parked next to grass!

Our time in Ely was great, especially staying at the Casino for $15 a night, that included 2 margaritas, indoor pool and spa, and the cheapest laundry machines I have come across yet.  This morning we left with the rest of the northbound snowbirds and after a long day of wind free driving, we are now located in Mountain Home, Idaho.  This is the first time since 7 Feathers RV Park last November that we are parked next to grass.  In fact, this park is set up much the same as 7 Feathers with the roads and RV pads, but just not quite as nice.

If we get our butts in gear early in the morning, we hope to make it to Pendleton and meet up with Russ and Donna.

Northern Nevada Railway

Don here today.  This morning we took a brief tour around the town of Ely, Nevada and checked out the new Post Office, a small quilt store downtown and some old houses and architecture.  After a good lunch at the Train Cafe, Kim returned to the RV site at the Prospectors Casino to do laundry, and I returned to the Northern Nevada Railway Museum and yard for a personal tour with Bob ( yes another Bob!).  The personal tour was $9, and he would show me all the equipment, building and yards for whatever time I needed. Great Deal.  Man, there was a lot of rolling stock and it was pre-1900 to about 1950.  There were spreaders,  Coal Fired rotary snowplow, auxiliary crane, passengers cars, cabooses and even a passenger car from the Grand Trunk Railroad. Locomotives: electrics, diesel electrics, steam.  Two of the steam engines were operating and two of the diesels  both in use for their excursions.  Sometimes they even run a double headed steam train!  Bob says the rail buffs really like that.

Operating Coal Fired Steam, doing scheduled maintenance till Memorial Day weekend

I only took a few pictures, Sam.. so that you will be curious enough to put it on your to do list!  They also have complete locomotive and car repair shops.  It was a huge amount of rolling stock and trackage, restored buildings.  You can easily spend a lot of time going over it all. The volunteers are more than happy to answer questions and give out information about their operation.  Yesterday I saw Shelby race cars being built to order, and today old steam engines!

Steam engine running on tomorrow's excursion

Oh yes, Kim got the laundry done and I didn't even have to help fold as it was all done by the time I got back. Good timing, she said.

Shelby Land.....drool

Time to leave the Vegas area and start the long trek homewards.  It is just too hot.  We have no power hookups at Lake Mead, so no A/C and it was fairly uncomfortable sleeping with no breeze. We left Lake Mead through the Las Vegas Bay park entrance, which saved time and no long drag up to Boulder City through to the other side of Vegas.  So, a quick trip through the city and a fuel stop at the Vegas Motor Sports Speedway area, and wouldn't you know it, we were 2 minutes ahead of time for a factory tour of the Shelby plant. Whoo hoo.  There were pictures allowed in the museum, but none on the factory floor. We toured the Shelby side with the racing cars being built, and then the Shelby Ford GT's being built in another part of the factory. 

The Shelby 1000 could be ordered today if we wanted ... the package msrp was $ 154,995, not including the base vehicle. You have the option of driving it yourself off the factory floor. ( Shelby performance 1000 Horsepower fuel system included ). If the package for this vehicle still isn't enough, even though they are hand built, you can customize your car further.

So, we signed our names.  Scared you.  We signed our names on the factory wall. Cool!

Now spending a couple of nights at Ely, Nevada so that we can visit the Nevada Northern Railroad Museum tomorrow.

long touring day

Up and at'em early this morning with a hamper/cooler bag packed with cold drinks, some ice and we were off to Pahrumph, Nevada.  Not much to see there, except a nice drive up the hills west of Las Vegas. So, change of plans.  The small city had a very nice Albertson's grocery store and we purchased some sandwiches and threw them in the bag to continue onto Death Valley.

HOT!  The truck computer was telling us that it was 34C at the Interpretative Centre, and our GPS let us know that we got to -280 feet below sea level. Whoo wee. What an impressive valley.  Our route ended with us going up the valley to 4300 feet and out to Beatty, Nevada and then all the way back to Vegas via 95.  A long drive.  More interesting was area 51. Black vehicles way in the hills, probably watching.

And then we hit the north end of Vegas at rush hour, which resulted in 1.5 hours to drive through the city. Still a good touring day, even with that. Nice to see diesel prices drop as well: 3.99/gal

lake mead

We had a great drive yesterday, with the new brake magnets working well on the 5th wheel. Way better! It was a long pull up out of Laughlin, then an easy drive up to Boulder City.  Last year, we noticed some trucks and construction equipment in the middle of nowhere on this highway.  This year, a beautiful, amazing Nevada Tourist Information building with awesome picnic spots has been constructed, however, it was not open as yet. Well done, Nevada!

Presently we are located in Lake Mead National Park at the Boulder Beach campground, having met up with our friend, Bob.  The birds are mating and very loud and it is quite lovely.  Well, maybe it is because the weather is wonderful! There was no problem getting a spot on a Sunday afternoon, after the weekend campers had left.

Bob mentioned something about possibly going into Vegas today.