Wild West Adventurer ....part three

     Day four saw us up early to hopefully get a good shot of the Tower as the sun rose, but the clouds were being difficult again that day.  Our drive was not all that long today but we did have an unexpected stopover to get a slowly leaking tire repaired and a watch battery for JP's multifunction watch.  Long story, but after the watch just stopped working somewhere in Wyoming, we stopped in Casper to pick up a few things and a battery for the watch.  Needless to say they did not carry this battery at Wally World.  We found one in Rapid City, South Dakota at the Batteries Plus.  Thanks to the folks at Tires Plus for repairing the slow leak and to the folks at Best Buy for sending us to the battery store to get the battery we needed. 

     Along the way to Badlands National Park, we stopped at the Minute Man Missile site D9 at exit 116 and the Visitors Center at exit 131 off highway 90.  Next stop was Badlands which was just a short trip down the road. 

Important information.... get fuel (especially diesel) in Rapid City as the prices in Wall are about twenty five cents per gallon higher. 


     As we drove through the entrance to Cedar Pass campground the gal at the gate warned us of an impending storm.  We could see the storm clouds approaching.  It rained quite heavily for twenty to thirty minutes and the temperatures dropped about twenty degrees in that time.  But the sun came back out and things started to dry.  Met a wonderful retired school teacher from New Jersey who travels around the country in her Chevy Avalanche.  Had a great conversation and invited her to join us for the nightly Ranger talk.  After a bit, we decided to take a walk to the Visitors Center to get our National Parks Passport stamped and to look over some of the many things they had to offer in this park.  On our way back to the campsite we also stopped at the Cedar Pass store and restaurant to see if there was any item we just could not live without. 

     Since this was a no fire campground, we decided that this would be a great opportunity for some night shots and to also see what the Ranger talk had to offer.  Ranger Lydia gave us a presentation on the creatures of Badlands and it was great.  The night shots did not come out very well.  No amount of playing in photoshop was gonna help these shots!

A Wild West Adventurer - Trip to the Homestead Day 2 and 3

     Day two started out with a bit of wind.  Did I say a bit?  What an understatement!  Fought the wind throughout the remainder of Utah and through much of Wyoming.  Sadly, our planned stop at Independence Rock was spoiled by wind gusts of over fifty miles per hour.  You can imagine what this did for our fuel economy..... next few tankfuls were just over ten miles per gallon.  We very much want to go back to Independence rock and actually get to see the anmes carved into it.  Story goes like this.  If the early settlers left Missouri in time to get to Independence Rock by the Fourth of July, for the most part they were assured that they would get to California or Oregon before the snow would fall.  Since this is basically the only rock outcropping on this vast plains, they would carve their names into the rock to indicate they had been there. 

     But our goal for the day was to get to  Devils Tower which we managed after twelve long hours on the road.  You crest a hill and you see this magnificant piece of geology ahead.  A winding route to the park itself and we got what I consider the best site in the house.  From our folding chairs we could look right up past Prairie Dog Town to the Tower itself.  The weather did not cooperate for us to take photos at night, but it was still a great photo opportunity.  While planning this adventure, we decided that having a bike would be a great asset.  The bike adventure would begin the very next day.



     We awoke on day three and we decided that we would ride our new bikes to the Visitors Center.  We got there all right, but ended up walking about half of the way as it was so steep.  We did get quite a few comments from folks... "you guys rode up here from the campground?"  We hiked around the Tower and then rode back to the campsite.  But I must say, the ride back was great.  We also rode the bikes to the store at the entrance to the Monument. 

     Small side note:  this is the first National Monument in the National Park System.  If you do not already own a yearly pass (for those under 62) I suggest you invest in one. Contact the National Park Service to inquire about purchasing one.  Another great service they have at the parks is a nightly talk froma ranger.  Our first night there the talk was about climbing Devils Tower ... which is not allowed in June out of respect to the Native Americans.  Our second night the talk was about bats in the Monument and it was very informative.  It was off to bed for us for an early start in the morning.

JP and Laurie

The Cruisin Campers

A Wild West Adventurer - Visit to the Homestead... and other points East.

     Those of you that have been reading of our adventures in our Adventurer know that we like to just go and see where the road takes us.  This time we are doing something a little different.  We have a loose plan in mind for this trip as it's gonna be a long one.  Over three thousand miles in our Dodge Truck with our trusty Adventurer Camper.  This trip also brings on a new addition.... We are bringing along our new bikes!  Let's see how much use they get on this our first cross country trip or as I like to call it, A Wild West Adventurer.

     We started this journey on an early Sunday morning.... our goal, to travel from Reno, Nevada to South Dakota to visit the family homestead.  Our expectations were $4.00 per gallon diesel fuel and about ten miles per gallon.  We are back in the Adventurer for this trip and plan on stopping just a few times before getting to the homestead.  So let's get this Adventurer started, shall we?

     We drove as far as Rockport State Park outside Park City, Utah our first night.  We stopped along the way for a snack or two and lunch.  Our route this day takes along I80 all the way to just outsiode Park City, Utah where we will stop for the night.  If you are taking this route along I80, be sure to stop along the way to see what the area has to offer.  For example, you can go to the town center in Lovelock and place a lock onto the growing chain and "lock" your love.  We plan on doing this for our thirtieth wedding anniversary..... 

   We stopped in Elko for our first fuel stop and we got pretty good news... we were getting better than the anticipated ten miles per gallon.  Our next stop was even better with an average of over twelve and one half miles per gallon.  The campground at Rockport was clean and the host
very nice.  Our site was at the base of the dam and even as hot as it had been, the breeze was cool and refreshing.  We had our campfire for the night and seeing as the fire danger is very high in the west right now looks like it will be about the only onefor us this trip.  Weather report says wind in the morning, we are hoping it will not be too much wind.

JP and Laurie
The Cruisin Campers

The Adventurer on the Pony Express Trail

This is a short trip that we recently took from the Reno area to Fort Churchill, Nevada.  Along the way, we spent the night at the very small Dayton State Park – which was a bit noisy for the night.  Our goal here was to explore the Dayton area a bit to see if it was a destination we would like to return to.  It certainly was, as I will explain a little later. 

Dayton is not far from the Reno area which makes it a great stopping point as we left home on a Friday evening.  We took US 395 south to US 50 and headed east towards our first nights stop.  This park is clean and well kempt, but has the disadvantage of being right along Highway 50.  Now Highway 50 may be the loneliest Highway in America – but not on this stretch!  Lots of road noise throughout the night, but we wanted to see some of the surrounding attractions in the area, so this was a good jumping off point.  We walked up a small trail to a tunnel that takes you under Highway 50 and over to an old processing station for ore coming out of the Virginia City area mines.  This was an easy walk although it was a bit warm in the sun, be sure to bring sunscreen and a hat.  After we checked out the rest of the park, we loaded up and headed just a short ways back west to see the Dayton Cemetery and the Dayton Historic Schoolhouse.  The Cemetery was interesting and had several unknown graves – miners that did not have gravestones any longer… and there is also the site of the grave of the gentleman who is credited with being the inspiration for the name Virginia City.  The Dayton Schoolhouse is part of a historic walking tour and we will be sure to come back this way when we have the additional time to spend here.  Of note – there seems to be some controversy over whether the first settlement in Nevada was here in Dayton or in Genoa.  Both sides put up valid arguments and seeing as we have not yet been to Genoa to read the story they present, I am not sure it is fir to side with one or the other.  I will say that they do have in their possession a diary that references a family having a visitor to their settlement who was on his way… to establish Genoa – or at the very least he was a man of the same name…..

Leaving Dayton, we traveled east on Highway 50 and when we reached the Lahontan cutoff and go south on Alt 95.  Our final destination of this trip is Fort Churchill.  This place has a great sense of history and a small museum …more of a display than a museum but interesting nonetheless.  The Fort was built in 1861 to protect settlers from the local Indians.  Sadly, it was the settlers that were harassing the Indians.  You can read more about this part of the story on the State of Nevada website by using this link: http://parks.nv.gov/parks/fort-churchill-state-historic-park/ and other facts.  Named after Sylvester Churchill, the fort served as an important site for the Army during the Civil War.  Permanent structures of adobe were made, surrounding a central parade ground.  The Fort was abandoned and the buildings sold off to the highest bidder for only $750.  The State was offered the property and gained title to it in 1957.  While no complete structure remains, they are beautiful to capture at sunrise and sunset.  When we toured the grounds a thunderstorm was in the area so it made for some really great photos.

The campground rates are very reasonable and there are many shade trees.  While there are no amenities, if you are spending the night you are in for a great show from Mother Nature.  The restrooms are clean and the grounds are well kempt.  One of the things we love about camping in State and Federal Campgrounds is the ability to have a campfire and Fort Churchill does not disappoint. The night sky here is beautiful and is not too light polluted, so it makes for good photo opportunities.  The Carson River runs along the park boundary and there is also a train track nearby that is seldom used.  Close by the Fort is Buckland Station, this was an important stop for both the Overland Stage and Pony Express. They also supplied the locals with supplies.  The house that stands today was built from some of the ruins of the Fort after it was abandoned by the military.  Check the site listed above for opening hours of the Station and a brief video about Fort Churchill.  We were unable to tour the facility as it was closed when we stopped by.

I want to apologize for being so new to this that I have just come to the realization that I can also post photos here as well.  I am going to try and insert some into this story if I can figure it out.

Til we see you again, stay safe out there,

Laurie and JP

The Cruisin Campers 

Highway 49 - California’s Gold Country Part Two

Welcome back!  Sorry it has been so long..... we've been preparing for a mini family reunion - I say mini because four of my siblings are unable to attend.  But we are all working on trying to set something up here in the near future.  This is a trip we took in early May and I am just now getting to posting.  The one after this one will be chock full of things and will probably be a few posts.  So away we go on another Adventurer tale!

On our previous encounter with the California Gold Country we went from Vinton to Downieville in our Adventurer Cab over Camper, stopping at a few campgrounds along the way.  In this next segment, we will take you along for the ride from Nevada City to Downieville and head back home back through Sierraville.  A note here, if you are traveling through Sierraville and it’s time for lunch or dinner, be sure to stop at Los dos Hermanos – fabulous food and great service. 

We started out on a late Friday afternoon from our home base here in Northern Nevada.  Our first stop for the night was Snowflower Preserve a Thousand Trails ELS property that we are members of.  The park this time of year is pretty deserted… we only saw one other fellow camper.  He was quick to admire our truck and camper…. Which does not surprise me – we have a really great looking rig!  This was our first outing with our new bicycles and the new front hitch mount bike carrier.  This unit was purchased through Amazon and was pretty easy to install and the bikes ride rock solid.  We did not go too crazy on the bikes as we wanted to be sure we would get good use out of them before we dropped any serious money.  After leveling the rig, we detached the bikes and off we went for a short ride.  We could not go far as Snowflower still had a significant amount of snow in places.  But it was a nice little ride.  Snowflower at this time of year has only electricity for campers but does have water shed for you to fill your tanks if you choose to.  There is nice lodge for guests and has a stone fireplace and satellite TV if you choose to watch a show or two.  There is no store at this writing – winter was harsh a few years back and finishing touches are being made to the store for the summer opening.  Management has told me that it should open soon.  At the time of our visit they were operating on winter hours so staff was not on hand to welcome us.  They did leave a nice note explain where to camp and where to fill our tank with water etc. – one of the great things about this campground is its proximity to Lake Tahoe and Reno.  You can stay at the preserve and take your time touring the area.

On Saturday morning we headed out down Highway 20 towards Nevada City to Highway 49 northbound with a planned stop at Malakoff Diggins State Park.  A word of caution regarding this park and many others in the California State Park system… they may indicate they have camping but unless you go into reservations you are not able to determine if they are open or not.  While this park was of great interest to us, after traveling quite a ways to get to the location we found the campground is closed.  The State of California could do a much better job of letting the public know which campgrounds have been closed.  Nonetheless, Malakoff has interesting history and you should try to see this treasure before the State of California closes it for good.

Originally named Humbug by early inhabitants, the name was changed to a more dignified Bloomfield and changed yet again to North Bloomfield when it was discovered that there was a town with the same name in California.  A bit of a history lesson for you folks – Malakoff Diggins is considered to be the largest hydraulic mine site in California.  One of the remarkable things about the site is that this is where one of the very first rulings on environmental impact was made.  Hydraulic mining treated many issues for the towns and cities downstream and rich farmland was destroyed.  Even the great San Francisco bay was being affected by the hydraulic mining operation at Mallikoff.  The result was that the farmers filed suit against the mining operators and in January of 1884 hydraulic mining was ruled illegal in the State of California.  While there are few staff members at the park, they welcome your questions – even if it’s just to tell you that the campground is closed! 

From this site we headed back to highway 49 and found ourselves taking a slight detour to see the Bridgeport Covered Bridge.  This is the longest-span wooden covered bridge in existence.  The bridge was nearly destroyed in the floods of 1997 – but was saved and repaired.  It is currently closed to traffic and pedestrians with work being done to open the span in time for its 150^th anniversary.  This is a nice stop to make and read all the historic information along the way.  So after our slight detour, we drove back to Highway 49 and our gold country adventure.  There are campgrounds located in the area that are National Forest operations.  We found them to be clean and pretty well kempt.   With our plans to camp at Mallikoff dashed, we made our way to one of the nicest little spots I’ve camped.  There were pit toilets and no other services, but the campground was well maintained and we even were able to buy firewood from the campground host for our evening campfire.  After a good night sleep, we headed towards home.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, we headed back home via Vinton and Highway 70 returning through northern Reno.  Another great trip, with great memories added to our treasure chest.  Making California Gold Country just a little closer to completion.  Our next adventure along Highway 49 will take us so bound along Highway 49.

Til we see you again, stay safe out there,

Laurie and JP

The Cruisin Campers