My winter wanderings

rvpopeye · Mar 15, 2016

The underground tour at Scotty's is soooo awesome ! My fave fer sure was the water powered generator ! As employees the tour was just us and a cutie interpretive ranger !
Scotty was a hoot , even if it wasn't actually his home.....

The museum at Furnace Creek Ranch not a waste of time either lots of mineral samples.

Salt Creek with pup fish and the pickle weed !

Some of the pics you posted were actually locations where they filmed scenes for Star Wars ,,,Dante's View of Badwater and that dry riverbed in the Artist's Pallet group were 2.

Of course , I was there for 7 months , had plenty of time to see most of it.
Went to all of the ranger talks at the visitor center too.
DV is (so far my absolute fave place)........great memories !

You did pretty good for a quick trip through , (I learned to slow down and see as much of any area I was in ,,,,never know if you'll ever get a chance to go back!)

So muck natural beauty in this country , at first I was zip here and there too !
Love your trip log as a whole , you see a lot in the time you take !
Thx for all the pics !

USExplorer · Mar 16, 2016

@highdesertranger: If I paid the entrance fee, I would have stayed several days and visited any sights that were accessible with my truck. However as I did not pay I restricted myself to only one day of exploration.

@rvpopeye: Scotty's Castle is still closed after a massive flash flood back in October obliterated numerous roads all over the park. I'm sure one could see a lot more in seven months than seven hours, but if I spent a week in every place I went to I would still be in Mississippi.

Well, this is my fourth day in fabulous Las Vegas. I've decided to forgo photography. The Vegas atmosphere is getting to me, with its crazy mixture of outrageously expensive and completely free entertainment. So far my biggest expense has been $20 for a three day bus pass. When that expires, I will leave the city, or so I tell myself. I sleep until 9 every day in a gravel lot outside a truck stop several miles south of the Strip, then visit the library nearby. Then I drive a short distance to the park and ride and take the bus where I want to go in the city.

Last night I visited the Fremont Street Experience, and it was an experience for sure. A dozen musicians, ranging from an all-out professional hard-rock/metal cover band with all the smoke and lights to a couple guys drumming on improvised buckets and pans to a saxaphonist playing smooth jazz out of a truck bed to an assortment of girls dancing to karaoke pop music. All completely free, right on Fremont Street, which is covered by the largest LED screen in the world flashing psychedelic colors while kids roar past on ziplines far overhead. A couple blocks away at the Container Park, a 200x life size metallic replica of a praying mantis with glowing eyes and a motorized head spews huge gouts of flame from its antennae in time to recorded music. The crowds too, thousands of people, no age ethnicity or occupation left out.

The weather is perfect here, sunny and 80s every day, 60s every night. Being in the desert, rain is unheard of, and the humidity is very low. It is very easy to find free parking here too, unlike many other big cities.

Actually nothing in the city is free, it is all paid for by the billions of coins fed into slot machines yearly. But I might as well take advantage of it.

Any readers in the Vegas area?

highdesertranger · Mar 16, 2016

I understand, you had limited time. that's pretty cool they let you in for 1 day without paying. most NP's have toll gates and make you pay no matter what, even if you just drive through. highdesertranger

Silver · Mar 18, 2016

"50 mph as is my custom, half a dozen cars lined behind me" in a 70.

I do 55 in a 65 in the Right lane. If I go to the mid, I go 60 . .
I guess I could be pulled over . .
"Good afternoon" I say.

"How are you sir. Where are you heading today?"
Were you Detained ? Were you free to go ?
" Why were you going that speed?"
You dont have to answer right?

BTW those Fish @ Death Valley are amazing!
"Over the past 15 years, at least a dozen people have died in
Death Valley from heat-related illnesses, and many others have come close."

'Death by GPS' in desert | The Sacramento Bee
http://bloggertobenamedlater.com/2011/07/23/the-grim-reaper-report-national-park-deaths/

Vegas $20 for a three day bus pass : Good deal.
What is it $3 for a one way?
Check out the Aquarium @ Silverton? It's away from the strip & its 2 stories high .

[font=arial, sans-serif]Silverton Casino & Hotel Las Vegas[/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif]www.lasvegas-how-to.com 500 × 362 Search by image
Silverton Aquarium Las Vegas[/font]

USExplorer · Mar 18, 2016

@silver: Six bucks for a two-hour pass (the cheapest) for the Strip routes. The residential routes are cheaper.

A couple days ago I took a bus through the sprawl of Henderson to Boulder City, the former federal town that Hoover Dam builders lived at. The town had a distinct small town atmosphere. When I arrived around 7 pm, the town was quiet except for a few restaurants downtown, which were full of chattering retirees. Nothing in the town center looked affordable. One bar offered free drinks any day the sun didn't shine. The numerous town squares and plazas had very green grass, as if there was no water shortage. I didn't find the town appealing and took the next bus back to Las Vegas downtown.

Yesterday was the big St Patricks Day celebration in the downtown. There was a small parade with a band of bagpipers who played solemn hymns and Irish dance tunes. There was plenty of drinking even at 11 am, although the town looked washed out under the strong desert sun. In a study of Vegas contrasts, in the shadow of the glamorous Stratosphere hotel lies a complex of rundown studio apartments--$119 a week rent. Down on the Strip (which BTW is miles outside the city limits) an afternoon crowd of shoppers milled around the massive malls. I walked into numerous casinos looking for a bathroom with cold water faucets so I could fill my canteen and ended up getting my boots polished by an old guy named Grady. Grady said he has lived and worked in Vegas since the '50s after leaving Monroe Louisiana, and of course things have changed a lot since the mob owned all the casinos. We talk for a while of my travels; I tell him he should do a little exploring himself around the country. He does not agree or argue but says he will be heading back to Louisiana to visit family soon. Then he is done, and I pay him eight dollars and thank him and head out.

I sit on the warm concrete of a pedestrian overpass like the other homeless people and eat a cold can of spaghetti and meatballs, then hop on the bus and take another route to the massive county library building. As I did not have my laptop I got a guest pass and used a library computer to find a church in downtown. Back to the "arts district" near downtown I am not surprised to find that no one is at the church at the appointed time.
Even the devout Christians are more interested in opening beers than Bibles on this festive evening.

The Las Vegas Hostel is completely booked for the weekend. I take the bus back to my truck and drop off my backpack, mainly because it was getting too heavy but also because the cops are trying to get backpacks banned at events on the city as a "safety precaution" and I didn't want to stand out with my very large backpack. By the time I get back to Fremont Street it is 9:30 and the party is in full swing.

All us cheapskates buy cans of beer at the convenience store; signs prohibit opening the cans on the street but such rules are neither regarded nor enforced here. Due to the drinking the crowd is much more lively than usual and each band (even the improvised ones) has hundreds of people around it grooving to the music. As I hadn't eaten in eight hours the alcohol went straight to my head. I don't remember clearly what all I did in the next six hours but my money didn't disappear so it was all right. I got back to my truck around 3 am and slept right there in the park and ride, waking up to roaring airplanes and blinding sun at 7:30.

Today I will be stocking up on food and moving on. Gas is California expensive here in Vegas, but I don't need to fill up yet.

OK people this is it. According to the Farmer's Almanac tomorrow March 19 is the first day of spring, the earliest since 1896. Winter has run out before my wanderings have. Some of you have been with me all 5850 miles and nine states of my journey, some maybe have just found this log. Regardless, thanks for your support and interest and I wish y'all Godspeed in all your journeys current or future.

I may create a new thread for the next seven weeks of my travels.

Sent from the Enterprise Library in unincorporated Clark County while listening to Pink Floyd's "A Momentary Lapse of Reason".

1940: I break my ban on selfies. Note: 12 gauge paper towel holder, rolled up tarp curtain, old squashed mosquitoes.