Have endured my stay here in Pahrump, with it’s week of rain, it’s cold days but above freezing nights and I’m looking forward to leaving in exactly one week after staying for 3 weeks. I’m a bit disillusioned by the park management that has over the years become more and more controlling. Admittedly they did have a 33 car robbery one dark night around 5-6 years ago where a gang of LA thieves cut a lock on a back gate, rushed in and stole items from 33 cars (or that’s the story I heard from an office grunt but he told me that 33 cars were stolen, the next office person told me they had been opened and dash radios and equipment stolen) but the curious thing about it was that it never got into the local paper of the time. I arrived 2 days after this all went down so all I heard was hearsay.
But, they tightened security at the time, more cams that sort of thing. But they were bought out by a corporation a couple years later and they have almost turned it into a prison camp. Electric gates that take forever to open, video cams scattered around the park, a non-refundable $5 charge for an after 6PM dongle, lots more rules and volunteers eager to remind you of them, etc. etc.. Like I said, went from a relaxing place to stay to what feels like a prison camp. But if I drive around town to the many many RV parks here, none of them have such tight security. There are parks with fencing all around, but the gates are open during the day, if they even have gates. Other big parks with no fencing at all. This park isn’t all that special to thieves but the management treats it like it is. Oh, there isn’t even an office any more where you could ask questions, pay rents or fees, or just kibitz with office staff you’ve known for years. The office building only has mail collection now and admin offices, main door is locked these days. Everything is done at the gate kiosk and they all seem to be beginners learning the ropes. Different crew from when I stayed in May.
We used to have a true professional cook that created excellent meals without resorting to pasta at every meal as the main course. Loved her work and ate at the parks dining hall many times. B-fast or dinner or both depending on menu. Cost was minimal. And then she fell in love, got married, and moved away. Her replacement was disagreeable, took lots of time off for ‘reasons’, made mostly pasta dinners, and so this year, there’s no food at the dining hall. Even after they paid thousands to remodel the kitchen a couple years ago. I don’t know if they hired several different cooks during the times I wasn’t here of course but hadn’t heard about that from any neighbors.
Well, anyway, enough gripping about the park…
The week I arrived back in early Nov. it was freakin’ cold here. When I checked even further south it was the same story, cold everywhere. I’d have to go all the way down to Mazatlan to find temps in the 80’s. Didn’t want to do that this trip so early so I’ve stuck it out here. And the 2nd week, the rains hit:
Came down hard for several days in a row.
Hard driving rains that inundated the nearby roads and even swamped some areas of town. This park has good flow downhill and though the park’s access roads on either end of my RV had their rivers of flowing water, my space was relatively dry. But I stayed inside most of the time to avoid a drenching. Storm stayed around for a week, and it’s finally cleared so we are seeing broken sunshine every day, and it’s dry now, but damn, it’s cold out. With the high humidity though, the cold seeps into your bones.
Nearby mountains between Pahrump and Las Vegas were showing snow most of the time when there was a break in the cloud cove. Didn’t have any snow here in Pahrump so that’s good. A couple days ago went out to take some pics and the snow on the hills is almost gone. But it’s only early Dec. now and it’s likely that Pahrump will see much more winter weather this year (I have been here when there was snow on the ground in a past visit).
But I only have a week left of my paid for month here and will happily head for Quartzsite for 3 days (gotta have a Silly Al’s pizza) then over to Tucson for a month or two. My friend in Tucson has some electrical work he’d like me to help with and I’m looking forward to doing that. Still planning on heading to Mazatlan for the reminder of the winter, maybe get my RV painted, do some sailing, maybe paraglide, who knows. I’ll decide when I get down there. If I go. Schedule is open for many different exciting adventures. Even thinking of flying to a cruise lines departure city and taking a 2 week cruise. Maybe a visit to Chaco Canyon to visit some ruins. Or maybe taking a train trip to the east coast.
So many choices, so much time. Now to cultivate the ambition!
Thanks for reading!