road, so I stopped. They looked at my truck and something about the front of my truck must have spooked them, because the group took off running up the hill. Very funny!

Did a little hiking at Pothole Point and drove down a dirt and gravel road towards Elephant Hill. It was all gorgeous. At Pothole Point, I saw this formation that looked like an eagle flying. It was a quiet, easy walk to see all the potholes. Only a couple had water, the rest were dry. Apparently wierd little critters grow in the water and then bury themselves as the pothole dries. They re-emerge when it gets wet.

I saw a lot of campers going toward Canyonlands (there are several campgrounds), but the road was so awful, I wouldn’t take my trailer out to those areas.

Another formation in the Canyonlands area. Canyonlands is kind of separated into three areas: Islands In The Sky (northern part), The Maze (middle), and The Needles (southern part). These were all taken in the Needles part.

At the end of the road in the Canyonlands area, I saw this bird waiting for dropped food from people in cars. He was very bold and let me get very close to him.

Nevada State Parks Near Ely

I'm writing this on October 11, after arriving in Fillmore, UT. I'm not sure when it will be posted, but here goes.

On October 10, I went to two Nevada State Parks. The first was Cave Lake, then Ward Charcoal Ovens.

Cave Lake is a gorgeous little lake in the hills near Ely. I didn't stay long, because I was planning on hitching up the trailer later in the day, so I didn't want to take too much time. I then went to Ward Charcoal Ovens (WCO).

There are two roads to WCO. The one closest to Ely shows 10 miles to WCO. So I took it. It was the most godawful road. Besides being dirt and gravel, it felt like it had been made by tank treads. It was so rough and beating up my truck so badly, I could only go about 10 to 15 mph. Even then the truck was tossed around and onto some very slippery gravel.

So I turned around and took the other road, farther from Ely. It showed a distance of only 7 miles. The road was so much better, I was able to go 50 mph and got to WCO fairly quickly.

Both places were extremely quiet and with very few visitors. Which made for a nice time.

Traveling to Fillmore wasn't too bad. I really wish that Ziva (Woolibaar Ziva Baaavid) wouldn't sing along with the music. First, she doesn't know the lyrics. A "mew, mew, mew" doesn't do it. In addition to not knowing the lyrics, she can't carry a tune in a bucket and her timing isn't even close to what the song's is. Oh, well.

Ely and the Great Basin National Park

Drove from Elko to Ely on October 8th. Spent the 9th at Lehman Caves/Great Basin National Park. I had last visited Lehman Caves in 1980 - before it became a national park in 1986. The long tour of the caves was full, so I took the shorter tour. It is very tight in some places and necessary to suck in some parts that needed sucking in. The goal was to not touch either side, but it wasn't as easy as that.

However, the stalactites, stalagmites, drapery, popcorn, bacon and shields were all incredible. At one point the ranger turned off the lights and lit a candle (which is how the first explorers of the cave saw everything). In case you hadn't guessed, it was VERY dark.

After the tour, I started the drive up to the top of Wheeler Peak (at 13,000 feet). Didn't make it much beyond 9,000. The road was paved, but there weren't any guard rails. And the drop off was awesome (in a somewhat horrifying, what-if-I-drive-off sort of feeling).

Just a little ways away from the Lehman Caves area was a "ranching exhibit". Someone had decided to put an "art installation" near it, and it was truly strange. A cow skull inside a rusted out car with no axles. How I feel at times!

I was able to get more pictures of aspens near Wheeler.

Another interesting note. On the way to the park from Ely, I went over a hill and down into a valley. I saw the road heading off to the hills on the other side of the valley (over six miles away, BTW) and thought OMG, I'll never get the trailer over that.

Turns out the road actually goes left and follows the hills (doesn't go over until a few miles later). The uphill isn't as bad as I expected when I saw this view out my windshield.

That made me think about traveling in a car versus my current setup. I have driven I-80 from Pacheco to Salt Lake City, Hwy 55 from Winnemucca to Boise and Hwy 50 from Fallon, NV to Ely and beyond. While driving in my van, I didn't notice any hills, or at least they appeared to be minor ups and downs in the roadway, especially with cruise control.

Whole different matter pulling a trailer. What seemed like minor hills turned out to be huge mountains with the truck shifting down to a much lower gear, or slowing down to 35 or 40 mph at a more reasonable rpm. Its a good thing I'm not in much of a hurry!

Just a quick note

Just a quickie - drove from Caldwell to Winnemucca and spent last night in a brand new RV park with really low rates. Clean, unpopulated and with a casino next door! The trees are still so young, they don't make shade for anyone but the smallest critters.

Drove today from Winnemucca to Elko. I was planning on going to Wells, but couldn't get any kind of acknowledgement when I tried to get some info. So here I am in Elko.

One comment about the Nevada Department of Transportation. Every uphill we found, the NDOT had closed off one lane. It would switch from left lane closed to right lane closed in the middle of the uphill. There were MILES of closure with little work being done.

So why were the lanes closed on uphills? Because they can. And they did. Very annoying and I felt sorry for those poor suckers behind me!

Lazy Week

Haven't done much of anything for the last week. I traveled from Cedar City, UT and spent a night in Draper, UT (after a whole trip of rain!). The next night I spent in Pocatello, ID at the Bannock County Fairgrounds.

That was an interesting stay. There was NOBODY else parked there. Nobody. I had the whole place to myself. I made sure my pepper spray was close by, but there was NOBODY there.

I spent one night there and drove to Caldwell, ID. I will be leaving on Wednesday to drive to Winnemucca and will continue my tour until the beginning of November. I will start working at Deer Valley, UT at the beginning of December.

So, I still have some interesting places to visit before then. After April, I'll have to decide where and what I will visit after that point.

September 28

September 27, 2014

Left Cedar City after a night of lightning, thunder and incredible rain. I heard on the radio that there were heavy storm warnings south of me (in Hurricane of all places). I also heard later on that the repaired part of I-15 damaged during the first hurricane was again wiped out by storm water.

What a great time to be traveling. Just before Provo, it started raining so hard, I couldn’t see the road. I had to keep track of the white line near the edge of the freeway to even try to drive through. It was like a deluge – a waterfall obliterating every semblance of reality.

When I am in a regular car, not pulling a trailer, no type of weather bothers me: fog, rain, wind, hail, snow, anything. However, not the same in a truck pulling a trailer. I don’t mind the rain and hail, but the wind was awful. When trucks pass me, it is nerve racking enough with the suction of their draft affecting the stability of the trailer. The whole drive from Cedar City to Draper (around 250 miles) was wind buffeting the poor trailer. It tried to wag its tail, but fortunately it kept the wag very small and controllable.

It took quite a while to unclench my hands from the wheel. I’m still a bit sore in the shoulder from the tension of holding the truck steady with the wind, trucks and rain.

I’m set up for the night near Draper, UT. It is supposed to have wifi, but with the tremendous amount of rain falling, it is not working.

I’m not sure when this will be posted, but I will keep it updated until I am able to post.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Wednesday, I went off to Bryce Canyon National Park. I took the shuttle on the round trip through the first 3 miles or so of the 18 mile length of the road through the park. The first stop was at Bryce Point.

Looking at the Hoodoos (those free-standing spires) and seeing how they start, continue and disappear was fascinating. Reading all the material about them, the geology and history was very informative. The three stages are shown above: 1. Grooves down the cliff face 2. Freestanding arches 3. Hoodoos.

This particular one was above a huge "amphitheater" of trails, trees, hoodoos and more. After riding the shuttle to Bryce Point, I came back in my car to "Inspiration Point." There were three levels to view the spot from, but I was only able to reach the first two. The third was up a relatively steep path (not real steep but at 8300 feet, more than I could do).

If I were young and a hiker (and more in shape!) I would be interesting in hiking these spots. At my age, I can barely breathe at this altitude.

On the way to and from Bryce Canyon, you drive through Dixie National Forest. One of the stops is at Red Canyon. The road goes through two "tunnels" that were dug through a couple of rocky places. They were both about 10 feet long. At the visitor center, there is a short hike to see the Hoodoos close up.

Also on the way back, the road goes up into the subalpine area with the aspens. I found this little dirt road on the way back and took a short drive before I turned around. The colors are glorious.

I was tired when I got home (76 miles each way of driving and all the walking around) so Thursday (today) is a rest day. Friday will also be a rest day, since Saturday I am leaving.

Today, I made shades out of cloth used to darken rooms to replace the plastic, broken up shades in the trailer. No more holes in the shades. Some of them were big enough to stick your head through and made me far more visible than I would really have wanted to be.

Zion and Cedar Breaks

There must be a law in Utah that says you are required to go 5 to 15 miles an hour below the speed limit, especially in the hills. The number of cars behind you doesn't matter. If they want to go faster (like maybe the speed limit), they have to pass, but only in the very short passing zones, if there is no traffic. And rule number one, you must NEVER pull over to let anyone pass.

Or, you go 5 to 15 miles per hour faster than the posted limit and force others to pull over to let you by before you ram their back bumper.

End of rant.

Tuesday, I went to Zion National Park, Kolob Canyons. I did the short hike at the end of the road to the overlook. Looking at the canyon from that level was overwhelming. The beauty was breathtaking and not just because of the altitude.

I spent an hour getting to the top and back (I walk very slowly) and then drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Zion Kolob Canyon is 20 miles south of Cedar City (where I am right now) and Cedar Breaks is 25 miles northwest.

A year ago (right after I got my camera), I had made plans to visit Colorado in time for the color changes in the aspen trees. I cancelled that trip because of the flooding in Colorado at that time. I guess I wasn't looking in the right place.

The altitude at the visitor center at Cedar Breaks is 10,500 feet above sea level. Talk about breathtaking. This time is was the altitude.

But a big part of it was looking over the railing at the visitor center and seeing the surrounding area. OMG, it was scary looking over, but the view was even more taking-away-my-breath and it wasn't just the altitude.

But back to the aspens. At the altitude of Cedar Breaks and the pass leading up to it, I was at the "subalpine" tree level, which includes aspens. 

The green, reddish, orangish and golden colors of the aspens at this altitude were absolutely incredible. I couldn't take enough pictures. But I did take enough to realize I don't need to go to Colorado to see the trees.

I had to leave Cedar Breaks fairly quickly because I couldn't breath at that altitude. But it was a great side trip, nonetheless.

Moving Day

This is going to be short and with no pictures. Those will come tomorrow.

I left Boulder City, NV at around 8:30 am. Less than 200 miles later, I arrived in Cedar City, UT at around 12:30 pm. It was an easy drive, all up hill, but gently up, nothing horrendous.

It was one of those times when I wished I wasn't driving. The change in environment from Nevada to Arizona to Utah is truly amazing. Nevada is desert - flat, no trees, nothing more than 1 foot tall, the hills were rocky with nothing growing. As we got close to the Arizona border, the landscape became more hilly, more rocky and even the desert part was different.

Different kind of brush (taller), hills had more colors, the hills were buttes, bluffs, and table mesas with differing colors of rocks. There were places where you could see the various levels at which the colored layers changed. Mostly they were straight and level, but every once in a while you would see a section that was slanted or distorted into almost a loop.

I studied basic geography and oceanography and understand the tectonic plate theory. The idea that the Sierras are growing taller because the Pacific Plate is diving under the North American plate and forcing the left coast higher is fascinating.

Having watch Discovery about how the earth was made drove my thought during this drive. What kind of forces are underneath a particular place that make it change from straight and level to slanted and looped?

So, just a "short" drive and cooler temperatures. And I can't seem to get the trailer perfectly level. It is close enough to keep everything operating, but I don't have the energy or strength to make the jacks any more level. Maybe tomorrow.

Saturday Night in Vegas

Saturday night was a loud night. No partying but the lightning, thunder and rain (yes, rain) pounding on the top of my aluminum home were all loud. Nice light show, but the rain was unexpected.

It started out as a little pitter patter on the roof. Then the hammer of Thor started pounding the roof. Then pitter patter for a while, no noise for a while and then Thor came back to pick up the beat.

It lasted for quite a few hours, but was something to keep me awake for a while.

Today is Sunday and tomorrow morning I will be hitching up and heading out to Cedar City Utah. It is cooler there than in Vegas, so it should be a good, easy trip.

Picture that didn't want to be in yesterday's blog.

This is the Bellagio water works when it is not working. They don't run it during the day. Too bad. Even in the daylight it would have been beautiful.

I noticed these two wings on one hotel (didn't get the name) and the buildings are slanted in different directions. Neither building appears straight, but from looking at the glass panes, they are obviously built straight but the walls on the outside slant.

The Vegas Strip

I went to the Las Vegas Strip Thursday. I'm still trying to digest how I really feel about the area.

My first thought is: This is awful. Why is this so popular?

(BTW, I'm having trouble right now uploading pictures. When I get a stronger signal, I'll edit this with pictures).

I parked at the Paris Hotel and then walked up to New York New York.

The best thing about the Strip is that at most intersections, there is a walkway across the street so you don't have to be at street level and wait for the lights. You do have to go upstairs (or upelevator or upescalator) to get to the walkway, but it is accessible.

I saw the Bellagio waters without the show. I guess it is only done at night. I saw a bunch of other hotels and their huge overly bright neon signs. I walked south on one side of the street, then crossed over the street and walked south back to my car.

It was hot and crowded. Among the non-hotel sites were the characters in costume. Most of them were in full costume, but the costumes were old, poorly maintained and obviously a costume. I still felt sorry for those that were fully dressed in the heat and sun on that day. The ones I didn't feel sorry for were the few girls I saw wearing as little as legally possible and the "gentlemen" wearing even less. There was no shrinkage visible, in fact, it seems, the opposite.

Today, I went to the Railroad Museum and rode the train. It was interesting looking at the old cars and looking inside an old Post Office car and a caboose. It wasn't as hot as the previous days, so the breeze created by the train ride felt good.

The day started out cloudy and has continued to get cloudier. The temperature is cooler, by a few degrees.

I'm going to be leaving Vegas and Nevada on Monday and heading into Utah. I'm planning on visiting Zion and Bryce National Parks. From there, maybe off to Moab or maybe farther north. I'll see how I feel.

Vegas, Again

I wasn't going to do much today, but I ended up going to Hoover Dam. I had been there when I was young and only remember the horrendous elevator ride to the bottom. Didn't do it this time.

Looking at Lake Mead on the way, you can see the "bathtub ring", the highest level of water (and usual level). The lake level is so low, islands that were originally covered up have surfaced.

I drove to the dam, and they have security checking vehicles on the way to the dam, assuming that you are going to cross it. Since I wasn't interesting in driving across (bridges are bad enough, doing the dam would have been too much), I didn't mind showing what was in my truck. Lots of junk.

First thing I saw as I drove down the road to the dam was this tower that carried wires from the base of the dam up and over the hills surrounding the dam.

No, they aren't broken, they were installed in this angled way. Looks weird, like they are in the process of falling over.

I walked along the dam and had to take my cap off so it wouldn't disappear into the water below. It was an OMG moment looking over the side at the dam. It is a long way down.

I walked to Arizona and then walked back to Nevada. Not so long a trip, since the Nevada/Arizona line is in the middle of the dam.

Walking back on the other side of the road, I saw this little memorial. It might be difficult to read, but it was for the mascot of the builders of the dam. He apparently had been killed when a construction truck hit him. This was very sweet of the men who spent so much time and energy on this project.

BTW, it was very hot. Did I mention it was HOT??? It started clouding up when I got home, and around 7:30 pm I went outside to watch the lighting. It was only in the clouds (didn't seem to be hitting the ground), and I didn't hear any thunder. It was also very windy (rocking the trailer). Maybe we'll get a little rain. It is supposed to be a tad (a degree or two) cooler tomorrow. Maybe not even hitting 100!

Vegas Baby!

Sunday morning I went from Fresno to Barstow. The pass was horrible - it was hot and long. My truck got very warm so I turned on the heater (!) on to help reduce the engine heat. I gave the cats a bottle of ice each (I had frozen water in used water bottles). They finally shutup after that.

I spent the night in a little park that I saw reviewed. The owners were very helpful and friendly. I didn't even unhitch or do much of anything. I couldn't get on the internet, so I couldn't do anything on my computer.

So I left Barstow very early this morning and it was already warm. Coming out of Mojave, it was a long (16-20 MILES) of uphill climb. It was also very straight and very up. I went slowly, trying to keep the engine temperature down. It got warm, but didn't overheat. Of course, I didn't have the air conditioner on until we finally started heading down.

At the border between California and Nevada is a huge solar array with a reflector to focus sun on the array. It was very bright with lots of "silver" surrounding the reflector. There was also a lake around the reflectors, maybe from the last storm that came through.

You can sure tell the difference between California and Nevada. The first exit in Nevada had a full-on casino, hotel, and amusement park going on. In the middle of the desert. The next exit (14 I believe) had the same and a huge sign saying "Come in here. Spend your money here!"

I arrived in Boulder City around 11:30. First thing I did was plug the power in and turn on the air conditioner. I put the awning out and it is rocking the trailer now because the wind has picked up. I will probably have to pull it down.

Time to rest and stop sweating. I'm drinking lots of water and it all seems to come out as sweat.