January 9, 2016 Montana to Nevada

We're back ... or are we gone again?  We made the trip south and are once again camped at Lake Mead in the Nevada desert.  It's been cold lately with lows in the 30's and highs in the 50's.  We've also had lots of rain (for a desert environment anyway!).  Unfortunately we also found that we have multiple leaks in the roof of our motor home.  That has been an adventure by itself!  We've put two gallons of roof sealer ($60.00) along the seams on the top and around every mount for the solar panels.  We felt sure we had all the bases covered then it rained again.  We still have a leak over the sink!!!!  So we go to plan "B"  (as soon as we figure out what that is!).

Anyway, we camped for a few days at the Overton Wildlife Management Area to take care of a few things but now we're back out to Lake Mead where we'll be awhile.  We have the wind tower put up now and have settled in for the long haul.

One of the reasons I like being out and away from "civilization" are the things that sometimes happen.  We'd been in our current camping spot for a day when we heard Odie barking outside.  I opened the door and stepped out just in time to see a cottontail rabbit running by our motor home with a coyote (literally!) right on his tail!  Odie was still barking and trying to make up her mind whether to chase the rabbit or the coyote when they raced by.  I yelled at Odie to stay.  The rabbit spotted Odie and slowed momentarily which almost made it the main course for breakfast for the coyote. The coyote nipped at it and missed by inches. The rabbit turned on the afterburners and gained a couple of feet and they both disappeared in the desert.  I don't think the coyote ever paid any attention to any of us.  He was totally committed to catching breakfast.  Afterwards Susan and I were debating which we should have cheered for ... the rabbit or the coyote! The coyote looked pretty well fed which probably bodes ill for the rabbit.

So, speaking of feed ...

One of the great things about being home are the meals.  Here we're having bacon, egg and cheese omelettes with toast and milk for breakfast.  That was back in Montana where we spent most of our time being snowed in.  Well, we weren't really snowed in but we had about two feet of the stuff on the ground around our cabin and it was cold enough that staying home was our best option most of the time.  That wood fire is hard to get too far away from when the highs never got above 20 degrees for the last two weeks we were there.

Chicken and dumplings for supper!

Susan made enchiladas one day.  She rolled out her own tortillas ...

Then cooked them in the skillet.

Cookie time again.  This is from dough leftover from making Christmas cookies.  She put it in a Ziploc bag and left it out on the front porch.  It was frozen solid within an hour and stayed that way until she used it a week or so later.  We unplug the refrigerator in the winter.  It's cold enough that we can leave stuff we want frozen in a cooler on the porch.  Things we just want chilled we leave in a cooler in an unheated room.  We just set it next to the outside door and throw a blanket over it to insulate it from the heat in the room.  Sometimes the milk will still freeze in the cooler so we take it into the kitchen to thaw it out.

And stir fry.  One of our favorites.  This was taken in our motor home in Nevada.

Again in Nevada, We love lemonade made from fresh lemons.  The lemons here are large and cheap compared to those we get in Montana.

This is in the cabin in Montana.  We keep a kettle of water on the stove all of the time.  That keeps some humidity in the air and we have hot water for washing dishes or baths.  Under the upside down steel bowl she is letting dinner rolls raise while the soup is cooking in the pot on the right.  Behind the stove my coveralls are drying out.  The pant legs always get wet from working outside (cutting and splitting firewood). 

Looking west from the upstairs bedroom.

Looking south over the garden.

One of the great things about winter is the snow.  We've been skiing and sledding and I did a little snow shoeing as well.  The temperature when this was taken was a balmy 10 degrees.  The snow was perfect and fast.

Susan and Scott walking back up the hill.  When we are not sledding this is the road to our cabin. 

The snowman managed to stay frozen for several weeks.  The snow kept piling up higher and higher on it until he looks more like a Russian Cossack than a Montana snow man.  This was taken on our way out of the driveway the morning we headed back to Nevada.

Ah, palm trees and ... rain?  This is supposed to be the Mojave Desert!  It's also been one of the wettest Januaries on record.  We got into Overton about 4:00 AM and slept in the car at the Wildlife Management Area until it got light outside.  Our first stop was breakfast at McDonalds.  Scott loves their pancakes.

After breakfast we went to get our motor home out of storage.  Unfortunately, the soil is mostly clay and sand and I didn't make it far until I was stuck in the mud.  (The desert doesn't handle rain well!)

The tow truck driver was on his way to Las Vegas when we called.  He'd just had a call to get a car unlocked for a woman and once it was unlocked she still couldn't find her keys so he transported her and her car to Vegas.  When he got back to Overton later in the morning he ran about 120 feet of cable out and winched us to the pavement.

Scott was confined to the car but obviously thought it was great fun to watch the motor home being winched out.

Dry ground at last and we were on our way to the wildlife area.

We got set up complete with our "lawn" and lawn chairs and we were ready to spend a few days there before heading out to the lake.  The wildlife area has hunting on even days of the calendar during the waterfowl season so every other morning we woke up to the sound of shotguns and goose calls.

One of the reasons we stop here every year is because we usually have some things to do on the motor home before heading out.  The wildlife area is only a mile outside of Overton so it's easier to get what we need in town.  Here I'm scraping out the old sealer on the roof and putting on the new stuff. 

We just bought a half-cord of firewood last fall when we were here so we had wood for the wood stove in the motor home.  I made a wood stove out of an old 30 pound propane cylinder last year (?) so we have wood heat in the camper.  It's a lot better than trying to warm the monstrosity with propane.  We like to boon-dock camp meaning we camp where it's free and we have no hook-ups for electricity.  Our solar panels don't leave us enough power to run the furnace blower in the camper.  Especially when the temperatures are down around freezing every night.

Susan and Scott were playing with the play dough.  He loves rockets, trains, and robots.

This was taken at the wildlife area.  After our time in Montana we were content to just look at the snow on the distant (about 15 miles) mountains.

1-15 May, 2013 - Pahranagaht Wildlife Refuge, Nevada, Utah, Idaho then Home Again.

Home again finally!

On our last trip into Vegas we noticed a new billboard.  I bet he gets lots of business.

We left Lake Mead because it was getting too hot for my thick Montana blood and spent a couple of days at the Pahranagaht Wildlife Refuge.  It was a little cooler due to the higher altitude and the camping was free.  We found out that the campground host was also from Montana.

There was an abundance of wildlife in the lake varying from ducks and geese to muskrats.

We took a bike ride to check out the petroglyphs on one of the bike trails.

 

This was the best example we found.

We picked up a hammock at a yard sale for ten bucks.  It worked well.  I spent one night sleeping on it outside.  Scott loved it whether by himself or sharing it with someone else.

We took a drive in the desert and happened upon this native specimen.  He was kind of grumpy!

This is a rest area on the way home.  We're still in Nevada at this point.

 

Flathead Lake in the afternoon.  We're about seventy miles from home here.

 

Scott found a new place to eat his breakfast.  The base rotates so he can nibble at the food from all sides of his plate.

We took out some bushes to open up the area around the driveway.  I hooked onto this  one with my pickup and pulled it up by the roots.

This stump took a little more work.  I dug around it then cut the top roots before attempting to pull it out.

 

All I did was break off the top so I dug deeper then used a trowel to dig around the tap root(s).  I rant he chain through the center and pulled again.  This time the chain just pulled through the wood.  We gave up pulling it and burned it out.  Burning season is closed so you need a permit except for "recreational fires."  We didn't have a permit so I piled some wood in the hole, ignited it and we pulled the lawn chairs up to enjoy our evening campfire.

Scott commandeered the trampoline as his new play area complete with toy box.

The first project for the summer is to finish the porch and get it screened in.  Here Susan has caulked all the seams in the front.

I have both end walls framed in now.  We'll have screen doors on both ends.  The wood burning cook stove will go on this end so I'll have to route the stovepipe between the studs.  It's going to make a nice summer kitchen.

 

 

We sere sitting around with Scott's parents Saturday night so I used the time to put new webbing on one of the old lawn recliners we had.  I pick up the webbing at yard sales so I get it pretty cheap.

I had a seventy-five foot roll and though it would be enough but ended up running out with one strap left open.  I finished it with another package I had but it was a different color.

Our daughter and SIL who built the cabin on our property bought a 12X60 mobile home and moved it to a lot in Eureka.  He got a job in town and tired of driving over our excuse for a road to get to work.  The people he hired to move it left it slightly crooked on the lot so we used my pickup to straighten it out.  Scott is examining the truck before we move the mobile home.

 

We used the truck a couple of days previously to haul a load of trash to the dump then filled it up again before coming in for this trip.  I normally keep the tires at about 45 psi for a softer ride unless I'm hauling heavy loads.  We put some weight on the hitch and when I noticed how the tires were being compressed we unhitched the truck from the MH and I took it to a gas station to pump the tires up to the maximum of 80 psi.

When we hooked up the second time I also put some 2X6's between the frame and axle stop.  That kept the truck springs from sagging so much and gave us a little more height with the weight on the hitch.  The tires were still compressed a bunch but we got the trailer moved over without incident.

We'd also brought in three, 100 lb. propane tanks and one 20 lb. tank to fill.  It cost us $201.00 for 310 lbs. of propane.  That should last us about two years.  One tank is an oldie but goodie.  It's made with heavy steel and weighs 97 lbs. empty.  Full weight is 197 lbs.

 

Scott was afraid of the generator when it was running but loved watching the saw work. (Susan would hold him up outside the shop so that he could watch.)  I got him acclimated to the generator and now he likes to stand on the big generator while I use the radial arm saw to cut wood. (I was using the small one to run the saw.)   I found some earmuffs that fit correctly but he decided that these were the safety glasses he wanted (they look like mine).  Now he can get close enough to really see the saw work.

 

Susan is finishing up another book to publish on Amazon.  Its the next one after her book Food Storage: Preserving Meat, Dairy, and Eggs, only this one covers fruits and vegetables.  She's been busy catching up on laundry, cleaning (inside and outside), watching Scott when I'm working and all the other tasks that need doing after three months away from home. 

9-29 April, 2013 - High winds, long rides and more company...

Sorry about the long time between posts.   We've been a bit busy and internet access has been poor lately.

 

We did some exploring on the other side of the lake, going to see a spring and sinkhole plus a lot of desert country.

 

 

There were cattle running loose but because it was in the middle of the day they were mostly lounging in whatever shade that they could find.

 

 

We took dozens of pictures so these are just a sampling of what we saw.

 

 

This is one of the sandstone cliffs we drove under.

 

We took a lunch break in the shade of one of the rock formations.

 

This is the sinkhole.

 

 

We all had a good time playing among the caves found here.

 

Scott was, of course, in his element crawling through the numerous caves and tunnels.

 

 

He had some more cousins come for a visit.  Unfortunately they arrived during one of the worst weeks we had for high winds and spent most of their time in a motel in town.  Here the young-uns are seeing how many will fit in and on a toy car.

 

 

Scott was playing with Susan's camera at one of the hot springs we visited and actually took some pretty good photos when we weren't looking.

 

 

We had our usual car repairs.  We noticed that on our back-country driving the car was overheating.  I checked and the electric auxiliary cooling fan wasn't working.  We only had a 60 amp spare fuse so I put it in place of the 30 amp fuse that was blown.  We went about thirty feet then pulled over and popped the hood when we smelled smoke. I quickly removed the fuse and checked the smoking fan motor.  It wasn't on fire so I closed the hood and we drove back to camp.  Here, Scott is helping take the old fan out so we can order a new one.  The new one was $100.00 but we had it the next day so I put it on the Cherokee.  I also noticed that the radiator is leaking slightly so if it last till we get home I'll replace it at home where I have more tools with me.

 

 

 

We've made several trips tot he hot springs north of Alamo.  We've learned to arrive early on week days and we have it mostly to ourselves.  This is the deeper pool at the top.

 

This is the pool below the deep one.  The water is about like warm bath water and we love soaking in it for a couple of hours.

 

The lake has gone down a bunch while we've been here.  This rock was barely visible at first.  Now you can walk out to it without getting your feet wet.  Here Susan and Scott are walking out.

 

We do a lot of playing in the lake.  We blew up one of Scott's water toys for him to ride on.  Of course they are all planes of some type.

 

We did a little fishing as well.  The fishing is poor with a bite every 30 minutes or so on average.  I've caught a couple of fish after all the visitors went back to MT but that all.  I missed several hits due to old line on the reel.  After a trip to town for new line I started getting them to shore.

 

This guy was sunning himself on the road so we took his picture before ushering him to safety.  It's a Red Racer and he lives up to his name when he takes off.  This one was about three-and-a-half-feet-long.

 

We spent one night in Vegas with Scott.  We stayed at Circus Circus because they seem more child friendly than some other casinos.

 

Scott was nosing around the room and found the safe.  (I didn't know there was one.)

 

We made contact with an online friend who showed us around some of the official areas of the Recreation area.  This is a nursery.  After the tour we're thinking seriously about doing some volunteer work here next winter.

 

Scott, being more mechanically minded headed straight for the water buffalo.  He wanted to climb to the top of the tank but Grandpa spoiled his fun.

 

We never tire of the flowers in the desert.  This and the next two photos were taken near the Visitor center.

 

Scott has been sleeping later lately for which both of us are pleased with.  Here he's sacked out on his side (for once) of the bed.

 

It's gettin' hot here so we're all packed up and ready to head to the next stop after we cover a couple of loose ends.  One item showed up this morning but it may be another day or two before the next one gets here.