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It's
been over five years since our acquisition of our very own fifth-wheel RV, and
sadly, the same amount of time since our one big twelve-week trip
into the Pacific Northwest. The poor RV has been sitting in a parking
lot since then, and I was beginning to think there it would stay until my
funeral. But finally I convinced the old ball and chain
my Darling Husband Mike that working is not the ONLY thing worth doing, and
we scheduled two months for a new trip in the summer of 2006.
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Ordinarily
we try to travel the spring and fall, to avoid the crowds; so I had
some trepidation -- well-founded, as it later proved -- about doing most of our
traveling in July and August. Since it was to be the shank of the summer
and we hate the heat, we decided to head as far north as possible and hope for
good weather.
One thing we knew for sure: the fuel bills
were going to be scary, with diesel selling for over $3 a gallon.
RVs are not known for their fuel economy, y'all.
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<--At least one gas station owner has a sense of humor about 2006 prices.
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Nevada: Not for the faint of
heart
Our
first week on the road was a bit of a trial, just getting from home to where we
wanted to be. We stopped for three nights in Reno, mostly to visit some
former neighbors who had just moved there. We stayed in the Shamrock RV park --
using the term "park" loosely -- that was just a nicely paved parking
lot with electrical hookups, located in a warehouse district right next to the
railroad tracks. Not the greatest location, but it was clean and had a
nice little swimming pool for a quick dip in the searing heat. And there
were at least two bail bondsmen just down the street, in case we needed their
services.
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Some of our neighbors in Reno. -->
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At least the satellite TV and
internet card worked. On this trip we're trying out the so-called
"air card", an internet card for the PC that works essentially like a
cellphone connection. It's not super-high speed, but we find it works
adequately on all the major interstates, and anywhere else we can get a direct
line-of-sight to a Cingular cell tower. Of course that doesn't cover
everything, but this was a less expensive alternative to a mobile satellite
internet dish, favored by full-time RV'ers.
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<--Surfing road warrior. Nothing like having
internet on the road!
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We
had a bit of a scare in Reno when
our cat, Chelsea, started showing symptoms of a recurrent bladder infection --
on a Friday night, of course. How exactly do animals know when the
week-end starts, anyway? A quick (if expensive and harrowing) trip to the Reno
emergency vet clinic solved our problem, and hers, and we decided to keep going.
And
going, and going -- and going. Who knew that Nevada is about a
thousand miles wide? Well, at least it seemed that way. Our ultimate
destination was Yellowstone, via Idaho, but first we had to get thru the endless
desert. We don't like to travel more than six hours a day, so we chose to
stop overnight in Elko, NV. Let's just re-dub it Hell-ko right now, shall we?
'Nuf said. And if anybody ever offers you a free pass to the
delightful Double Dice RV Park -- run. Fast.
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The seemingly endless landscape of Interstate 80 and the
Nevada desert. -->
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Our trusty rig taking a break from the desert heat. |
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