October 17, 2014 Travel to Pahrump

We were up early and continued our journey south.

A little story for you (and maybe some other RVer’s may understand).  The years that we decide to go back to PA, it seems like once we are either in Ohio (coming from the west) or Maryland/Virginia (coming from the south), we have blinders on and just want to go home.

Well, we have found that same feeling towards the southwest and today we put those blinders on and headed to Pahrump, Nevada.  It didn’t start out that way though.  We were first going to camp at Walker Lake but it was before noon and we didn’t want to stop that early.  Next stop was a rest area north of Tonopah that was recommended by friends (Sue and Bruce) and it was in the Day’s End directory also.  There is an area there just for overnight camping – very nice.  But it was 1:30 in the afternoon and we decided to go a little further to Beatty.  In Beatty we checked out three Day’s End sites and did not feel comfortable at all so we decided to go for it – all the way to Pahrump (are we nuts or what!)

Our sites along the way:

This was right after the sun crested the mountains:

What an interesting color in the middle of tan/beige/brown/gray landscape:

Little gatherings of homes in the middle of nowhere:

Into Nevada:

And thru Reno:

We went east of Reno to Fallon and then south on 95:

Looks like water in the distance:

But it was actually sand/salt:

And the road continues:

Miles and Miles of what I call “scrubbies.”  It is sagebrush that covers a good portion of the west.

http://www.herballegacy.com/Bergeson_History.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_tridentata

Info from the internet:

“Desert sage was greatly valued by the native peoples of North America. It was used as food, medicine, cordage, housing and shelter from the elements, clothing, fuel and in ceremonies. They respected the sagebrush ecosystem, and worked within it to supply all of their needs. In the Great Basin area, land of the ancient Paiutes, “small grey-green sage and grease wood bushes covered the valley floors and carpeted the hill slopes. This was the home of the jackrabbit, the antelope, the wolf, and his tricky brother, the coyote.

Big sagebrush was used as an herbal medicine by Native Americans throughout the Intermountain West of North America—especially for preventing infection in wounds, stopping internal bleeding, and treating headaches and colds. Chemically, the active medicinal constituents include camphor, terpenoids, and tannins.

The Navajo used the vapors of sagebrush as a treatment for headache. The Okanagan and Colville people used sagebrush to smoke hides.

Among the Zuni people, an infusion of the leaves is used externally for body aches. The infusion is also taken as a cold medicine. It is also placed in shoes to treat athlete's foot, fissures between toes, and as a foot deodorant.”

All from one type of plant!

In the distance – lots of dust.  We had a strong headwind most of the day.

Walker Lake:

Some interesting information on the lake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_Lake_(Nevada)

The town of Hawthorne is right next to Walker Lake.  Surrounding the town is the Hawthorne Army Depot which is a U.S. Army ammunition storage depot. The depot covers 147,000 acres or 226 sq. mi. and has 600,000 square feet storage space in 2,427 bunkers. HWAD claims to be the "Worlds Largest Depot" and is divided into three ammunition storage and production areas, plus an industrial area housing command headquarters, facilities engineering shops, etc..

“Mission: Hawthorne Army Depot receives, stores and issues conventional munitions; demilitarizes and disposes of unserviceable, obsolete and surplus munitions; and maintains serviceability through inspection and renovation to ensure munitions readiness in support of Joint Forces.”

What amazes us is that this town is in the middle of the desert.  The Depot goes for miles…..:

Ammunition Bunkers:

Amazing!!  More information can be found here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_Army_Depot

We continued south:

Past mining towns:

Past more sand/salt sinks:

And the road continues:

After Hawthorne, the road continues to climb to an altitude of around 6000’:

Joshua Trees:

One of the reasons I love the desert is the sunrises and sunsets and how it changes the colors of the hills.  The sun was starting to sink in the west at this point and just turned the hills this gorgeous color:

We arrived in Pahrump and decided to stay at the Gold Town Casino, where we treated ourselves to a great steak dinner.  When we came back to the motorhome, we found a refrigerator truck parked next to us and the truck’s generator was very close to our bedroom. SOOOOOO, we moved to another part of lot, set up, read, and slept!!

Tomorrow we are moving to the Escape Park so stay tuned and enjoy today.

 

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  465 Miles (Are we nuts or what????)

Routes Traveled:

California: US-395

Nevada: US-395; I-80; US-50; US-95; SR-160