10-1-17 - (Day 62 - Furnace Creek Golf Course, Death Valley, California)

It's been 36 years ago today that we starting dating.  Can't think of a better way to celebrate than to play golf amongst the Date trees at Furnace Creek Golf Course in Death Valley

Furnace Creek is the lowest-elevation golf course in the world, at 214 feet below sea level.  It was a fun course to play while looking at the gorgeous Death Valley scenery.  We pretty much had the course to ourselves being we only saw 2 other golfers during our 18 hole round.

My goal today was to finish the game with a score that was even with the temperature.  I was 3 strokes under the 92 degree weather, and I even made a birdie.  We played our lowest round ever today, (maybe not in score but definitely in elevation !!)  Our scores were decent considering we haven't played golf in over 6 months.

We stopped by Pahrump Nugget Casino and played the senior slot tournament, then went to China Wok Buffet to eat a late lunch/early supper.  It was pretty tasty.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting around watching the doves perched on the camper across the road.  The doves spent their afternoon watching the humans and cat sitting outside their camper.  We have another full day here tomorrow before leaving on Tuesday.

Pictures are here:

9-30-17 - (Day 61 - Hanging Around)

We got up and  played on the Internet for hours this morning.  We were in a lull.  We were tired from the long day of  Death Valley heat from yesterday.

We ate breakfast around 11 am. then went to town.

We watched a bunch of motorcycles traveling toward the Chicken Ranch.  Lauren remembered they were having the Bordello Thunder Run.  We missed out!!

We spent the afternoon washing clothes and sitting around.  We grilled some chicken and are in for the night.

It was not a day of picture taking, as we have none.  Tomorrow we do something that we have never done in a long while.  We are playing golf!

9-29-17 - (Day 60 - Death Valley)

We left camp this morning with a light, long sleeve on.  It was a nice, cool, morning. It was a gorgeous drive to Death Valley.  Lauren had to remind me to slow down on the picture taking to conserve camera battery life.

When we arrived at Death Valley National Park about an hour later, the long sleeve came off.  Our first stop was Dante's Point, it was as pretty as it was in 2012.  Only today it was better, we were riding on Amber.

                                                                 Pano from Dante's View

We stopped at Furnace Creek Visitor Center, then went across the road to eat our lunch under the date trees.  Even though the flood waters had washed away some of the trees since our last visit,  it was still a nice place.  We had a Road Runner watching our every move while we ate.  I guess he thought we might drop something. 

After lunch, we stopped and checked out the Furnace Creek Golf Course, then headed to Badwater Basin.

Badwater Basin is 282 feet below sea level, something we are accustomed to living near New Orleans.  We ran into a couple from Nashville, Tennessee.  We were so happy to hear that Southern Drawl.

On the way back, we took the 9 mile loop of Artist's Drive.  It was beautiful.  Nothing like riding on a switch back masterpiece of art.  I just couldn't hold back on the picture taking.

The temperature rose to 100 degrees.  It was hot.  The little bit of perspiration we had evaporated before it could cool us.  As they say, it's a dry heat.

We made a stop at the Harmony Borax Works refinery and saw the 20 Mile Mule Team wagon.  I can't imagine how hot it was to work in the refinery in this desert heat.

We took a ride to Stovepipe Wells.  There were too many tourist here.  We headed toward Beatty to make our loop back home.

We crossed Daylight Pass.  Talk about the difference in Daylight and Dark.  We went from 282 feet below see level to 4,317 feet above sea level.  The temperature went from 100 degrees to 82 degrees.  A difference of 4,599 feet elevation change and 18 degrees in temperature change. It was NICE!

We stopped at Rhyolite to visit the ghost town.  It was real ghost town with crumbling buildings.  The bottle house was very pretty.   The air museum was very unique.

We made it back to camp about 8 hours later.  It was a beautiful day to tour Death Valley.  There is no way we would have rode on Amber in 100 degrees down South, but we ain't in the South.

Many more pictures, click here:

9-28-17 - (Day 59 - Ranching)

We took the truck to GMC in Pahrump for a check engine light repair. While waiting on the truck, we walked to Gold Town Casino, lost $5 between the two of us and decided it was too pretty of a day to stay inside.  A couple hours later; happy the repair was under warranty; we were out of there.  Great Service from the Pahrump Valley Auto Service.

Our camper neighbor, Harry, told Lauren about things to do in this area.  One of them was to go to Sheri's Ranch.  He said the food is good.  He laughed and said this is where his wife takes his sons out to eat when they visit.

Sheri's was a few miles down the road from the campground.  We have never been to a brothel and decided to eat lunch there.  Right before we got there, we passed the Chicken Ranch, another brothel.  Two legalized prostitution businesses in the middle of nowhere.  Who would have thought it??

This is not quite your typical dining experience.  We were greeted at the door by the hostess checking to see if we had an appointment.  Then she asked what she could help us with.  Lauren told her that we were here to eat, and she confirmed the grub was good.  She also asked if we wanted to take a tour of the brothel, and we declined.

I was under dressed for this atmosphere.  The ladies in there had on nice party dresses and stiletto heel shoes.  I was in a tank top and tennis shoes.  They didn't seem to mind.

After lunch, our waitress/bartender, asked if there was anything else we needed, and if we wanted to take the tour of the brothel.  The answer was No and NO!  I have to admit, Harry was right about the food being good.

We went back to camp for a bit, then headed 55 miles to China Ranch Date Farm.  Harry had recommended that we go here to get a  Date Shake.   He had also recommended that we go in the truck and not on Amber.  The last mile into the Ranch, was steep, down hill, loose gravel, wash board, one lane road.  Another good recommendation from Harry.

It looked like we were riding right dab in the middle of the badlands, in the middle of nowhere, in the desert., and we were.

The Date Shake was more like an ice cream than a milk shake.  It was so thick, we ate it with a spoon.  We saw a bunch of Gamble's quail while eating our fantastic Date Shakes.  Again, another great recommendation from Harry.

We got back to camp, and sat outside until after dark.  Tomorrow we plan to go to Death Valley.

More pictures right here:

9-27-17 ( Day 58 - Do Nothing Day)

We lounged around the camper this morning then went to town.  It was time for a hair cut.  We went to Super Cuts, Teresa gave us both a great hair cut.

I cooked spaghetti sauce in the Instant Pot.  Lauren cooked spaghetti squash on the grill.  Ferny Kat came out and explored.

Another fabulous, do nothing kind of day!

not many pictures:

9-26-17 - (Day 57 - Pair-A-Dice RV Park, Pahrump, Nevada)

We were awaken at 11:20 pm by the donkeys.  Luckily, they didn't stay around very long.  I woke up at 6:25 am and saw an amazing sunrise.   It's also amazing that I had the blinds open and saw the sunrise.  I had to get up and get the picture.

As I was taking my pictures, I heard the burros, coming toward the camper.  They were in about as much shock as Lauren and Ferny Kat, seeing me outside taking pictures at this time of the morning.  After I took a bunch of pictures of them, they changed their path and went down in the wash.  I bet there were coming to wake us up.

We had a nice morning, drinking our coffee, while Ferny Kat explored.

We traveled 113 miles West to an Escapees RV Park.  We are camping for our first time at Pair-A-Dice RV Park, for $50 a week.  A great deal.

We have full hookups.  Ferny Kat and I love the sound of running water with no water pump roar, and no water restrictions. Our camper smells Fabuloso, after all the cleaning I did after we arrived.

Our camper neighbor had a good country music radio station on that we tuned into for a stereo sound.  We watched the pretty sunset reflections in the clouds.

We are in for the night with numerous channels to watch on the TV.  I can't say that I've missed a lot of TV watching or radio listening, but it's nice to be able to tune in.

We thought Ferny Kat would not give her approval of this campground, being there is no grass or trees.  We thought wrong.  The concrete patio must reminds her of her Crossroads garage.  She may be just a little bit home sick.  NOT!!

More pictures here:

9-25-17 - (Day 56 - Lake Mead and Hoover Dam)

Last night, we had the most restful, quiet night, until....Hee Haw, Hee Haw, Hee Haw, at  6:33 this morning.  Our first, wild burro alarm clock.   The wild burros were right outside our window making a fuss. My giggles woke up Lauren, then he got in  high gear, getting the camera.  Ferny Kat had a front row and center view looking out the window.  I bet she was thinking, what the heck. They were gone before Lauren could get a picture.

                                                                    Good Morning

We usually have to wait for it to warm up before taking off on Amber.  Not this morning.  We took off around 10ish with a light jacket on.

We went to Hoover Dam.  What a mess of people there.  We made a stop on the overlook at the top of the hill took some pictures.  We walked on the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge to Arizona then back to Nevada and took some pictures.  Way too many people for us.

We had a great picnic spot overlooking Boulder Beach.

It was a gorgeous ride today.  We must have hit every paved road in the Lake Mead Recreation Area, along with a few unpaved, not Amber approved gravel roads.  Me and Amber are definitely asphalt queens.

We built a camp fire to cook our pork chops over tonight in our secluded campground.

It was a beautiful sunset and a great campfire tonight.  We absolutely love this!!

You want more pics, Click here: