Tuesday, February 24, 2015

WATCHING NEVADA GO BY

Friday, was the day to drive through the rest of eastern Nevada. Although we only had around 360 miles to do it took us about 7 hours. It's a slow climb for us. Many parts are flat but the gradual climbs really slowed us down. 

That gave us lots of time to watch Nevada go by. 

We always travel without music, it's only been Nevada in the past that has broken us down to find something to listen too.

It's a great route though. We call it the Idaho Express because of the predominately Idaho license plates that we drive by. If you are headed north its a good alternative to the I15 through Salt Lake City.


Pulling out of Pahranagat we stopped in Alamo for gas. To take this route you really need to be on your gas levels. Between Alamo/Ash Springs and Jackpot there are only three other places to fill up.

We need to stop for gas every time it is presented to us - Alamo, Ely, and Wells.


We first head up the 93 then turn left on the 375 slightly to get on the 318 north. We stopped briefly at Sunnyside - the first of two rest areas along this route.


A very subtle landscape although there are surprises now and then. 







The most snow we saw to this point. This is just south of Ely - the place where there is usually snow along the road when we come through in March. 


It's a bit of a climb to Ely - the summit is close to 7,000 ft.



At Ely we get back on the 93. North of there comes the Heeby Jeeby town. Looks like it is as Heeby Jeeby as ever. We started calling this town by that name years ago when we first came through - it is such a forlorn looking place. 


This building doesn't help. We figure that this town would be a great place to shoot horror movies - it has a weird feel about it.


This is the Pony Express rest area further north. We used to stop at this one when we stayed the night in Wells but if we want to make it to Jackpot there is no time to stop.


Our traveling buddy for a few hours.


We've just turned west at Lagas. Funny that there is a gas sign there because there hasn't been a gas station since Ely.


Hole in the Mountain Peak in the distance.

Finally, we made it to Wells. I find the drive from Lagas to Wells the toughest - I swear that someone keeps moving Wells back as we move closer.


As we moved north the clouds appeared.



It was starting to look ugly. Hopefully we weren't driving into THAT!



We made it to the Cactus Petes RV Park around 4:30pm. It was a long day of driving. Last time we stealth camped in Jackpot but this time we splurged - it was going to be cold overnight. Well worth the $18 to plug in.


Not the best picture but there were a lot of RVs with us for the night.


Saturday morning and we lost an hour right away at the border. Good thing we only had about a three hour drive to get to Nampa.


Just west of Twin Falls we take highway 30  - the Thousand Springs Scenic Byway. This is main street Buhl. The weather was much worse when we came this way in March 2012.



This is one of our favourite routes over the years.



Now back up and heading west along I84 through southwestern Idaho.


Knowing there were three girls to play with in Nampa Idaho, Cassia was pretty restless throughout the trip. Not long after lunch we arrived to our good friends place in Nampa.


556 miles (I know it says 916 miles - not sure why!) in two days - another long ride. 
Add that to the 863 from Bisbee and we had totalled 1,419 miles or 2,283 kilometres in 4 days. 

Time for a rest.

And we've had it.

It's been a blast at our friends place since Saturday, we haven't visited them in two years.
Great people, good food, sofas and chairs and a real bed!

An 8 year old friend for Cassia.


More good news!

We are able to move into our new home a few days early!

So - we are going to continue our trek north come Thursday to enter into Canada on Friday. We'll head a few hours north of the border to our new posting.

Are we excited?! 

We have no idea when we'll have our internet hooked up there, so we might be missing for awhile. Cassia and are headed to Vancouver Island for the third week of March to visit with my family. 

The good news is that when we are back on line we'll have a lot to tell you about plus all the pictures of our new home!

Until then…..

Teresa




Sunday, February 22, 2015

PAHRANAGAT NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Even with our long drive on Thursday, we managed to arrive at the PNWF just after 4:30 pm.

This is a great stop along our trip because it's far enough away from Las Vegas and up into Nevada but is still quite warm compared to the temperatures further north.

We always see the Refuge as the dividing line between north and south. Once we leave Pahranagat we head into winter, often encountering snow - at least on the side of the road - from here home. 

The Refuge is unique in that it is a wetland area within the desert - it is filled with large cottonwood trees and migrating birds.


This is the sign to look for coming from the south on the 93. The Refuge is just south of the town of Alamo.


The entry. A quick stop to register. There is a box with a sign in book in it - they just want to know why you are visiting - i.e. fishing, hiking, camping etc. There are 14 first come first serve campsites - no services but it's free to camp for up to 14 days!


Nice to see some of the trees leafed out in late February.



Since we arrived just before 5:00 pm with a setting sun we went for a walk right away. 





We even found a new trail - the Davenport Trail - we decided to come back in the morning.



Thursday night sunset.



The campground sites are spread out along the east side of the lake. We go right to the end where there are three sites - one is accessible. We passed about 4 or 5 RVs on our way. The most challenging aspect of the campground is that it is right beside the highway, however during the night we don't hear the traffic.


Our usual spot at the end of the lake - Site #13.


Out for our Friday morning walk. It was cool - we are still adjusting to the cooler cold temperatures. What a difference a day makes from the heat of Buckeye and even Kingman up to this area.


LOVE the colours of the grasses, reeds and willow.




On our way to link up with the Davenport Trail - first down the riparian road area.


Then to the dirt road…


to the trail. Of all the Joshua Trees we have seen this is the first time we have walked by one.



Derek and Rufus are often much faster than Cassia and I - the dawdlers.



The end of the trail. It was good to for all of us to get a walk in after all the time in the van the day before and during the day to come.



Heading back to the van.

We packed up and headed out. We were back on the road at 9:30 am. Nice that it was still early because we had another long day of driving - our next destination was Jackpot, at the border of Nevada and Idaho.

Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge is always one of our favourite stops. Derek and I found it back in 2008 when we drove right by on our way to Death Valley. We didn't return but looked for it on our way up in the spring of 2011. The post from when we were there in March of 2012 is here.

From the Refuge our first stop has always been the warm springs at Ash Springs - a BLM site with an outdoor pool for soaking. Sadly, the warm springs are now closed indefinitely.

We spent all of Friday glued to our seats again. A day of Nevada in photos up next.

Teresa




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