From Parump, CA to Kingman, AZ

We passed Vegas and headed down the 93. Here we are heading for Lake Mead, created when they built Hoover Dam. It straddles the mighty Colorado River, which forms the border between the states of Nevada and Arizona. Considered to be the world’s largest dam and an engineering marvel at the time of its construction in the 1930s, Hoover Dam brings much-needed water and power to the Southwest.

We didn't do the tour of the dam but it is a magnificent creation. It is 726 feet tall and 1,244 feet long. At its base, Hoover Dam is 660 feet thick which is 60 feet longer than two football fields laid end-to-end. Combined with its top thickness of 45 feet, there is enough concrete (4.5 million cubic yards) in Hoover Dam to build a two-lane highway from Seattle Washington to Miami Florida. Or imagine a four-foot wide sidewalk around Earth at its equator.
We reached Kingman, which is part of the old Route 66, the first highway to cross the U.S.

It's 95 degrees, hot. Off to Williams Az. tomorrow and the Grand Canyon after that.

Death Valley, Nevada

The valley itself is 130 miles (210 km) long, between six and 13 miles (10-21 km) wide and is surrounded by steep mountain ranges. It's three million acres of wilderness and rich cultural history make it a lifetime's work to explore all that the valley has to offer. 
The first non-Native Americans arrived in Death Valley in 1849 looking for a shortcut to the California gold fields. Although only one member of their party died, the name Death Valley was given to the area. Various mining operations used the valley afterwards, most notably for borax mining.

 They say hottest, driest, lowest place in North America. In this below-sea-level basin, steady drought and record summer heat make Death Valley a land of extremes.

We spent a day at the Furnace Creek Interpretive Center and it was amazing. They had a museum depicting everything about the Valley and educational movies on every thing in the Park.

In one area called The Racetrack, Nasa says -  In a particularly parched region of an extraordinary planet, rocks big and small glide across a mirror-flat landscape, leaving behind a tangle of trails. Some rocks travel in pairs, their two tracks so perfectly in synch along straight stretches and around curves that they seem to be made by a car. Others go freewheeling, wandering back and forth alone and sometimes traveling the length of several football fields. In many cases, the trails lead right to resting rocks, but in others, the joyriders have vanished. We couldn't get there in our low car but the movie was amazing.
   
 Scotty's Castle

Hidden in the green oasis of Grapevine Canyon in far northern Death Valley, the Death Valley Ranch, or Scotty's Castle as it is more commonly known, is a window into the life and times of the Roaring 20's and Depression 30's. It was and is an engineer's dream home, a wealthy matron's vacation home and a man-of-mystery's hideout and getaway. Walter Scott, Death Valley Scotty, convinced everyone that he had built the castle with money from his rich secret mines in the area. Albert Mussey Johnson actually built the house as a vacation getaway for himself and his wife Bessie. Scotty was the mystery, the cowboy, and the entertainer, but he was also a friend. Albert was the brains and the money. Two men as different as night and day, from different worlds and with different visions - who shared a dream.

Badwater Salt Flats

The salt flats in Badwater Basin cover nearly 200 square miles, among the largest protected salt flats in the world coming from Death Valley’s drainage system of 9,000 square miles—an area larger than New Hampshire. This is 282' below sea level, the lowest point in the U.S.
The slat flats, are made of Sodium Chloride ( table salt ) calcite, gypsum, and borax. Salt flats are too harsh for most plants and animals to survive, yet are quite fragile. Delicate crystals are easily crushed and the relatively thin upper crust of salt can break through to the mud layer below, leaving tire tracks and even footprints. For this reason, vehicles are prohibited off established roads in Death Valley.

The vast, surreal salt flats of Badwater Basin change constantly. Salt Crystals expand, pushing the crust of salt into rough, chaotic forms. Newly formed crystals ooze between mud-cracks, sketching strange patterns on the surface of the salt flat. Passing rainstorms wash off windblown dust and generate a fresh layer of blinding white salt.
Floods create temporary lakes that dissolve salts back into solution, starting the process all over again.

As you may have gathered by now, you could spend weeks visiting this vast area.
There is Artist's Palette Drive, a scenic loop through multi-colored volcanic and sedimentary hills.

You would want to see the canyons, sand dunes, wildrose charcoal kilns used in mining, 20 mule team borax area and so much more. 

South on 95 to Beaty, NV

We headed due south and passed 'chain up areas', seemed rather unusual sorrounded by desert but we're high. We met Joe at a rest stop, interesting character going to Death Valley to work for the winter. We paused at Scotty's Junction, thinking of parking and going in to see Scotty's Castle. It was just a paved spot in the middle of nowhere so carried on to Beaty. Good thing we did as that road had been washed out. We passed an 'event' and pulled into a campground where we had to dry camp ( included use of hot springs) as every spot was taken. The event was the Las Vegas Tough Mudder 10.1 mile Obstacle Race next door to us.The camp had set up a hose hanging from a tree to wash off most of the mud but when I checked out the 'baths' I wouldn't have washed my pig in there,  (sorry Bacon)  after these sad souls had a good soak. Interesting crowd though.

More Nevada Driving to Tonopah

We headed down 95, skirting Walker Lake, quite large. We passed salt flats and saw our first cactus, a Joshua.

The highway was really interesting.  It was dedicated as a Veterans Highway and marked with green road signs honoring veterans of WWI right up to present, including current soldiers battling World Terrorists.
In the middle of all this sand we passed the Underwater Warfare Department of Nev. How was that in the middle of a huge desert?

We stopped at Tonapah, elevation 6526', climbing most of the day, you felt like you were of top of the world. We stopped at a Passport America Park for $10/night. Believe me, this one is crossed off the list. A million flies as there was garbage strewn all over. We couldn't even sit out and this is the electrical at the site next to us.

Great sunsets though.

Hwy 89 through Susanville,CA to Sparks,NV

We drove through the Shasta Trinity forests, then Lasson Forest district, beautiful pine areas. We passed through the town of Doyle, my kids surname.

We headed just past Reno Nev to the town of Sparks, No parking at WalMart so we took advantage of the TA. We had a pullthrough and it was nicely quiet. Saw a Driver practicing his back up skills with his Supervisor in the morning.
 

Weed Calif. and Mt Shasta

We continued down to Phoenix Ore.where we fueled at the Petro @ $4.23 with a 6 cent cash discount, in Peartree and had lunch at their buffet. We stopped in Weed Calif about 2:30 and checked into the Friendly RV Park. We seem to be enjoying a much slower pace this year and it seems to be working for us.

We could not believe seeing Mt. Shasta with no snow. Usually we come this way about Oct. 16 so we're early but 'no snow?' Amazing.
It is interesting to think about this huge Shasta Lake which is behind a huge dam. We've driven over this for 30 years and have been astounded by the different levels over the years. What we've never thought about is that this region was fueled by the gold rush in the 1830's and the miners that came and stayed. Now underneath Shasta Lake are the 19th century towns where copper was king, gold still held its allure and iron was the foundation. Kennett, Baird, Coram and Heroult lie beneath the cool green waters.
The dam built is the Crown Jewel of the Central Valley Project, providing water for California to become the bread basket of America. It took 4,700 workers from 1938 - 1945 to accomplish this.
Today there is a consideration of raising the dam 18.5 ft, for an additional water storage of 600,000 acre ft. of water, which would coast $1.07 billion dollars, which would necessitate moving I 5.
It is said that the levels for the last 3 years have been the highest in years.

Down to Eugene, Ore.

We  left Blaine heading into Ferndale to top up our tires at the new Pilot Flying J truck stop. It's not finished and has no air available. We haven't really driven the Motorhome since we got home April 2011. We stopped at Camping World and found Damp Rid, the wonderful product that gets rid of humidity in the closets. Checked for an air hose along the way and finally stayed overnight at Les Scwabb's in Burlington, across from the pumpkin market, to get air Monday morning, then it was down to Everett to have our dining buffet aligned back on it's track.
Crossing the Columbia River was astounding, incredibly low with sandbars showing.



 Then off to Eugene overnight before an appt at RV Corral to get our new jack installed. Thank you RV gods. We went out for morning coffee and met Laine the most hospitable host we've ever seen. He greeted everyone by name, cracked jokes, when he had gloves on his hands for cleaning, he greeted a customer with 'Good morning Dr., We have 2 appendectomies and a kidney this morning, please be ready', and was absolutely delightful to all.

Headed down to Canyonville and stayed overnight at the 7 Feathers Casino. Next thing was a couple from White Rock arrived pulling our old green Malibu Max car. We enjoyed Dancing with the Stars tonight. Great trip with beautiful sunshine and good driving. Oregon is very green but the rivers are very low.
Had a wonderful surprise at 4 p.m. when our friends from A and H Trucking phoned. They were in Los Robles on the coast, parallel with Los Angeles, had just picked up a load ( forgot to ask of what)  and are heading back to B.C. We have the greatest respect for their new lifestyle and have learned so much about the amazing challenges truckers face. Make that word 'difficulties' caused by ignorant drivers and load weights, produce problems, etc.