Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner with our "landlords" next door and some other neighbors. Larry deep fried a turkey (yum!) and everyone brought a dish to share with everyone.

The day was bright and sunny with no wind, which made it nice to eat outside.

Maxx went to the dentist today to get his teeth cleaned! We thought perhaps he'd have to have one or two teeth pulled, but he didn't.

While we were at the vet's, we go the results of Maxx's last Valley Fever titer test which was done before we left for Idaho. His VF levels have gone down...from 1:64 previously to 1:256 now. Dr. Hadlock wants us to continue his VF pills for another 3 months and we'll then do another test.

We had lunch at Janet's Kitchen and then went by the rug vendor to pick up a new runner and a rug for underneath the dining table. We bought the Genesis Bear Walk 1'11" x 7'4" runner and the 3'11" x 5'3" rug. I also ordered the throw which matches the rugs.

I'm seriously considering going back to the vendor and buy another runner to use for the stairs and hallway. We'll see.

On our way back to Quartzsite, we stopped at Vidal Junction for lunch. We also stopped at the Rite Aid in Blythe to pick up some cold medicine for ME...I've picked up Earl's cold!

Since the sale of our house closed while we were gone to Idaho, we're now parked on the lot next to our neighbors, Larry and Sharon, which they own. We'll be here until sometime shortly after Thanksgiving.

Miles driven: 182.3
GPS coordinates: N 33° 39.510' / W 114° 13.628'

Overnight near Searchlight, Nevada

We left Death Valley early this morning. The Death Valley 49ers Encampment was in full swing at Furnace Creek when we drove through...lots and lots of RVs with people swarming everywhere.

We stopped in Shoshone for lunch at the Crowbar Cafe (really good food). It's a good thing that we didn't need to fill up with diesel here...the one gas station in town had regular gas for $4.4x9 per gallon!!! They didn't advertise the price of diesel, but did have a diesel pump; however, we didn't walk over to see what the price of diesel was...I don't think we want to know!

We did fill up with diesel, though, in Baker, where diesel was still expensive ($3.799/gallon), but a lot cheaper than it would have been in Shoshone!

We're spending the night at the same BLM area west of Searchlight on SR-164 that we stayed at on our way up to Idaho.

Miles driven: 233.8
GPS coordinates: N 35° 30.587' / W 115° 03.336'

Death Valley National Park

We stopped in Tonopah to fill up with diesel ($3.459/gallon -- this is at the station IN town on the east side of US-95...the stations at either end of town had diesel for considerable more...around $3.7x9 to $3.8x9 per gallon) and do grocery shopping at Scolari's.

We're now at Mesquite Spring Campground in Death Valley National Park (about 5 miles from Scotty's Castle) where we're going to spend a couple of days.

Miles driven: 104.8
GPS coordinates: N 36° 57.754' / W 117° 22.150'

Miller's Rest Stop

We stopped in Hawthorne to fill up with diesel ($3.699/gallon) and also stopped at the Safeway store to pick up some cold medicine for Earl who apparently caught a cold from the kids who were running around when we were up in Idaho, although we never got very close to any of them!

We're spending the night at Miller's Rest Stop west of Tonopah on US-6/95. This is another area we stop to spend the night often on our way through Nevada. In fact, it's the only rest area at which we've ever spent the night. There is a large area just for RVs where an 18-hour stay is allowed.

Miles driven: 112.5
GPS coordinates: N 38° 08.490' / W 117° 27.387'

20 Mile Beach

Tonight finds us at Twenty Mile Beach on Walker Lake north of Hawthorne, Nevada. We've often stopped here on our way north or south through Nevada on US-95. It's a free area with several large, fairly level sites for any size rig.

Miles driven: 135.6
GPS coordinates: N 38° 45.151' / W 118° 45.620'

Rye Patch SRA - Lovelock, NV

We stopped in Winnemucca to do grocery shopping at Raley's and have lunch Sid's Restaurant. We also filled up with diesel at the Flying J ($3.429/gallon).

Tonight we're at Rye Patch State Recreation Area north of Lovelock, Nevada.

Miles driven: 169.4
GPS coordinates: N 40° 28.060' / W 118° 18.586'

Somewhere along US-95 near Rome, OR

Before leaving Nampa, Earl took the truck down to a nearby gas station to top off the tank ($3.579/gallon).

We decided to go back a different way than we came, so headed southwest on US-95, stopping in Jordan Valley to have lunch. We're spending the night alongside US-95 at a gravel pit close to the Rome State Airport (south of Burns Junction).

Miles driven: 124.1
GPS coordinates: N 42° 35.472' / W 117° 52.341'

We did shopping at the brand new Costco store in Nampa and stopped at the PetCo to get more Missing Link for Maxx (a joint support formula).

After our shopping trip, we went back down to my mother's house to visit and Lorri fixed a lunch of Thai food...yum!

Today was my stepfather's funeral. Actually, since he was cremated after he died, it wasn't really a funeral, but just a graveside service. Although it was cold, the day was bright and sunny, so it wasn't too bad (and someone handed us a blanket to cover us while we sat for the service).

There were lots of Andrew's relatives there who we had never met. There were also a lot of my relatives there, too, who we hadn't seen for many years: my Aunt Nancy (my mother's sister-in-law) and her 3 daughters, Jennifer, Jackie, Josephine, and my Aunt Ilene (another of my mother's sisters-in-law) came with her son Steve and his wife. We visit Ilene from time to time when we're traveling in the Northwest (she lives in Nyssa, Oregon), but we haven't seen Nancy or her 3 daughters for several years.

After the service, most of the group headed over to Andy's house where he and Kim had arranged for a catered lunch.

We went back to visit with Mom this morning. My sister, Lorri, and her partner, Gina were there, having arrived last night, so we had a nice time catching up.

We returned to the rig for a while in the afternoon to walk and feed Maxx, and then headed to my brother's place who lives about 3 miles south of my mother's place. Andy is the owner of Timberstone Builders, and specializes in building single family homes. This is the first time we've seen his new house that he built, and it's spectacular!

Lorri and Gina cooked a delicious dinner for everyone, which by this time also included some friends of Mom and my stepfather, Leon and Shirley, who arrived from the Phoenix area for the funeral.

Nampa, Idaho

We arrived at the Garrity RV Park (one of our Passport America parks) in Nampa shortly after noon. We were originally going to dry camp at my brother's place near Melba, but it's been so cold at night that we've had to run our forced air furnace during the night (although at the lowest setting possible). Since a forced air furnace in an RV is a huge battery hog, we were afraid that we'd run down our batteries too much, particularly if it's cloudy while we're here (as it was this morning).

After setting up and having lunch, we drove down to my mother's house in Melba to visit.

Miles driven: 121.2
GPS coordinates: N 43° 35.263' / W 116° 31.558'