Hanging around Pahrump…

Let’s back up a smidge to the trip from Tonopah to Pahrump…and it’s 2023 now in article time.

Here’s what the road and valleys looked like as I neared Tonopah. I had left the snow free Winnemucca area and the shop just a couple hours previously. Stopped 60 miles later in Battle Mountain for fuel, but where the wind was howling and it was bone chilling cold. Even wearing my heavy shirt along with a jacket it was uncomfortable standing there holding the fuel nozzle, even wearing gloves. I was happy I had a hood on that jacket as it was needed for sure. It is beautiful down the road an hour later though.

And here I’ve outpaced the storm heading south towards Tonopah so I kinda thought that maybe I’d be able to spend the night there without getting snowed in. As I mentioned last article, I did get snowed in at the casino, but it didn’t slow me down much. Instead of getting to leave at 10 AM, the snow caused my departure delay to 11 AM. I still made it to Pahrump  during daylight at a reasonable hour…even had the time to stop in Beatty and stock up on nuts and sugar free candy.

And by the time I got to Beatty, no snow anywhere on or near the road, not even on the hilltops. A bit of rain though. When I’m too old to drive the RV, I’m going to miss these trips. And flights aren’t much of an enjoyment if I want to travel. Gah, I have come to hate flying and I used to love it.

Only an hour between Beatty and Pahrump so wasn’t long and I was parked and hooked up at Preferred RV Resort in Pahrump enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. Or at least warmer weather as those clouds that were chasing me soon rolled in over the valley and the temps dropped.

Behind and to the north of Preferred are these dry camping encampments. The people that live there, often in beat up older RVs, or just in cars or tents, often use the available facilities at Preferred to stock up with water, dump, and sometimes pay for a few nights with full electric. There are often several newer RVs, some with large solar arrays too so these are NOT bum towns.

This BLM land is convenient for them because of the Preferred water and dump for one, then to the left in this picture is the casino, next to that is a Burger King, then there’s Smith’s grocery, a gas station, then a Taco Bell. Even has a pawn shop and a water dispenser machine in the same parking lots. Within walking distance are even more useful businesses. What more could you ask for if you’re dry camping for a few days or weeks.

I have driven through encampments like this one several times over the years including this one and the one out back of Preferred, and they are just everyday people like you’d expect in any neighborhood. Most wave back, some say ‘Hi’ and engage in convo but then there are some who are difficult to talk to for very long. Same ol’ same ol’.

However, those that can’t do anything but stereotype them all as bums are just wrong. Many of them are just as nice as anyone in any RV park…they’re just saving money, and not because they are broke. To be sure there’s a small contingent of boondockers that beg over in the nearby parking lots, but they don’t bother me.

I’ve boondocked before many times, especially when I was low on money (but not broke) since I’d retired 8 years early and was full timing without an income. Lived off the proceeds of the sale of my home those 8 years. Those multiple times per month per year of boondocking really saved my cash and got me to official retirement and a monthly income from SSA comfortably. Anyone who met me then certainly wouldn’t have considered me a bum.

Couple days later, whoa, that storm caught up to me. Lookie there.

Time to hide inside my nice cozy RV.

It came down in buckets off and on for hours and long into the night. So I didn’t head over to my favorite Thai place for dinner. Dammit.

I stayed in Pahrump for a couple weeks just enjoying the warmer weather, but then it was time to push on to Tucson and the VA clinic there for more work on my eye.

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for reading.