July 2011

Well, where to start.  It's been way too long since my last update as my life took a few massive twists and turns after I last wrote.
I suppose the best place to start is January 2010.......
So having made good time through California, Oregon and Washington I reached the border with about 3 hours left on my visa waiver.  No problem huh?! 
That's when it all kicked off!!!  Canadian customs were suspicious of my meanderings and after a gruelling 3 hours with my camper turned upside-down, they REFUSED me entry.  Or should I say, "suggested very strongly that I withdraw my application to enter the country".  Having, by that time, not slept for nearly 24 hours and driven 800miles that day, my mind was too fogged to really argue the point or make proper representation.  OK thought I, in my sleep deprived brain, I'll just re-enter the US and apply for a new visa waiver, make some arrangements for the camper with my Abbotsford friends and fly back to the UK from Seattle in a couple of weeks.  HUH, fat chance!!  BEWARE the U.S. Border Agency.  I'll maybe go into more detail some other time, but basically I spent 14 hours in a cell at the border post, was then unceremoniously handcuffed along with waist and leg irons (YES REALLY!), given 5 minutes to pack ONE small bag and shipped off to Tacoma Detention Centre, where I was incarcerated for over 3 weeks before being DEPORTED!!!!!!  And all this because, technically, I had not left the US and could not therefore apply for a new visa waiver.  Having by this time "overstayed" by 12 hours, I was deemed a criminal subject to the full force of the law but without ANY rights to an attourney or judge to plead my case, as these were apparently signed away with the visa waiver application. (Hell, who reads all the small print?).

So, eventually back in England February 19th 2010, very disorientated and feeling very, very low.  Stayed in a motel, thanks to my son Josh who paid for a few days there, until I could get funds sorted, my car and caravan out of storage, MOT'd, taxed, insured and onto a site.  This done, I had to go to my GP as my back was absolute agony.  He arranged a visit to a consultant within the week, who in turn arranged, in 6 days, a colonoscopy and delivered the news that I had a tumorous carcinoma - CANCER - Life just got even better.....

Goodbye California

Well, it's been a long time since I last wrote.
I'll be driving up Interstate 5 tomorrow heading back to Canada as my visa expires on 28th January and I've got 3 days to drive about 1400 miles!
Hope the Canadians let me back in!!

Once I'm back with decent internet I can update this better and get some photos up.  It's been an amazing time in California and Arizona, particularly Joshua Tree National Park

Amazing Trees!!

The Salton Sea in California

Looking west over the Salton Sea at sunset

Furnace Creek campground

Death Valley

and Organ Pipe Cactus Monument in Arizona, right on the Mexican border.

Had an amazing time with my friends, old and new!  Now to arrange a 6 month visa and come back.....

Hope 2010 is going well for everyone.

Beep, beep

Well believe it or not, this is a Roadrunner!! Cheeky little devil wanders around in the vain hope of being fed (large fine if the Rangers catch you!) and doesn't go "beep, beep" but probably would beat our local Wil E Coyote to the trash cans!

This litle chap even walks into motorhomes and has a look around!

Still little internet access and a storm front coming across so temperatures dropped to mid 50's F and cloudy skies but hey, who cares......

Back soon...

Death Valley

Way to much to see here and I just KNEW I'd have trouble keeping up with my blogging, so this is just to say I'm alive and well, warm and dry and exploring what must be one of the most facinating places on this earth.

Ubehebe Crater

View looking north from Dante's Point







Oh yes, forgot to mention the 75oF, warm springs fed swimming pool.......

Back later..........

Scotty's Castle

Wow, four days has taken me all the way from Carson City in Nevada to Death Valley in California. From -8oC at night to +8oC and 12oC during the day to 23oC. From 4,000ft above sea level to 190ft BELOW.

I'll go back to Friday 13th...

Friday 13 November

I awoke to blue skies again but chilly as my furnace has been playing up. The thermostat has been switching so fast that the fan doesn't have time to stop on cool-down before it is kicked in again. Not good for the furnace, not good for my batteries and not keeping me warm either. I've toyed with the inards but decided to bite the bullet and buy a replacement today. $24 at the RV sales just up US 395, on the outskirts of town. Oh boy, what a difference it's made!! I can set the delay on this one, or rather the anticipator and I get a good 4 or 5 degrees boost before it switches off, instead of 1/2 a degree.

Back up to Washoe State Park to "do tanks" and refill with fresh water, then back to Lot#4 for the night.

I'm not superstitious, but happy the day went by without incident!

Oh yes, nearly forgot. Wayne brought me over a pork chop "farewell dinner". Such kind and generous people. Thank you! My faith in humanity proven again!

Saturday 14 November

Warrmmm all night, wonderful. The furnace worked a real treat and kept the -4.8oc overnight cold away.

Well, taking my leave of Carson City today, said my farewells to Skyler but unfortunately Wayne and his family were all out somewhere so had to leave a note, but have their email address and will write later.

On the road east to Virginia City some 20 miles away but a climb of some 2,000 ft to just over 6,200ft. My Islander took it in it's stride but a 15% grade sure took a bit of gas to climb! I really cannot imagine having to WALK it as used to be the case! There is another route, through 6 Mile Canyon, but it heads south of Carson so doubles the distance.

Virginia City is terraced out of hillsides with mine workings all around. The main thoroughfare is preserved (albeit with tarmaced road now), with boardwalks leading into saloons, bars, houses of ill repute.... oh no, sorry, it was a store selling t-shirts. Typical tourist place really, but nice to see the other 8 or 10 streets consist of real housing with real people still enjoying their town and making a living, keeping the place alive and bustling.

I was fortunate enough to find the Virginia and Truckee railhead just 5 minutes before a train puffed and panted its way into view. It doesn't normally run this time of year, but a special tour had been arranged and 2 coach loads of eager tourists were waiting as the old train clanked and wheezed its way into the "halt", bell clanging and steam billowing around it. I took a video and will try to post it, but couldn't get it to run on my computer (very, very grateful to Jack for its loan as otherwise there would be NO blog!). The line now runs all the way back into Carson City as in the old days so I bet they had a terrific ride! The train was met and waved off by a dozen or so locals dressed in "western gear", six-guns, spurs (the men), bonnets and bustles (the ladies).  Once the train had left they went back into town in golf carts, a very odd sight!!

Although there is an RV park and a large parking lot ideal for boondocking just below Main Street, I decided not to stay overnight as it really was a bit too touristy for me, mostly shops selling every imaginable knick-knack and curio, so I headed off down 6 Mile Canyon to Dayton, east on US50 through Stagecoach, then south on ALT95 to Yerrington. I camped here overnight in the Rest Area which proved to be very quiet and with a sani-station, immaculately clean washrooms but no fresh water.

Sunday 15 November

Crickey, my thermometer registered minus 9.8oC overnight and my pipes were frozen (but thawed out quickly with the sun). My furnace must have worked wonderfully because I was toasty! Looking out at the fields behind me, I could see swirls of leaves picked up by what I can only descride as miniature tornadoes. Like dust devils, they swirled leaves up 10 or 12 feet, moved slowly across the fields and then died and the leaves gently dropped back to earth, all without the slightest of movement of any other of the thousands of dry leaves around. Most weird!

I reached Walker Lake about 11am and wished I had found it the night before. Spectacular! Three camping areas along the shoreline, one called Twenty Mile Beach and the most wonderful views across the lake to the distant mountains. I decided to have an early lunch as I couldn't leave here without spending some time in the tranquil beauty of the place. Now I wish I had just stopped early and stayed overnight, but there'll be other times!

US95 eventually got me to Tonopah, back up at 6,200ft after decending to just 3,000ft on the way. Time to gas up again and I found a nice little boondock site behind the McDonalds (with their blessing, as advertised on a billboard 20 miles out of town!) I also decided to fill up the propane tank, just in case, as I expected another cold night. There was only one place in town that sold propane, the Texaco truck stop just next door so I duly had the tank filled and then went in to pay. Nearly dropped dead! $3.90 a gallon, over 60% more than normal! Rip-off!!! I had only paid $2.75 for gas in town and the norm for propane is around $2.40 elsewhere. Oh well, at least I stayed warm that night!

Oh, and the stargazing wasn't so good because of the lights at the truck stop! Should have driven out of town but it's too dangerous to drive off the road in the dark. You just never know what type of surface it'll be and way too many shoulders are soft and very sloped into drainage ways. It'd be all too easy to get stuck, or worse flip the camper.

Monday 16 November

DARN, batteries ran out of juice about 5:30 so the furnace died. Had to huddle under the covers and last until the sun warmed things up again!

Taking the curtains down I saw a rabbit sitting watching me, then a hop, skip and jump as it disapeared down the hillside.

Headed off down US95 ever southward then turned west onto 267 which took me into California and Death Valley National Park. You can tell where the state line is by the sudden crashing of overworked suspension as the road instantly deteriorates!

The temperature has been steadily rising all morning as the sun shone from a cloudless blue sky and I realised I'd been going steadily downhill for the last hour or so. Then the road, which until then had been endlessly straight to the horizon, took a curve and disappeared into a canyon. I then twisted and turned for about 5 miles definitely getting lower and lower. Ahead of me, instead of desert scrub and sagebrush, an oasis of trees and bushes sprung up on my right. Intrigued, I slowed even further (I was only doing 30kph anyway) and suddenly saw a small sign with the word "Trailers" and an arrow pointing right. ???? no idea! A hundred yards further on, another sign reading "Motorhomes". Oh well, I'm a motorhome so in I turned and parked up with one other unit in a gravel lot in amongst tall trees, intriguing! Then I saw, at the end of the lot, a gateway. Walking down I found that this was Scotty's Castle. A huge attraction in Death Valley and even marked on my Walmart map! (when I looked).

It's real name is Death Valley Ranch and wasn't owned by "Scotty" at all, but by his "business partner" and financier. I took two tours, one of the house and one of the tunnels and power house (ohhh yes, that's me...). Apparently "Death Valley Scotty" was a larger than life character in the early 1900s. He toured the US and Europe as part of "Wild Bill Hicocks" show and learned the art of showmanship. He then went on to become a highly succesfull conman, selling shares in his non-existant gold mine to a good few rich and gulible men, but with such suavity and guile that he was never taken to court and actually became a very famous man, visited by stars from Hollywood and statesmen from New York, all waning to hear his stories of gold mining and his life (mostly made and and embelished, but no-one cared!).

He was backed by an Albert Johnson, who sunk an initial $20,000 as a grubstake into his "goldmine" and on his eventual insistence on seeing the mine, arranged to visit Death Valley. Scotty was horrified at this and plotted with his brother and some cronies to attack the coach, "shooting over their heads" to make it seem like a group of bandits and frighten off the "city softy". Well, it was darn cold trecking up to the ambush point and waiting overnight in the canyon so the friends had a few drinks "to keep out the chill" and hatched a far better plan! They'd shoot out the wheels!! So along comes Scotty, his brother and Mr.Johnson, the shooting starts, Scotty yells they're being attacked by bandits and Mr.Johnson absolutley LOVES it!! He is so tired of being a fusty city insurance tycoon he longs for the old wild west and thinks it's fabulous, even when Scotty's brother gets shot in the leg by an inebriated bad shot!!!

Fortunately the wound isn't too bad, Mr.Johnson forgives Scotty's attempt to flamboozle him and he ended up bankrolling Scotty for the entire rest of his life, even allowing him to take "ownership" (as far as the guests were concered) of the Ranch that was eventually built as a holiday home by Albert and his wife, Bessie.

Scotty's storytelling abilities and obvious flare for beguiling everyone he met, along with many camping trips into the desert seem to have formed a bond between the two men that lasted until the death of Johnson, who even then made sure Scotty was taken care of, at the Ranch for the rest of his life. Scotty died in 1954 and is buried on the hill overlooking Death Valley Ranch, or "Scotty's Castle". Just a few months later, his dog died too and is buried beside him on the hilltop.

The residence is something else. Albert Johnson actually was a graduate engineer and only went into the city after a bad rail accident that killed his father and severly damaged his back. He was a technology freak and designed the house to run on free power, provided by an 8.5kW Pelton wheel generating set operated by water from a spring on his property that flows at 100 gallons per minute. There is also a Carillon bell tower (unfortunatley not working) and a fabulous automated organ and piano (that I got a special visit to see the inards, over 1000 pipes, drum, cymbals, sound bellows and electronics), built in Chicago and shipped out, as was most everything else. It cost over $2 million to build the Ranch and was still an ongoing project when he lost most of his fortune in the stock market crash in the late 30s. Along with the fact that the US government decided to turn Death Valley Monument (as it was) into a National Park. A survey was carried out which put Johnson's 1500 acres of land one mile east of where he was!! Eventually, after court cases took a large portion of his remaining fortune, a deal was struck whereby Johnson "bought" back his land (that the goverment had sold him in the first place), for $1.25 an acre.

Anyway, it's certainly a beautiful home and situated in an awesome location.

Tuesday 17 November

I camped overnight just outside the park, back in Nevada on BLM land then returned to walk around the Ranch, finding a stable block housing Scotty's old 1936 car, a couple of horse draw coaches and wagons, 2 trucks used in the build and a 1914 Packard that is 1 of 4 built in that year still in existance in original condition. Albert Johnson loved his Packards and bought 3 or 4 over the years to drive around Death Valley and further afield, exploring and camping with his wife, Scotty and friends. Out in the sunshine I walked around and around the hill, up the pathway to the top where Scotty and his dog are buried. I can see why!! What a fabulous place to spend your life and end your days! The photo cannot really convey the reality, but hope you get a sense of the amazing serenity and wondeful way that nature has been harmonized with man's need for comfort. My uncle Roy would have so loved to see this palce. It was his dream to be able to harness natural springs and sunshine to provide power, warmth and the "necessities of life", in his own home. Never made it unfortunately, but then he wasn't a multi-millionaire either!

Oh, I nearly forgot the solar hot water system! 1926 and all the hot water was produced using solar panels! No pumps, no boilers, as much free hot water as the sun could provide. We aren't quite so advanced and innovative these days as I thought!!

Lot #4

Sunday 8 - Thusday 12 November

Wow, time sure does fly these days. Sill here in Carson City, settled in Lot#4.  Been looking around the town and discovered the source of the wonderful chimes, a Carillon! (although unfortunately a totally electronic one consisting of a 300watt amplifier, 4 speakers and a chip containing the "voices" of over 400 bells). It's still lovely to hear a tune every hour and "Westminster" chimes on the quarters. It is housed in the Tourism Commission building just across the block. Now it isn't a tourist information centre, but the Commission itself which generates all the brochures and "arranges things". Strangely the Tourist info building is 1 mile south on Hwy395, housed in the railroad museum (on tomorrow's agenda).

We've had fairly decent weather these last few days, although cool at night, the bright sunshine during the day helps cheer everyone up!  There are so many americans around who have "dropped off the ladder" in these financially challenging times.  They are the people who were just clinging on and making a living before, but now find themselves without homes (after foreclosure), jobs and now many on welfare or greatly reduced income after their job hours have been cut back.  Some are lucky enough to have trailers or motorhomes, some now on the streets.  It really is hard to see someone go off every day walking the town applying for every job they can find with often dozens of others applying also and returning emptyhanded and footsore.  Skylar has been doing this for over a year now!  Not enough money to move anywhere else and not enough to afford rent, he "exists" and is slowly degenerating in health o the extent he is worried for himself over the winter.  At least everyone looks out for each other and a strong sense of community seems to have sprung up again. 

Drove a few miles back to Washoe State Park on Tuesday, a large reserve around a lake that is unfortunately depleating fast. 2 years ago the boat launch had to be closed permanently as the ramp is now over 250 yards from the waters edge!

Having talked with a few dam operators and Park Rangers, there seems to be a severe problem with water level reductions in most, if not all, the major lakes and rivers here and I'm surprised there is so little conversation or apparent concern over the issue. Perhaps everyone is more worried about the here and now than what may occur in years to come. That could lead to disaster I feel!! Whilst at Washoe I did "tanks" and even found a nice shower, but oh boy! the water pressure was phenomenally high! No wonder they had a couple of broken water pipes that were shut down.

Did a bit of grocery shopping at Walmart (sorry, yes Walmart, they don't have much competition here). Their meats were 2/3 the price of Canadian outlets, which means half the price of the UK! Bison steak at $5.05/lb and tasty it was too. Had to buy a new headlamp to replace the drivers side that decided to conk out. Still no luck with the high level lights, just can't find where they splice into the clearance light circuit. Tested every fuse I can find.
We had a dusting of snow overnight and I awoke Thusday morning to light rain pattering on the roof, but with a gorgeous view of hills covered in snow in the distance.
Just realised it is Friday the thirteenth tomorrow, not that I am superstitious! (I'll just cross my fingers here).
Both Wednesday and Thursday evening I've had a knock on the door about 5pm and been presented with a lovely home-cooked meal. Wayne and his wife Rose had cooked enough dinner for both myself and Skylar as well as their family. Very kind and generous of them and I must say she is a rather good cook! I'll have to think of something to give them when I leave.
As the weather forecast is looking decidedly chilly, I'm thinking it is about time to head further south toward Death Valley, but still deliberating whether to take Hwy 395 through California or Hwy 95 through Nevada. More high desert in Nevada apparently (so cooler at night), but it would take me through Tonopah which is advertised as the best star gazing town in the world!  I also aim to visit Virginia City on the way out of Carson which is now a "tourist ghost town". Maybe there won't be too many tourists this time of year!

Good luck to everyone for tomorrow!