2023 – October thru December…

November 1st, 2023 was a travel day heading south towards Winnemucca.

First have to climb the very steep hill on I-84 outside of Pendleton. Known as Deadman’s Pass. Can be really dangerous in the winter so I always try to time my travel through here when it’s safe. There are several Webcams showing conditions. Usually, even after a snow event the roads melt the snow so by 10 AM it’s safe. Of course in the summer, overheated vehicles can end up stuck on the side apron. Coming down is as dangerous if you don’t downshift or have an exhaust brake and overuse your regular brakes.

Several hours later, the Winnemucca valley.

Only spent one night in Winnemucca at the Model T casino and RV park. Next day filled up the tank, and headed south. Again this year, passing through Austin. Another very steep climb. Last year there was 3″ of snow on the ground and melted slush on the highway through town.

It’s better to see the town receding in the distance than when approaching from the North. Going back this way is rather tedious too. Hill into town is very steep, twisty & turny.

And a few hours later, passed through Tonopah, then through Goldfield, and on to Pahrump. Weather was warming up nicely!

Settled in the Preferred RV soon after.

A week later headed to the Bounty Hunter to watch the Seahawks.

The boss over on the right. Then some regulars just after the game…we won that day.

Looking over at the BLM land behind the big casino. This year there was hardly anyone there where in years past there would have been 25 RVs dry camping there. Must have been the high fuel prices keeping them home.

And this steak after searing in the fry pan. A cheap cut of meat on sale, just right for a stew.

Back in the pan, made gravy out of the drippings with added EVOO, added Yukon Gold potatoes, some veggies, and then the beef.

It was extremely good. Even froze the left overs for another day.

——————————–DECEMBER—————————————–

And soon it was December. Weather was very comfortable, sunshine nearly every day.

Than on the 12 of December, since the weather could have been warmer, I wanted to try that reopened tribe owned RV park on the US side just outside of Los Algodones, Mexico. Just 8 miles west of Yuma. I needed some dental work done and I’d gotten a quote up in Milton Freewater of $1800 for a root canal. Anyway, the trip down south was uneventful, passed through Parker Arizona and spent the night in Quartzsite. Stopped at a Passport America 50% club park there in town, and they were nice enough to give me the discount even though my card had expired two months before. I’ve since paid for a 5 year extension and have my new card now.

Of course I went to Silly Al’s for a pizza. And the next day, off to Yuma.

This was fun…I timed my travel just right I guess and just happened to cross over the train tracks a couple minutes ahead of this 4 mile long, slow moving freight train. Woop! I’d pulled over within feet of the crossing to use the toilet, and when I sat down in the drivers seat there was a cop right opposite my window heading the way I’d come, stopped by the train signal and bar. Him and by then, several other cars. I drove off with no one behind me and the traffic behind me didn’t catch up for and hour and a half.

And here I am parked at the Sleepy Hollow RV park. They have 100’s of spaces all with upgraded W/S/E. 50 amp. Cost was $200/week. Since I felt a week would be enough, that’s what I went for. Monthly was $425+electric. Each space has it’s own meter. It’s just south of the casino so I went there for a Seahawks game or two.

Lots of empty spaces. But they still haven’t bothered to put up a webpage for the park. They’re going by word of mouth. Plenty of room here. Very few trees but some. It’s a desert area so this hardpack dirt is solid enough that the RV doesn’t sink.

And then it was time to visit Los Algodones. And to see a dentist.

This is a shot of the giant car/truck/RV parking area on the US side. Cost $6 for a car all day.

This is the first big pharmacy just after crossing into Mexico. I haven’t every bought drugs there because I’ve not needed them. There are probably 15 pharmacies along the main road. And many many US trained dentists. I go to the dentist office that’s owned and run by women. Up the street and round the corner from here. There’s a dusty car park right at the corner and a small public park across the street from the office. I don’t recall the office name. Only one in town owned and run by women though.

Had a teeth cleaning ($41), and a quote of $500 for the root canal plus a new bridge to replace the one they’d have to remove to work on the root canal. Also found one of my front teeth needs a root canal. I’ll come back in February for that. Couple days later I came back for the root canal and they hired a specialist to do that work. Had the root canal done, and they found a cavity under the bridges cap next to the root canal tooth so they fixed that. Next visit they installed the bridge. Came to $560 USD.

I took this shot from my RV space of the line of traffic heading to the border for the weekend. You want to avoid driving across the border on weekends. Traffic is backed up several miles. The RV park it 2 miles from the border. It’s super handy where it is though, even if there’s no grass or trees to speak of. And it’s only 2 miles from the casino where I could watch NFL games on big screen TVs. The OTA TV signal here is poor but the DTV satellite was fine.

And on the 21st of December, I headed to Tucson to visit with my friend John.

Soon enough was parked and set up. Problem with the satellite though. The techs are all off shore and it took from Monday to Thursday to finally solve the problem. Had to change the jumper coax up on the dish, move the RV back 4 feet to miss the AT&T antenna that was in the way, and finally get a tech who told me that my change of service address was NEVER put into the system by the other 3 techs I’d talked to trying to get it changed. Eventually, got it situated so I had local stations and ESPN.

And once again, the neighbors behind John’s property complained to the county about my RV parked here. The county sent out an inspector, we passed, and John and the neighbor both got the letter saying there was no code violated. That’s the 3rd year in a row those a-holes have reported my RV. Each time, they were told there’s no violation.

Off in the distance is Tucson. We’re on West Ajo Way here, up on the hillside.

Looking south. Miles from here is the border town of Nogales. A favorite place to cross the border when heading to Mazatlan or Puerto Penasco. I’ve never been there but it’s an RV’ers hot spot I’m told. I’ve seen pictures and it doesn’t seem very interesting to me.

Storm moving in…from the west.

And that’s it for December 2023. My blog has started to become repetitive, much of that due to Covid and high diesel prices, but this year I’m planning on heading into Mexico again. After I stop for a week in Los Algodones and finish up the dental work. So I should have some new adventures in store for readers.

Probably will try Ensenada this year if the weather ever gets any good over there. Or San Felipe again…I like that town and the RV parks there. Or I’ll just head on down to my favorite Mexican city, Mazatlan. I haven’t decided yet. I have a VA vision clinic appointment on Jan. 29th and it might delay my departure if they have plans to fix the scar tissue on my lens.

Thanks for reading and hope you come back again next time when I start posting from 2024.