The Gold Ranch Casino also had a Sinclair gas station, so before we left the area on Sunday morning, we got fuel for the truck, to keep from having to stop later on. Well, my love of cute signs grabbed me when I saw this sign at the entrance to the gas station. I guess it meant to watch for people walking across the drive.
There were also several model Dinosaurs around the property. Each had a sign next to it.
We made it all the way across Nevada on Sunday. That was a 407 mile trip under partly cloudy skies and hot 90s for temperatures. We stayed at the Wendover KOA in West Wendover, NV, which is on the border with Utah. We got set up just in time to watch the last 5 minutes of the Golden State Warriors vs the Cleveland Cavaliers Game 5 of the Finals. Warriors won!!!
Monday, we traveled across the Salt Flats of Utah. It wasn't too hot, even though it was mostly sunny. This view is looking north from the Eastbound side of I-80. The dark line is the Westbound direction of I-80.
You can see the mirage in the photo below. It looks like the mountains have been undercut on each side or a reflection on water that isn't there.
Here is a train making its way across the Salt Flats.
It was time to get fuel again, just before we got to Salt Lake City. While we were parked at the Flying J, we got a new hood ornament. You may say, "Seagulls in Utah, so far from the ocean?" Well, The Great Salt Lake is like an ocean that has some of the same salt-loving plants and animals that the ocean has, so they find plenty to eat. He stayed there even when we were getting in and out of the truck. Finally, he moved when we started the truck and started to move out of the parking space.
Because we don't like driving up the long grade on I-80 going east out of Salt Lake City, we went north on I-15 then onto I-84 east to meet I-80 at the top of the grade. The canyon that I-84 goes through has a feature that is called Devil's Slide. I think you can see why it is called that. It goes right down to the edge of the river that flows along the side of the freeway.
This is another scenic view along I-84.
Later in the afternoon on Monday, it started to rain. We had watched the clouds ahead of us for several hours. There were even lightning bolts that lit up the clouds. They stayed ahead of us until about the last hour of our day's drive. We stopped at RV World Campground in Rawlins, WY. Look at the dark clouds that have just dumped on the campground.
During the night Monday, we were awakened with heavy rain hitting the trailer roof, but by morning, the clouds had given way to a nice sunny day. We drove to Ogallala, NE and camped at the Country View Campground on Tuesday. After we got set up, the clouds began to gather as you can see in these two photos.
The interesting thing about this campground was that the TV cable connection was different from most others that we have encountered. They gave us a TV controller, we connected our cable to the wire that they had at the site and tuned the TV to channel 3. There was a cable box located on the post and we used the TV just like a cable box at home. We watched the Basketball Finals Game 6 and while we were watching the game, we could see a lot of lightening in the distance to the west. Well, the rain started and it was a strong windy storm. The lights flickered a couple times, but that was all. The Warriors won Game 6 and became the Champions of the 2015 Season!!!
On Wednesday, we continued our trip by driving to Shelby, IA and stayed at the Shelby Country Inn and RV Park. There was no rain today, just sunny skies. Our challenge at this campsite was hooking up to the water. They had a special key, sort of a hex wrench, that opened a door and then was used to turn on the water flow. I turned it on to clean off the faucet and couldn't get it to turn off. We eventually got the hose attached and decided to worry about turning it off in the morning.
Of course, there is a sunset shot. Not as vibrant as in the desert southwest, but nice.
Thursday morning, while we were getting ready to move on, we met our "next door neighbors", Seth & Robbi and Duane & Pat. It was fun to discover that they were also headed to Michigan to attend the Adventure Caravans tour. We got our water turned off by using a wrench on the wrench to tighten it. I hope the next folks that have that space can get it loose after we got it tightened.
Thursday was our last day out before getting to the campground where we all meet for the beginning of the tour of Michigan. We traveled across Iowa and saw some beautiful green fields.
There was an area where we could see windmills/wind generators every direction that we looked. They were spread all over the countryside, unlike in CA where they are placed in even rows on windmill "farms".
We arrived at our last stop before getting to Michigan. It was at the RV Park at the Hollywood Casino in Joliet, IL. The site was nice and wide and big enough to park the truck across the front.
Since we were at the casino, we decided to go to the buffet for dinner. The only problem with that was that we arrived about 30 min. before they closed, so we filled up our plates and gathered much more than we needed because we didn't want the serving line to close before we had gotten what we wanted. We ate waaaay, too much.
Friday morning, we went to the complimentary breakfast that they provided to the motel and RV Park guests. It was very nice and we watched how much we ate this time. After breakfast, we headed off to Michigan and will let you know how that goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment