Our little RV circus is slowly heading back to Canada for the summer.
We drove JohnnyDisco through Tucson for the last time on March 8th and then hit the highway heading northwest towards Nevada. Our first overnight stop was 3 Dreamers RV Park in Brenda, AZ.
The park was clean, quiet and cheap - Passport America rate was $17 for full hook ups, internet and cable tv. (And as we drove into town I yelled "hello" and waved to the 'Welcome to Brenda' sign in honour of this talented lady :)
We packed up early the next morning, driving through Parker AZ, a huge mecca for snowbirds and a place we'd like to check out in the future, maybe in October on the drive back south.
By early afternoon JohnnyDisco crossed the Arizona/Nevada state line, cruised through Vegas, and finally parked in the Nevada desert town of Pahrump.
Not to be mean, but the name Pahrump (pronounced pa - rump) really seemed to fit this little area. My Fella got confused a few times and called it Par-hump, which made for some good comedy. Luckily, none of the locals were upset enough to beat us up over that. Pahrump is packed full of seniors, but these ladies and gents were all quite active and could have taken us down.
We stayed at three different RV parks in Pahrump and the only one we'd go back to is Terrible's Lakeside Casino RV Park. The Passport America rate was only $15.81, and included 50 amp power, water, sewer and internet. The RV park is built around a small lake complete with ducks and a nice walking path. Terribles is a quiet, relaxing stop for a few nights, especially if you're feelin' lucky.
I mean casino lucky. There's a flashy little casino at the edge of the property and seven or eight more scattered around the small town.
We didn't make much use of the casinos but we did take advantage of the short drive to Death Valley, roughly an hour away from Pahrump.
Glad we filled up the tank in Pahrump before heading out for the day.
This gas station at the edge of the valley is the last one for about hundred miles and they definitely take advantage of their location; they charged over a dollar more per gallon of gas than every station in nearby Pahrump.
When I saw the sign, my business mind cheered "way to go Chevron!" but my frugal consumer side was screaming "You thieving snakes!"
My brains get kinda tangled when it comes to making money :)
According to wikipedia: "Death Valley is the hottest and driest place in North America because of its lack of surface water and its low relief. On July 10, 1913, a record 134 °F (56.7 °C) was measured, the highest temperature ever recorded on the continent, as of 2007. Daily summer temperatures of 120 °F (49 °C) or greater are common..."
For this reason we were surprised to see snow on the mountain peaks, although we found out it does get "below freezing nightly temperatures in the winter".
And that's when we saw this on the ground. What the heck???
Snow in Death Valley?
Back home in Canada, we'd be strapping on our ice skates and sliding around on this stuff.
But of course we're not in Canada, we're driving through Death Valley, CA in early March ... and this white stuff we're seeing is not a frozen pond in the Rockies - it's actually borax.
According to this website: "borax changed the history of Death Valley. It brought in an industry; it produced the famous Twenty Mule Teams; and it focused the world’s attention on a great new mineral source, which, unlike the ephemeral gold and silver discoveries, was real.
The first form of borax to be found in the Valley was white crystalline ulexite called “cottonball”, which encrusted the ancient lake bed, Lake Manly. In 1881 Aaron Winters, a prospector who lived in Ash Meadows with his wife, Rosie, offered a night’s lodging to a stranger, Henry Spiller, who was prospecting through the desert. His hospitality was well rewarded. The stranger spoke of the growing interest in the mineral borax and showed him samples of cottonball. One look told Winters that he saw the same crystals every day, covering acre upon acre of the floor of Death Valley.
The next morning, as soon as his visitor had left, he rode off to the Valley, scooped up a bagful of cottonball and rode back to Ash Meadows. The stranger had told him about the test for borax: pour alcohol and sulfuric acid over the ore and ignite it. If it burns green, it’s borax. At sundown, Aaron and Rosie tried the test on the bagful of sample: “She burns green, Rosie”, shouted Aaron, “We’re rich, by God!” And they were. Winters sold the Death Valley acres he had quickly acquired to William T. Coleman, a prominent San Francisco financier for $20,000."
Borax was a mineral used to make soap and today it's an essential component of high-temperature resistant glass products, like Pyrex cookware.
Still looks like snow to me...
The entire tour through Death Valley took a little more than five hours by car and we saw some really amazing sights. More pics to come in the next post.
