In Death Valley.....

We arrived in the town of Pahrump - the gateway to Death Valley - yesterday, early in the afternoon - from Tonopah, NV.  It was a good drive on a nice highway.

Southbound on Nevada  Highway 95

We weren't very far south from Tonopah when the landscape changed quickly and we could see cacti of all sorts; including the Joshua trees.  We would not have expected those here...but they were in abundance.   There was a lot more vegetation; trees, shrubs, scrubs....etc.  Nice!

I was driving and Jeanette was busy with the camera.  The pinkish coloured building in the background is 'brothel house'.  Also known as chicken ranch, mustang ranch, bunny ranch, angel ranch, bordello,....etc.  
Well....you get the picture!  There are several in this neck of the woods.....ah....I mean...this neck of the rocky landscape!

WE DID NOT STOP TO TOUR ANY OF THE PLACES MENTIONED ABOVE!!!!!! Nor the one in the photo below.....! My co-pilot was far more interested in getting to Pahrump!  LOL

Jeanette is pretty darned good at capturing photos at 60 MPH.

When noon time rolled around, we found this great roadside rest stop - about 45 minutes from Pahrump - to enjoy lunch in the nice warm sun.  

Only about 60 miles from Las Vegas, NV, we turned off Highway 95 and headed west towards Death Valley.  The National Park encompasses 3,336,000 acres. Elevations range from 282 feet below sea level to about 11,000 feet.  It is a huge track of land - the 2nd largest National Park in the USofA, after Alaska.

Not having been here before, we sure looked forward to touring around.  That said, we booked into an absolutely lovely RV park - with treed sites that surround a seven acre man made lake.  Stunning is a good word to describe this RV Park.  We were pleasantly surprised.

It didn't take long and we were registered for three nights - using Passport America - at half rate.  Nice deal, say we!!!  There are three Passport America RV sites in this area.  All of them 4* plus.  We would rate this RV park as 5 star.  Friends who've stayed at another Passport America RV site here rated it 5*.

Our internet search led us here first - over other mighty fine RV sites - because of the very long pull through sites.  With our motorcycle swivel wheel, our truck and the 5th wheel, we roll at 63 feet long.  To avoid having to drop the motorcycle and unhook the swivelwheel, when parked for one, two or three nights is why pull throughs appeal to us.  It is easily doable to unhook but, when we can avoid doing that, it simply saves us time and effort.

This park has pull through sites that are up to 95' in length.  Our site is rated at 85'....although after we were set up, I calculated that this site can't be much longer than 70 feet......cause we fit in well, end to end.

Beautiful green grass with a great variety of trees - evergreens and deciduous!

It looks like fall at home, some three weeks or so back.  The deciduous trees are now losing their leaves.  That make's Jeanette happy cause she loves nothing more than walking in crunching leaves. Oh......and she did just that while walking around this lovely place.  

This area and RV park is a place we will want to return to in the future!

We have a lake view from our site....and walking around the cement walkway is a treat too.  The waterfowl enjoy this place too.

We chose to set up, enjoy the surroundings, get the laundry done, energize the Weber Bar-B-Q and just enjoy the evening.  We watched a movie while the on board washer and dryer did their work.  At 10:00 pm, we walked around the park one more time.  The night time view, with clear desert skies and the cackle of ducks on the lake, made for a pleasant walk in the dark.

We did walk through the local casino but the smokey atmosphere pushed us out quickly.  A stroll in the RV store showed that it was well provisioned for most necessities.  We did have a look into the restaurant and it looked inviting.  We much preferred the peace and quiet of firing up our barbecue.

I know Jeanette has spotted a leafed out tree ahead....and she's anxious to make noise in the crunching leaves......! The ducks think she has some treats for them.....but.....no such luck.

I may inflate our Sea Eagle kayak and put in to this nice, clear lake.

A most pleasant setting......

It was a different story this early morning when we heard patter on the RV roof and saw a good rain coming down here.    That was odd!!!  This is, after all, Death Valley - with an average yearly rainfall of less than 2 inches.  Many years have passed with no rain.  Here we are in a place that so resembles our Canadian West coast fall and winter months.  Rain or shine is of no consequence.  It has been seven days since we left home and to hunker down here for a few days is quite OK.  If we can find some sun - or dry roads - we'll motorcycle around.  If not we'll find other interesting activities to occupy us.

Wet....wet....wet!

We enjoyed a lovely in-house breakfast once we had signed off from a great Skype visual chat with Easton and his mom back in Langley, BC.  It was sure nice to see our little fella, to watch him interact with the computer and us was great.  He is quite accustomed to Skype because Trevor's mom, Sandi - Easton's paternal grandmother - regularly Skypes with him from her home in Peachland, BC - in the Okanagan Valley.  

The WiFi signal in this park is really good!  Bonus, that is, because with most RV parks, that is not the case. The good WiFi whetted our appetite to Skype and to engage Easton in a nice cyberspace visit.

With over 150 sites in this RV park, about  half are unoccupied.  The RV office mentioned that beginning next Wednesday, the park is booked solid.  That, of course, is due to American Thanksgiving.  We'll be leaving long before that as we make our way further east and into Arizona.

That's all from here for now.

Thanks for dropping in.