Yup, we’re off again!

Day 1 - We’d been in serious countdown mode for days and finally, departure day arrived. We woke early, took our usual morning walk around the neighborhood and then prepared to leave. We’d packed up Blanche the night before, but as usual we thought about a few last minute extras we wanted to take. Blanche was chockablock full, our to-go mugs were topped up, and we were ready for the road.On Nine of Cups we traditionally gave Neptune a tot of rum as we began a new passage. With Blue and now Blanche, we sing  On the Road Again with Willie, no rum involved.

The morning was bright, sunny and remarkably cool for Las Vegas. We headed north on US-95 and soon the city was behind us. Instead of urban sprawl and neon, we were surrounded by mesquite, yucca and an occasional Joshua tree sprouting out of arid desert land. Barren, treeless mountains rose up in the distance. A strong north wind prevailed and the 63F temperature seemed chilly. Wind was ‘on the nose’ and Blanche guzzled gas to maintain her speed. Dust devils, dozens of them, kicked up and whirled around on the flat, dusty terrain, sometimes crossing the highway in front of us in a swirling brown cloud. Yellow rabbitbrush poked out from the roadside.

On the west side of Area 51, the iconic alien theme was prevalent. We stopped for a coffee and a leg stretch.

Only in Nevada, would you see the Alien Cathouse Brothel, diner and rest stop.

We stopped again at the Goldfield Visitor Center for a pit stop. The center was closed, but the vault toilets were open. We were surprised to see four EV charging stations in the parking lot there. We’ve read that ‘range anxiety’ is one of the biggest deterrents to purchasing electric vehicles, so seeing more and more of them popping up, especially in remote places must be reassuring to prospective owners.

Thirty four miles north of Tonopah on NV-376, we spotted the sign for Peavine Campground, our BLM campsite for the night. We bounced 10 miles at 10 mph on gravel Peavine Canyon Road (aka NF-020).

The roadside was littered with rusting vehicles and heavy equipment and the remains of what looked to be old, abandoned bunkhouses. A few cattle grazed in fenced pastureland, but we saw no other signs of life. We surmised this was once a mining enterprise.

We finally arrived at the campground entrance only to find it was closed ‘due to hazardous limbs’. We turned back and finally found a dispersed camping site in Toiyabe National Forest and boondocked. We’d precooked chicken and ate that for dinner. At an altitude of 6300’ in a canyon, darkness descends earlier than expected and it was a chilly night.

Day 2 - We woke early, but it was cold, so we snuggled in our warm bed as long as possible. The first one up to pee is responsible for starting the coffee. I always lose.  Once the coffee was ready, we didn’t dawdle. We bounced back down the forest road and welcomed the paved road once again. Sage and scrub now dominated the landscape. Delicate mounds of white primrose dotted the roadside with a few orange globe mallow thrown in for contrast.

The Smokey Valley Mine in Round Mountain is still an active, open pit gold/silver mine. The landscape here has been transformed into what looks like Aztec pyramids.

The land is subtly becoming greener as we move north into high desert. Snow patches cling to mountain tops and northern clefts.

We stopped at Bob Scott Campground for breakfast, a pit stop and a short 1-1/2 mile walk. We’re still in Nevada and the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, but at this altitude of nearly 7000’, there are now lots of trees, wildlife, and wildflowers. Juniper and single-leaf pinyon, blue lupine and bright yellow mule’s ears, bluebirds and jays were all common sights here. Lots of lizards were out sunning themselves as the day warmed up. Wish we’d have known about this campground sooner and stayed here last night. It’s a lovely place with spacious campsites, flush toilets, picnic tables, fresh water, new fire rings, and campfires allowed. All for $10/night ($5 for pass holders). The only negative is that it’s close to US-50 and there’s some traffic noise.

Mule ears were in full bloom.

We climbed over Austin Pass (~7500’) and began the descent into the small mining town of Austin when David noticed ‘things’ jumping in the road. Critters, thousands of them, were crawling and hopping across the highway and into the scrub brush on the other side. A thousand more bodies lay flat and squished on the highway. We stopped to investigate. They were reddish-brown and rather large, the size of a hefty cockroach or palmetto bug. Grasshoppers of some type, maybe? We later determined they were probably plains lubber grasshoppers, aka lubbers. We saw them for miles and miles up the road.

We gassed up in Winnemucca and headed to Water Canyon Recreation Area for the night. Unfortunately, all the campsites were taken except for one. When we stepped out of the van to check it out, we immediately spotted lubbers hopping and crawling around. No, thank you! My skin was crawling just thinking about having stopped here.

Back to the drawing board and Campendium. About 40 miles north was Paradise Valley City RV Park. It was empty except for one camping trailer. For $30/night, we were situated in a gravel parking lot, but it was pleasant enough with all the amenities (electric, sewer, water, Wi-Fi, toilets/showers) and mountains as a backdrop in a bucolic setting in a tiny town center. All in all, very nice and nary a lubber in sight.

Day 3 - The night was chilly near 40F and we added an extra blanket to the bunk. The morning was overcast, but dry. Sheep and a horse were grazing in a grassy pasture next door. Not far away, an interesting old red barn sat is disrepair. A big old orange cat lazed on a big tree stump, preening itself every few minutes. The mountains were snow-covered. This is not the image most folks conjure up when they think of Nevada.

We planned to cross into Oregon today as we continued north and west on NV-140. It’s wide open-range land, flat and green with sage bush and bald white patches of sandy soil. Rugged peaks of the Sierras are far off in the distance. It’s a remote area. Signs warn of no services for 65 miles and after Denio Junction, a one-pump gas station and small convenience store, nothing for 81 more miles. We thought to ourselves that traveling in this area in an EV would take some careful planning.

Over mountain pass after pass… up, up, up and then 7% and 8% downgrades. The fauna morphed from high desert plants to tall green conifers. A nondescript green and white sign notified us that we’d entered Oregon. It began to sprinkle on and off. Sometimes enough to clean the bug guts from the windshield, other times it merely smeared them.

It’s springtime and cows and calves were grazing in the pastures, as were colts and mares.

We hadn’t really determined where we’d stay for the night. We were heading toward Chiloquin, not for any particular reason, other than it was near a national forest and looked like a possible place for a campground. We were told at the visitor center in Lakeview, however, that several campgrounds were still closed from last year’s wildfire damage. We stopped at the Forest Ranger Station in Bly where David was told that the Williamson River Campground was open and most likely had sites available.

The campground was both open and available and quite lovely to boot. Tall pine and spruce towered 50-60’ above us. Wax currant and bright yellow antelope bitterbrush lent a hint of sweetness to the evergreen smell of the fresh, clean air. The ground was littered with pine cones, lime-green bits of wolf lichen and a thick carpet of brown pine needles.

Campfires were allowed! We cooked burgers on the grill and having checked the forecast, decided to cook up a batch of chili for tomorrow night’s dinner, just in case the forecast of 100% chance of rain was a reality.

Join us next time as we continue our journey west to the Pacific and then head north to the beginning of the Great Northern Auto Trail. Don’t worry about the rain… we’ve got you covered.