Burning Man 2025

This was not a good year for Burning Man. It started with a massive dust storm, then a torrential rain, and ended with a murder. Imagine paying $550-$3,000 to join 70,000 strangers for this experience...

Mormon Crickets

My friend, Keith, sent me this note and photo of a swarm of Mormon crickets in northern Nevada...

A plague of biblical proportions

Here's a video that gives you a better idea of the scope of the infestation: https://youtu.be/lsZqXkts2fk

Heart Attack Grill

When I lived in Las Vegas, one of the most unique places to visit on Fremont Street (particularly, with friends from out of town) was the Heart Attack Grill which is known for their extremely unhealthy high calorie/fat food and drinks. A competitive eater that I occasionally follow on YouTube recently ate there and here is his video...

Burning Man

Burning Man is back after having been cancelled the last two years due to the pandemic. If you would like to see what is going on there this year, checkout the live webcast at http://burningman.org/live-webcast.

Having followed the event on the Internet in past years, I am always amazed at the imagination and creativity of some very talented people. If I were a lot younger, I think I would enjoy the experience. However at my age, I do not think I would like the dust, the heat and the crowds.

Back In Vegas

Having spent most of the summer away from big cities, I found myself needing to do some shopping, have maintenance done on the Jeep and get my next macular degeneration injection, so I have returned to Las Vegas where I know I can find everything I want.

Although masks and social distancing are still required, most stores and restaurants are open with certain limitations. You can even go to a movie theater with reserved seating (however, there are no new movies to watch as Hollywood has been shut down due to the pandemic). After leaving here, I will probably head to southern Arizona. It's hard to beat the winter weather there, plus, I have friends in the area to regale/bore with my tall tales and feats of daring-do.

World's Largest Ammo Depot

Just in case you were wondering where the World's Largest Ammo Depot is located - it is in Hawthorne, Nevada...

Yesterday, I drove the Jayco Seneca up to Hawthorne from Las Vegas (~300 miles) and so far, have been very pleased with the RV. It's about 20 degrees cooler here than what I had been suffering through in southern Nevada and that is a much welcomed relief.

Leaving Las Vegas

After living in Las Vegas for over a year, I have decided it is time to see something different, so I am moving to the Santa Fe RV Park in Apache Junction, AZ (east of Phoenix). I am looking forward to making new acquaintances and developing that "sense of community" that never materialized in Vegas. I have friends in the area with OHVs that, hopefully, will allow me to have a lot more off-road adventures.

In my opinion, Las Vegas is a great place to visit, particularly, if you like to gamble and watch world class entertainment. However, it is becoming increasing expensive to live here and the growing homeless population is leading to more crime and violence. The near constant sound of sirens, police helicopters and jet engines is something that I will not miss.

Back To Little Finland

In July, 2018 I visited Little Finland, an area of unusual rock formations in the middle of nowhere south of Mesquite, Nevada. At that time, it was too hot to explore, so I decided to return when the sandstone was not the temperature of the sun. Today, it was in the 50s which was ideal for some semi-strenuous hiking. 

Ghost Towns

Nevada is home to hundreds of "ghost towns", once thriving mining communities that lasted a few years and then were abandoned when the mines closed. One of the largest was Blair where a 100-stamp mill was built in 1907. Today, only a few stone buildings and mill foundations are left...

Original mill in 1907

Another large ghost town is Rhyolite that by 1907 had electric lights, water mains, telephones, newspapers, a hospital, a school, an opera house, and a stock exchange...

Near Rhyolite is a site with some unique artwork...

Road Trip

After being cooped up in the RV for a couple of days due to a suspected norovirus, I elected to drive up to Tonopah, NV to get outside and away from all the craziness on TV. There have not been many times since I became a full-time RVer that I felt "cabin fever" was creeping up on me, but this was one of those times.

On the way up, I stopped at the Area 51 Alien Center for lunch...

I have a feeling I am not in Kansas anymore

Next, was Goldfield, an old mining town that has some interesting pieces of equipment and vehicles...

Click on photos to enlarge

Nevada is a large state with very few cities, so you see a lot of signs like this...

When I arrived in Tonopah, it was 53 degrees. They are forecasting a low tonight of 29. It has been a while since I have experienced those kind of temperatures!

Alien Invasion

This past weekend was the "Storm Area 51" event in Rachel, Nevada. In as much as they were expecting as many as two million visitors, I chose to stay in Las Vegas (it turned out that only a hundred or so actually showed up). However, there appears to have been some alien activity here in the park...

Cooler Weather

One of the more unique consequences of spending the summer in Las Vegas in a RV is having no cold water. Even after insulating the hose, the water is still too hot to take a comfortable shower. My solution was to turn off the water heater and use the "cold" spigot for hot water and the "hot" spigot for lukewarm water. It reminds me of Newspeak, the fictional language in George Orwell's 1984 where everything is the opposite of what was said. In any event, it's getting cool enough that I am turning the water heater back on.

The other problem you experience is not wanting to go outside when it is 110+ F and the heat radiating off the asphalt and sandstone makes heat stroke a very real possibility. Now that the daytime highs are beginning to dip below 100 F, I am looking forward to getting outside and perhaps, getting some much needed exercise.

Surprise Visit

My favorite Alpine, Utah couple surprised me by slipping into town last night. If I ever go missing, do not waste time going to the FBI or putting my face on a milk carton, just contact Terry and Gail. They have an uncanny ability to find me no matter how far off the beaten path I venture...

A rose between two thorns

There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that this is where they found me

Lehman Caves

About an hour's drive east of Ely is the Great Basin National Park which features the Lehman Caves. I took the Grand Palace Tour that takes approximately 90 minutes and is 0.6 miles long. It is a constant 50 degrees F throughout the cave so you may want to take a jacket. It was too dark for me to get any good photos, so click here to see what it is like.

Afterwards, I drove up to Wheeler Peak where I would have liked to have hiked up to the Bristlecone Pine Grove to see some trees almost as old as my cousin, Chris, but ran out of time.

Beautiful drive up the mountain

Yes, that is snow

Back To Ely

Yesterday, the temperature in Las Vegas hit 114 which is nature's way of telling me to head north. At an elevation of ~6,400 feet Ely, Nevada is about 20 degrees cooler than Sin City. Add trees with lots of shade and you have a much more pleasant camping experience...

The Boiling Crab

I had the peel-and-eat shrimp with the Whole Sha-Bang sauce along with buttered corn on the cob at The Boiling Crab this afternoon. Although they were excellent, they were served in plastic bags that made for some very messy eating... 

They will offer you a bib which I highly recommend you accept

Earthquake 2

Last night about 8:30 the RV began shaking again, but this time it was stronger and longer than Thursday's quake due to a 7.1 earthquake in California. I could not help but wonder if this was the "big one" and the west coast had slid into the ocean. 

They say the probability of a magnitude 6.0 or higher quake in the next week is at least 50 percent. Why go to the strip for excitement when I have jets, police helicopters, sirens, occasional gunshots and now, earthquake tremors right here in the RV park to keep me entertained.

Earthquake

This morning about 10:30 the RV began shaking as if there was a strong wind outside or the washer/dryer was on the spin cycle. However, it was neither. It was a 6.4 earthquake in Southern California about 145 miles from Las Vegas. It's bad enough that Californians are fleeing the state and moving to Vegas which in turn is driving up prices. Now, they are bringing their earthquakes with them. <grin>

Staying Cool

Last summer when the temperature here in Las Vegas was topping out at 114 degrees F, it was a struggle to keep the interior of my RV under 90 degrees, even with two 15,000 BTU roof air conditioners and a 6,000 BTU window unit. By mid-afternoon, I wanted to go to the movies or casinos just to cool down.

This summer I have taken a couple of steps to keeping the interior cooler. First, I have covered most of my windows with reflective insulation which has reduced the amount of heat coming into the RV significantly...

Second, I purchased a personal evaporative cooler from Walmart that works surprisingly well by using the evaporation of water to produce cool air...

These small units will not cool an entire room - they need to be within a couple feet of you.

Although the temperature has only reached 106 degrees to date, the interior of the RV has been much more comfortable than last year. Hopefully, I will be able to say the same when it exceeds 110.

Update (7/28/2019): The temperature hit 112 F today and although the interior of the RV is warm, it is better than last summer. I did have to replace the living room air conditioner due to the compressor failing, so this may have been part of the problem.

High Rollers In Town

My friends, Ken & Faye, and their friends, DB & Sharon, are in town this week and the casinos are getting nervous. We started out at Binion's on Fremont Street and then hit Caesars Palace and Bellagio on "The Strip". I almost felt sorry for the casinos watching these professionals at work. Of course, they did not spend the entire day taking the casinos' money...

Checking out the scales at the Heart Attack Grill

Lunch at Margaritaville

The Forum Shops at Caesars

Chinese theme decorations at Bellagio

A good time was had by all but I was one tired puppy by the time we got back to the RV park. It's not easy keeping up with "high rollers".