Warm and Dry

Greetings from Pahrump, Nevada, where the sun is shining, and it's warm enough to be outside without a coat! What a nice change of pace from back home. It was still a bit of a drive getting here yesterday, but not as far as the day before. We arrived right around 4:00 p.m. The second of the two camera cables I'd ordered prior to our arrival was delivered within just a few minutes after we checked in. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'd forgotten the cables I need to take pictures off my two DSLR cameras, and I was despondent at the realization. Now I have my cables, and I'm made whole again...not that I'm ever overly dramatic or anything.

Leaving Bakersfield, the sun was shining, but skies were hazy...to be expected in this part of California. It made for some interesting ghostly landscapes.

We stopped to refuel at the first opportunity. Mike's truck can accommodate the big diesel pumps like the big truckers do, and so we fill up at truck stops. Beside us was parked a cattle truck. I suspect these bovine critters are headed for the last round-up, if you know what I mean. Sniff. But since I'm also a meat-eater, I can't wail and cry too much. I'll admit to being one of those carnivores who prefers not to consider the live animal my food comes from.

When we were back on the road, we drove through a lot of flat country with a sprinkling of Joshua Trees.

We're in the desert now, so the supply of barns is waning. Still, I caught these. I believe that might be a quilt block on the structure to the right.

It's kind of weird seeing it juxtaposed with those huge wind turbines, but this area is noted for being a big wind-energy producing region. I can't think of Tehachapi, California, without envisioning its many wind turbines.

On the far side of town, they're joined by what appears to be an airplane junkyard. There are so many different insignias on the tail sections of these planes, it's hard to think they'd be anything else.

Rounding the final bend out of town, there's also a huge solar array. That's the reflection of my shirt you see in the center of the image. My pictures are almost all taken through the truck windows.

We stopped for lunch in Baker, California. While we ate, these crows sat above us, squawking and making quite a racket.

From there, we left the main highway and headed off toward Death Valley National Park. We didn't actually enter the park, but skirted the border for the remainder of the day.

We love the bands of color in the landscape here, and we've traveled this road so many times, we nearly know the landmarks by heart.

It's a world of many browns, reds, golds, and tans.

There are a few small towns. One wonders what supports the economy so far from any kind of industry.

We suspect mining of one kind or another is the main occupation.

I've dubbed these hills in the image below the "Rickrack Mountains."

Rounding the final bend of our journey thus far, we could see Pahrump off in the distance.

In a few more miles, we crossed the border into Nevada. Sorry for the blur...bumpy road.

Once we were checked in and set up, we sat outside drinking margaritas. Smitty isn't old enough to join us in drinking margaritas, but he's a party animal. He sat inside the screen door and enjoyed the warm weather from there.

We have a nice site at the edge of the RV park, with desert behind us. I believe he'll be willing to get out and walk here once he gets the lay of the land and scopes out the location of all the woofies. 

Our bird feeders are mounted on the windows, and I'm hoping we'll attract some birds soon. Last year, we put out a hummingbird feeder and had hoards of hummers fighting over it within about an hour. This year, we've added a seed feeder, and so I'm kind of curious to see what kinds of birds will visit our window feeders.

We were treated to a pretty sunset last night, looking in both directions.

Smitty and Sadie were ready for some evening napping while we ate our dinner.

So we're staying put for the next two weeks. Mike and I need to pick up a few things at the grocery store today, and then we'll become reclusive. Amazingly, the RV park still has all its usual activities going in the form of free waffle breakfasts, dances, karaoke (really?), and other activities too numerous to mention. All this takes place within a confined indoor space. We won't be participating, which is a shame because those free waffle breakfasts are kind of fun. Instead, we'll be doing some hiking, and I'm wanting to try some new photography projects from a book I found on my shelf...this one, by Lee Frost:

Photography is similar to quilting in that one purchases a lot of books that go directly to the shelf, barely opened. For this trip, I decided to see if I could spice up our social distancing efforts with some creative photography. Last night, I spent some time perusing the book, and so I'll pick some projects to try and show you what I come up with as I go. Eventually, I'll get out the sewing machine and do some sewing. For now, we're just going to relax and be glad our days on the road are over for a while.