Day 63 Fri, Nov 29

Fri, Nov 29

Drive home!

Days 61-62 Weds, Nov 27-Thurs, Nov 28

Weds, Nov 27-Thurs, Nov 28

Visiting with family in Pennsylvania.

Day 60 Tues, Nov 26

Tues, Nov 26

We were parked right next to a busy route 81….so road sounds but that did not keep me from sleeping or wake me….a peaceful night despite. We have about a 4-5 hour drive today to spend time with David’s family and outlet stores and goodwill before that. Then done driving until Friday when we arrive home.

Day 59 Mon, Nov 25

Mon, Nov 25

Yeah, the train whistles started at 4:30am; I had just woken and was trying to go back to sleep…not happening. David slept through it all….not fair! Another long day of driving from Chattanooga Walmart to Woodstock Virginia Walmart. Note to self…do not plan the commute home during the week before Thanksgiving….route 81 was pretty heavy with out of state travellers. Glad to get another day under our belts.

Day 58 Sun, Nov 24

Sun, Nov 24

The night was fairly quiet but 5:30 am or so Mali decided to play watch dog and bark (a few) at the voices outside. We needed to get moving as we had almost 600 miles to drive today (actually that would be David and not me). Stops for gas, Denny’s (we have coupons) in Pearl Mississippi...yes mam! Sunday is a good day to drive…way less people on the road. Arrived at Chattanooga Walmart around 7pm after a LONG day of driving. Chattanooga choo choo! Trains blowing whistles!

Day 57 Sat, Nov 23

Sat, Nov 23

In the end two more campers arrived (local) so there was only one space left…hey it’s the weekend. A quiet night and everyone was nice. The hunters had four dogs and Mali behaved perfectly…was much more interested in my pizza and playing ball with me. We left early to end up east of Dallas. Our drive took us past MANY oil fields (and resulting water solutions….) cottonfields, windmill farms, and back to civilization after almost two months….and real trees. I-20 will get us most of the way east. We ended the day’s drive with an overnight at the Walmart in Linsdale, TX (home town of Miranda Lambert…lol). Dallas was rather congested and we had to reroute to get to the Columbia outlet (not a good one) due to an accident on I-20. Next time we need to pick when we are going through Dallas….Saturday night was not it. The outlet mall had people waiting for parking spots and we had to park pretty darn far away to fit.

Day 56 Fri, Nov 22

 Fri, Nov 22

Quick shopping and we left for another free spot. Eunice Recreation Area in Eunice, NM and a little over an hour away. A nice duck pond with portapotties, picnic areas, free electric and water…about 5 sites and they were close together. Just us and one other person. Mali liked the ducks but was well behaved sniffing up a storm. We spent most of the day here as we got here early on this cloudy day (first in a long time) and night here, of course. Enough to keep us busy enough for the day while we are making our way home. I would stay here again. The trees surrounding the pond/lake are pecan/pecons so we picked a few an ate them…delicious.

Day 55 Thurs, Nov 21

Thurs, Nov 21

Today in our slow move home…we left Oliver Lee State park (NM) and headed for Guadalupe National Park. Hours later we arrived to be disappointed by a parking lot for a campground. REALLY…just parking spaces. I think they can do a LOT better. We did some quick research and headed for Carlsbad Caverns. David went on the tour and I decided to keep Mali company…not much of a subterranean girl. And I made dinner rather than wait until I was hangry. Nice views from the parking lot. I selected our back up over night parking spot just north of Carlsbad Caverns…BLM lands….free. However, we got there and decided that it was not going to work for us. Plan C was the Walmart in Carlsbad…key word “bad”. We stayed there but you get what you pay for (small parking lot for the amount of traffic, busy, trucks and their noise. We slept well but it was a last resort for the day. This is why I usually always plan and research where we are going to stay (and I did this time except it didn’t work out) so we don’t have to go to auxillary plans.

Day 54 Weds, Nov 20

Weds, Nov 20

Rain last night late, today hard. Only the second rain while out here (some coming out though). When the rain quit and the radar map showed no more (it was windy also), we took off (after dump and water refill) for White Sands National Monument. We spent a nice day there and left at 4pm to spend the night at the Walmart in Alamagordo, NM. We arrived there to find: a busy parking lot with no where for us to have a quiet night, two different panhandlers, and no other rv’s. It was decided that since I didn’t want to cook we would have dinner at Chili’s; fajitas for both of us! We then, in the dark, headed for Oliver Lee State Park (less than 10 miles south) my plan B. Lucky there was a space. A quiet night. $10 = no electric, water in campground, dump, nice enough showers…perfect!

Day 53 Tues, Nov 19

Tues, Nov 19

Sob…we left Graham & Melissa’s this morning at 8am….Concho, AZ. Our days travel (route 60 to 380 in NM) had very few vehicles and a pleasant drive through the golden hills of eastern AZ. I DROVE for about one hour…a first. I even went as fast as 60mph. I was done after an hour…my hands were sweaty and I needed a break from the death grip on the wheel….. We ended the day in Valley of Fire BLM campground ($6 old guy pass and it has showers, trash, dump, water = perfect). We took a walk on their nature trail through the lava beds (pretty darn neat!) and around the campground. We arrived just in time to get a pull through site (so that we didn’t have to disconnect the Jeep) and after us came more than a few that would have happily had our pull through site.

Day 43-52 Sat, Nov 9 – Mon, Nov 18

Sat, Nov 9 – Mon, Nov 18

David and Graham went for supplies to cement the wind turbine tower.

I worked on burning the pile of juniper debris from his home site. Working on turbine and blocks to support turbine.

Backfilling the big blocks to hold guy lines for turbine.

Doing anything needing to get done! Setting up the wind turbine and all that involved…Graham climbing the tower.

Days 38-42 Mon, Nov 4 – Fri, Nov 8

Mon, Nov 4 – Fri, Nov 8

Graham is off training this week but we knew that so we are hanging out at his place and I am burning…carefully…juniper tree/bush scraps that they removed for housing site, etc. Walking. This week will also be spent getting some things done on the rv (David) and me cooking/baking some things for the eventualy ride home….more burning of piles of juniper and other things that can BURN/BURN/BURN when dry season is here.

Day 37 Sun, Nov 3

Sun, Nov 3

A decision was made that we would book it to Graham’s house near Concho, AZ. It took us way longer than expected with stops at walmart and for gas…we bailed on doing laundry until later this week and ditto on dumping tanks. We arrived just at dark and made our way successfully and separately (me in jeep and david in rv) with neither of us getting lost on the dark gravel roads. Visit with Graham a bit and off to bed.

Day 36 Sat, Nov 2

Sat, Nov 2

Dump tanks and head off to Bonelli Bay…hoping for less people and a beach for Mali. She is not really a swimmer but throw a stick and she will every so gently swim (spazzily) to get it and you cannot throw it far or she won’t get it.

Well Bonelli Bay was bust for us. I scouted the gravel road first and David followed slowly in the rv. I hit two long soft gravel spots (30-40 feet) that just would have bogged the rv down…so it was a no…too bad looked gorgeous. Back I went to tell him to turn around as he would soon hit the soft.



WELL, the road was not very conducive to a 25 foot rv turning around as they had plowed it so many times (pushing dirt up and over the sides that the only place we could find to turn around was a wash that I dug out a bit..tossing rocks out of the way. A many point turn and we were heading off to Temple bar and to stay in the campground ($10 with old guy pass/no showers but dump and trash). This campground is at the end of a paved road and holds 153 rv’s or tents but there were only 3 rv’s here including us. My best guess is that it is the furthest from Las Vegas; it is a Saturday too

Day 35 Fri, Nov 1

Fri, Nov 1

A relaxing day at Lake Mead. Graham turned us on to another place on Lake Mead that might have less people so we will head there tomorrow.

Day 34 Thurs, Oct 31

Thurs, Oct 31

A quiet night was had by all…I think a total of 8 cars went by from 5pm onward. You really could barely hear them anyway.

Early up and errands (Walmart and gas up at much better prices than California. Ended the day at Stewart Point on Lake Mead for more free camping. Did not get the spot we wanted (been here before) that had convenient beach for Mali swimming…disappointing.

Dat 33 Weds, Oct 30

Weds, Oct 30

Early morning we headed to Ubehebe Crater. David got to watch Mali and chat with anyone who would listen. I got to do the 1.5 mile hike around the crater rim…whoopie! With that done we further explored a bit and then drove out…heading toward to Pahrump. We didn’t know where we would end up staying the night but I was hoping that it would not be Walmart in Pahrump or a casino. When we were about to give up we spotted a DOT lot…piles of gravel and a gravel road in…SOLD. This road is quiet with very few cars going by despite it being one way (but not usual) to get into DV. A hundred feet off the paved road…good enough and free!

Day 32 Tues, Oct 29

Tues, Oct 29 

We are staying tonight again in Mesquite Campground. This campground has the highest elevation in the park (1800 feet above sea level approximately) so it cooled down nicely last night…been enjoying the cold nights and didn’t want it to end.

David and Mali took off to hike Telescope Peak (11,000 feet and longer than I wanted to hike/all day). I walked the wash behind our campsite and the campground road (more than once) and restocked our larders from the rv basement, baked some gluten free cookies and almond bread for the freezer (my fast food).

Even though Mesquite campground is the furthest from everything in Death Valley, it is quiet and well worth the longer travel. Larger rv’s usually don’t frequent this campground due to some bushes coming in that may rub the rv. There is no shade so this time of year is perfect (30’s at night and 65-70 during the day with a breeze). During the day most people are gone exploring with a new crop of people coming in each afternoon or evening.

A windy day with gusts 40mph making the not-too-distant mountains obscured by dust. Fortunately, not enough dust to keep me inside.

The host is a nice elderly gentlemen who likes to chat (maybe even more than David) because he doesn’t get many here who will. He will be volunteering here for 6 months (!!!) and going grocery shopping means a 2.5 hour drive to Pahrump (Walmart) and getting gas MUCH cheaper there as well. They reimburse him for propane (refrigerator and heat on the wall and hot water). He has sewer so no need to move to dump and water at his site (none of which we have…just a parking spot). AND he does NOT have to clean potties! There are actually flush toilets here…no pit toilets!

David arrived home from hiking at o’dark hundred (around 8:15pm…dark) Mali flew in the door at top speed, grabbed her dish and threw it at me. Feeding time is around 5:30 and with a full day of hiking, she was HANGRY. David enjoyed his hike…not sure about his knees. He met two really nice guys that hiked with him on his hike. They volunteered to make sure he made it out.

Day 31 Mon, Oct 28

Mon, Oct 28

After a very cold night (open the cupboards to let the heat in, turn on tank heaters, and set the heat on the wall to slightly more than the lowest), we left Horton Creak around 8:30. In reality, we did not have to go that far but it took us all day and we arrived at Death Valley’s Mesquite campground around 5pm. The ride down California’s route 395 was uneventful. We stopped at Keough Hot ditch and decided it was not warm enough. A bit of food shopping in Bishop/Grocery Outlet Bargain market (nice). The ride on route 136/190 to Death Valley was up, up, up, down, down, down, up, up, up, and down, down, down to 5 feet above sea level from 4000 feet to around 5600, and down.
It was a crawl up pulling over to stop a couple of time to let transmission cool down. It was a slow slog down in lowest gear to not burn out the breaks. Scenic though. We did stop at Stovepipe wells campground and it was nothing more than a parking lot so we passed on that campground. Mesquite campground ($7. With old guy pass) fit our needs nicely as it was out of the way, a small 40? campsites and maybe 10 max campers here. Mali was very glad to get out of the box/rv and was pretty crazy after all day in the rv with only sniffy breaks. It was dark and she was still bouncing around and wanting to play ball.

Day 30 Sun, Oct 27

Sun, Oct 27

David took off for a longer walk than I wanted to do. I stayed back and walked around the campground and beyond. Snow in the mountains “up the hill”. Cold, windy, and dank out 42 degrees today versus 70 degrees yesterday with wasps buzzing around our rv (didn’t like that). Baking Almond Blueberry GF muffins for me and freezer. Lentil soup (it is more like stew with lots of stuff in it).

Day 29 Sat, Oct 26

Sat, Oct 26

Today we drove from our boondocking spot near Mono Lake to Mammoth Lakes to go food shopping and then on to our campground for the next two nights. Blm’s Horton Creek Campground….a whopping $4 per night with the old guy pass plus $5 to dump our tanks. We are surrounded by mountain ranges and the whole campground is up on a bit of a hill. Mali thinks there is a lizard under every bush and in the piles of rocks because she saw ONE…happy hunting girl.

Jeep took us to Pine Creek Canyon…one canyon over from where we are staying to check out hiking trail and see what is up there…rock climbers and hikers is what we found. Walk around campground at night. Might mention that the wasps were pretty active at this campground during the heat of the day (noon to 5?) and were all around the rv…annoying because Mali likes to catch things…

Campfire evening using the last of our fire wood.

Day 28 Fri, Oct 25

Fri, Oct 25

People streamed in to this campground at dinnertime and beyond last night. I think it is the last hooha before they close approximately 10/28. It was a lot of tents or small campers as there are only a few spaces for bigger ones. There are roughly 50 campsites here.

Today we jeeped up the mountain road into Yosemite National Park and did a small hike (at like 10,000 feet) of four miles around Saddle Bag Lake. It was pretty flat and I needed that at 10,000 feet to not be gasping for air. Awesome mountain scenery.

Temps have been in the low 20’s and day time maybe 70. We left the Lower Lee Vining campsite after having lunch there and moved to a boondocking spot (free!) just off the paved road to Virginia Lakes. We had spotted a van in it yesterday so nabbed it today with a plan B in place in case it wasn’t available. After setting up the solar panels, David and Mali took off to do another hike (Parker Lake) and I took a nap! Awesome views from our camping spot! 

Day 27 Thurs, Oct 24

Thurs, Oct 24

We left the campground early and got some WIFI and took a walk around the Mono Lake Tuffa mounds…very interesting and a highly salinated lake…very picturesque as well…like a post card! Then we decided where to spend the night even though it was just lunchtime. Route 120 took us to Lower Lee Vining campground (on the road to Yosemite/one of the road anyway). It was the only campground on that road open at this time of year so we grabbed a site. A whopping $7 on the OLD GUY pass…we got trash! We are nestled under the ponderosa pines again…great for us but our solar panels struggle. Jeep took us on an exploratory excursion about 20 miles down route 395 to scope out our next nights lodgings…aiming for free! The ride around Virginia Lakes was extremely picturesque.