28th May – 31st May 2019
Tuesday 28th May saw us leaving New Zealand for the foreseeable future and returning to Las Vegas to be reunited with Big Dave and his near constant companion, the Tin Can. It had been 4 months since we had checked them into a large storage facility in North Las Vegas which also had a full service centre on site; a bit like a health spa for RVs. Whilst there Big Dave had a full service, and investigation of a recently developed coolant leak ascertained that he needed a new water pump. So this was replaced and a rusty battery housing was repaired too. Big D is a great truck, but like the rest of us, he is getting on a bit. He is a 2005 model and although relatively low milage for his age, things do need fixing and replacing as the years and miles go by. Also a bit like us. Tin Can had a once over to check all his seals. The putty/silicone type obviously rather than the fish eating, ball balancing type. That would be odd, and unexpected, I think.
After the usual tedious, but quickly forgotten, long haul flight across the Pacific and a short flight from San Francisco we arrived in Las Vegas in the early evening, technically 2 hours before we had departed. The date line never fails to bemuse me. We took an Uber to the north of the city where we had booked a single night in a hotel near the storage unit. Our driver was mighty excited to have a fare that didn’t involve a trip to The Strip and we were happy to be bypassing it too this time. Our hotel was still basically a casino with accomodation but we managed to resist any gambling urges and after dinner, a sleep and breakfast we headed over to collect the boys.
They were all ready for the off, looking shiny and clean, when we arrived at midday and after a quick supermarket stock up, we tackled the long and arduous 5km journey to our first night’s stop. (No need to strain a road-trip muscle on the first day…) This was a very utilitarian park where we had spent our last few days at the end of the last trip. It was purely a place to unpack and get everything sorted and ship-shape before we headed off. The park is situated pretty much at the end of the runway of Nellis Airforce Base, so for a good portion of the day it is both incredibly noisy and at the same time very entertaining (if you like that sort of thing) as the fighter jets take off in pairs at 10 minute intervals for their war-game sorties over the desert. I am sure that the infernal racket makes real-estate quite affordable in this part of town and one might kindly describe the area as ‘rough’. The park had super-max security, and we weren’t so much ‘checked-in’ as ‘locked- in’. Welcome to the other side of Vegas. The side where CSI is kept very busy if you know what I mean. But we did feel very safe behind our tall perimeter fence. A redeeming feature of the park was its lovely swimming pool, which despite the late afternoon temperature high of 95F/35C, was empty except for us. Weird.
The next day we were ready to get going for real and we hit the road. Our first stop was the popular, nearby Valley Of Fire State Park, only about an hour out of Vegas to the north east. There was a campground here with limited RV sites but as it was ‘first-come-first-served’ we weren’t sure there would be space for us. The crossed fingers worked, and when we rolled in at about midday, there was only one spot available which we gratefully occupied. It was an amazing camp with huge and secluded sites, great views and even wifi (for a fee). It was very warm, and so after setting up and having lunch, we did very little for the rest of the afternoon. We had plans to do a good hike in the morning, so laziness was entirely acceptable. The evening came and we sat in our camp chairs admiring the amazing views of the surrounding red rock formations as the sun set behind us, lighting them all up orange then pink. As it cooled we watched the younger of our fellow campers emerge from the shadows of awnings and air-conditioned interiors to clamber over nearby rocks and boulders like ants, on the quest for a great photo. And the older folk? More sense, and probably onto the 3rd G&T by then already.
The name ‘Valley Of Fire’ was a clue that this was to be a hot place, but after our adventures of camping in sub-zero temperatures only a few months ago it was a bit of a shock to the system. All the windows and vents were open, the fan was on, no covers were needed at night. Internal moisture control? Who cares? Insulating blankets and covers up over the windows and doors as darkness falls? No Sir-ee! And summer hasn’t even really started yet.
Fact: Nevada is the most mountainous state of the lower 48, with over 400 ranges, and 40 peaks over 10,000ft in elevation.
In the morning we got up early to do a hike before it got too hot. We set off on foot from the campground at 8am with 3 litres of water and a camera and tackled a trail called ‘The Pinnacles’. This crossed the valley floor and wound up behind a ridge to some small….you guessed it…pinnacles. These were made of the same red rock as at our camp and the trail went right amongst them. It was stunning. We walked for 10km in total and didn’t see another soul, except this little fella.
Nice to have a private trail. By the time we got back it was only 11am, but already very hot. That may have been the reason for the solitude. What they say about mad dogs and Englishmen is often so true. Another lazy afternoon sat reading in the shade led seamlessly into another sunset, some beers and a BBQ dinner . Camping is a lot more fun when its like this.
