We had plans to meet a daughter and her family in central Nevada. Of course I needed to do some modifications to the van before we left and while I was doing that I noticed that we needed rear brakes. The wheel cylinder on the driver's side was leaking. So, we made a fast trip (100 mile round trip) to Columbia Falls to get brake parts.
The first side went well but when I took the other side off there was a broken spring ... so ... Another trip to Columbia Falls to get a spring kit. Once that was on we hit the road ... only three days behind schedule. Sigh!
On the fourth we were loaded up and ready to hit the road. The van, two bikes, two ATV's and one automatic washer that was going to New Mexico with our daughter, son-in-law and their family.
We had cloudy skies until we hit Nevada. Then it began clearing up for us.
Scott was clowning around in the outhouse at a rest area.
Our first stop and the appointed rendezvous point at the Kirch WMA campground. The weather was a bit cold though so we contacted our daughter and they decided to wait another week and just meet us at Lake Mead instead.
The reason we stopped there was to do some four-wheeling and to play in the hot spring there. The water was a little bit cool but the wind was sharp and biting. As long as you stayed in the water you were fine.
From there we went through Alamo then on to Overton. We spent a few days at the WMA camp ground there as we usually do. It gives us some time to get things straightened out in the camper after it's been in storage. Someone left some old pallets there so we used them for camp fires in the evenings.
The firs problem we had was a flat tire on the right, inside dual on the motor home. I drove it in to Overton and had it repaired there. It was $35.00 which was fine with me. The washers sealing the valve stem were leaking air and had to be replaced.
We didn't have a swimming pool for Scott there but we did have a rubber raft. We figured if it would keep water out it would also keep water in. So it became his swimming pool.
From there we moved out to Stewarts Point. This was at Roger's Spring. One of our favorite places to go.
This was one of those rare days when it was absolutely calm on the lake. It was like one giant mirror.
We parked the trailer, van and motor home to block the wind and provide some privacy for our "compound."
The first visitors were two kit foxes. They hung around all the time we were there. Here one of them is licking grease off the side of the milk jug which was in the fire pit awaiting cremation.
Our daughter and her family arrived within a day or two. We purchased an ice cream ball in Ely, NV. You put ice and salt in one compartment and the ice cream mix in the other then just roll it around for 20 minutes or so. The grand kids liked rolling the ball!
I took the batteries out of the battery compartment to service them and modify the compartment. They tested in the green but on the weak side. They'll probably get replaced next year. There was a 12 volt battery in another compartment that tested bad so we are down one battery now.
We bought a new generator for this season. It should last many years because we don't use it very often.
We just put new roof vents on a couple of years ago but the tinted ones are broken. It looks like the sunlight just thinned them out until they got brittle and cracked.
We replaced three of them with new white ones.
It's an easy job to just put a new cover on.
I bought this guy's old ATV and he bought this new one. The first thing we did was to try out the winch after he high-centered it on a big rock.
We use our RAV 15 solar panels to keep phones and tablets charged up.
Scott enjoying the last drop of breakfast (cereal ... chocolate of course!).
As long as the wind wasn't bowing too hard we had a camp fire going. Sometimes we roasted hot dogs.
And sometimes it was Scott's favorite ... marshmallows!
This is what happens when the wind comes up after you have the fire going good.
This is what happens next (me dumping water on the fire).
We had a couple of rain showers move through along with some pretty spectacular rainbows.
This is on a trail outside of Overton (in the distance by the trees).
Here we are on a trail with the grand kids.
I had just got the van a little stuck in the loose sand and gravel. I stopped before it was completely buried and our friend pulled me up on solid ground with his RZR.
We saw two pairs of wild horses on our ride. This is the first pair.
Then we went up and out of the canyon to see ...
The second pair of horses.
It was a lot of fun and we saw some new country.
Scott got bored at one stop and decided to watch one of his movies while sitting in the shade of Susan's ATV.
This is kind of an interesting rock formation.
Lip licking anticipation!
An old hillside dug-out.
More desert. This is new country to us. We'd taken the car out to the mines before but we went a little farther this time with the four-wheelers.
Now we're on the way back to the van.
It's on good solid ground now!
Loading up! I dropped my camera while loading ATV's but didn't realize it until a couple of hours later. We came back out here and searched with flashlights until we found it.
Sunset at the Overton WMA.
Sunset at Lake Mead
Moon rise at Lake Mead.
Sunrise
Taken 24 hours and thirteen minutes later than the previous photo.
We had some cloud cover that morning!
Almost time to go home. Here I'm trying to help our neighbor with his generator. Turned out it had bad gas and a weak fuel pump.
We were on the way back home for the election within a couple of days of this. There were some ballot initiatives in Montana we wanted to vote on. Mainly an anti-trapping initiative (that went down in flames with 75% against it!). At this writing we are still home.
On the way home I began getting occasional whiffs of anti-freeze beginning at St. George, Utah. Next I noticed little puddles of anti-freeze when we stopped. The water pump had begun to leak but it stayed a small leak until we got home. I added about a gallon of anti-freeze from St. George to Fortine (a little over 800 miles), so we made it okay. Changing the water pump will be one of my chores while we are home.
