A severe thunderstorm that passed directly over us sent Bob and Karl to their hidey-hole safe spots again.
Thunder, lightning, rain….
….and hail!
A lot of rain.
But after, that little bit of blue sky took over and the afternoon was dry, the water on the “road” was absorbed into the ground…
And then it did it again this evening.
This morning’s storm had me looking closely at the weather. Weather and work – I decided to start home tomorrow.
Yesterday morning was beautiful after the afternoon wind and night rain on Tuesday. It soon darkened and proceeded to rain with a bit of thunder thrown in until late afternoon. Karl and Bob spent most of the day sleeping: Karl behind my bed and Bob nearly next to him in a spot where the comforter hangs making a “safe” place.
I had plenty of work to get done and so just kept at it.
But that morning walk down the bluff and looking up at the sky and clouds – what a beautiful start to the day!
From The Nevada Travel Network :
Elko retains its unique air of awkward splendor with a marvelous diversity of its population: cowboys and Indians, sheepherders, miners and railroad men, gamblers and whores, schoolmarms and ribbon clerks. Oh, and a few tourists.
Heh… I would be one of the few tourists…
Above, part of the Chamber of Commerce restored village. It includes a school house, dwelling, livery and blacksmith as a short self-guided walking tour. I walked around quickly after Karl and I had a walk in the park.
Then a quick stop at Cucina Fresca…
Like the proverbial kid in a candy store, I looked over the wares and came away with a few things for my motorhome kitchen. And this wine gift bag!
Meanwhile, clouds were building ominously to the west. I cut my exploration of Elko short and headed home.
The wind kicked up dramatically. It was so gusty that I pulled in the slides to save wear and tear on the slide toppers that roll out over the top of the slides.
I put Bob in charge of the weather radio.
We ended up getting a lot of wind, but no rain, no thunder or lightning – just a LOT of wind.
A tumblin’ tumbleweed – my storm souvenir.
We are parked at the Double Dice.
Not a fancy rv park but everything works, it is quiet, unseasonably cool and sits on a bluff. That water in the background of the above is a bit deceiving. It is more like a large puddle out a ways on the valley floor. Railroad tracks that stay fairly active to large freight trains run just below. The track is far enough away and below the park – the sound of trains is a nice background sound, barely noticeable.
Standing on the bluff, looking to the south is Iron Horse RV Resort. I tried to book a site there online. It said no availability and then I saw something that said it was to open in August so I never called. I am so glad! Although newer, with sites and grass “yards”, there is not much more room between sites and it sits on the valley floor, with no view, right across from the trains…Iron Horse, yes??? And no access to the desert for walking.
Karl and I can pick our way down this bluff – there are several easy trails. And the dog area runs across the back of the Double Dice so I can look out over the valley to the Ruby Mountains as Karl takes his time on our walks.
We took a very quick cruise through Elko at lunchtime yesterday. This park is beautiful with lots of shade and dogs allowed. It is perfect for a change of pace walk.
Elko just feels good to me – like a nice place. I’m not sure what defines that but I know as I travel that some places feel good and some do not. Elko is not cuted up in any way. There are 2 casinos, slot and electronic gaming machines in every locale, but it is a ranching and mining community.
The laundry room here has a number of signs with a prohibition against washing “diggers” in the machines and direction to a downtown business that takes care of “diggers”. I asked another person doing laundry what diggers were and she didn’t know. We guessed we didn’t have any since we didn’t know what they were…
I woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning. I’m getting to work as I want to have some time to explore Elko. There is the Chocolate Saloon, Cucina Fresca (kitchen stuff), a Mercantile, a Western goods store, the river area, several Basque restaurants, a Cornish restaurant that advertises pasties as the original mining food, several independent bookstores…it is that kind of small town that feels solid and rooted and also vital. Frontier Citywide provides Wi-Fi everywhere in town.
I’ll take time this week to explore Elko while parked at the Double Dice.
It was a beautiful day from start to finish. The air, the sky, the road – perfect! There were rest areas as needed and nearly every exit had rv/truck spots. The views were magnificent.
The miles passed effortlessly even taking breaks when wanted.
The colors of the desert…
…greener than expected from recent rains.
I had turned briefly to check on Bob and Karl. Bob was so comfortably sprawled that I decided to see if I could catch it. I couldn’t look in the camera – this was one of those very lucky shots. I was so pleasantly surprised to see that I caught Karl also. They look so stressed about travelling don’t they???
A wonderfully restful evening and night. It was cool and blustery last evening. Clouds moved in and it is a bit balmy this morning. Rain and maybe thunderstorms are in our path. It looks like an 8 a.m. departure will work best. Elko is to have some storms this morning, clearing and then late afternoon storms so leaving at 8 will hopefully get us there in the clear spot. As always, will just pull over and wait out anything unsafe to drive in.
I-80 East all the way from Fernley to Elko today.
Nevada morning…
…from this morning’s walk.
11:00 a.m. At a rest stop just west of Winnemucca for a break, walk and early lunch. Probably will not post another update until arrival as good signal, but “roaming”….and I’m only 150 miles from Elko. Will probably be leaving here 11:30ish, have a fuel stop at some point so hope to be parked 2:30-3:30 if no delays. So far weather looks fine and wind has not been bad.
3:00 p.m. We are arrived and plugged in. Today was the best travel day of any so far! Good roads, gorgeous desert scenery, cool air that smelled of sage and not too much wind. A little rain here and there. The wind is picking up now and dark clouds so will get final outside stuff hooked up and Karl for a walk in case we get thunder-lightning fun.