Another day at the computer, with Hubby doing a few chores, then reading the rest of the day.

Today was a day to catch up on work, so I spent the day on the computer and phone, while Hubby ran around in my truck, getting an oil change and doing some shopping. Otherwise, just another mundane day of living, which you can’t avoid even when you’re living the dream!

Topped off with fuel at a Safeway, grabbed some breakfast at Burger King, and hit I-40 eastbound. Originally had planned on going in the most direct route, but my GPS gave me an odd choice of going an extra 40 miles on freeway and saving 20 minutes of driving, or taking a long and squiggly route through the mountains. We opted for the long route, just to be kinder to the horses. We still managed to arrive at the State Park by about noon, and the line already had 4 or 5 vehicles in front of us! When we finally arrived at the office, we were told that the horse camp area, which doubled as a group area, had been reserved since I spoke to them, and the only thing left was an overflow parking lot with four corrals, though someone had already reserved part of it. No water there, of course, but since we had no choice, we took it. I had to do some persuading to make them not charge me for two complete vehicles (which would have made it $30 a night, ridiculous for a parking lot with no water!), but they agreed that since both vehicles were registered at the same household, they would only charge for one. Phew! We were directed to fill up with potable water at the day use area, which we did, then headed up the hill to the horse overflow area. Got the horses settled into 2 of the 4 corrals, then we parked the RV so as to take up the least amount of space so that our neighbors would have more than half the campground to themselves. Turned out to be a good idea, too, because when they showed up, it wasn’t just a small family, it was a HUGE family, with seven horses! The ranger came along and told us we had to put both our horses together in one corral (a tight fit, but they’ve had worse), and the family proceeded to fill up the other three stalls, plus put up another portable corral (well, not portable exactly, they brought pieces of fence and constructed a corral), and put the rest of their horses in there. Made this tiny area seem awful crowded! They then proceeded to spread out, with tents, RV’s, trucks, etc. until the whole area was taken over. They also asked if they could buy some toilet treatment from us for their holding tanks, which I gladly gave them (not going to take money for something like that!) Lots of kids and dogs, none of which were leashed (which amused me, as the first thing the ranger said to us, when Billy came out to greet her, was that dogs had to be leashed), so it’s not going to be a quiet weekend in any event. When I went down for horse water and to pay at the ranger station, I was told that we could move down to the regular horse camp on Sunday afternoon if we wanted, but that someone else had already reserved it for Wednesday, so we’d have to move out again then! To heck with it, we’ll just stay up there, so I paid through Wednesday and went back to camp. Got the horses watered and fed, then spent the afternoon listening to our neighbors’ radio before settling down for the evening.

Left the campground about 8:40 and arrived right on schedule at the hay place at 9:00. After some analysis, Bill the hay guy decided to lift one of his stacks and bring it next to the truck so we could drop them in, rather than try to pick them up from the low stack that he had already opened. An hour later we had another 15 bales of beautiful, pure alfalfa on board, stopped at the gas station across from the campground, and headed down the road toward Las Vegas. A quick stop at Subway for lunch, and we managed to arrive at the Mohave County Fairgrounds by mid afternoon, having passed by the Hoover Dam (been there, done that!). With the horses settled into a couple of covered stalls, we headed out to do our essential shopping, than managed to settle down for the evening fairly early. The fairgrounds isn’t far from the center of things, so we heard lots of sirens and activity through the night, but with earplugs in, we had a good night sleep.

Hubby spent time working on the fender skirt trying to make it look better, while I did a bunch of other mundane chores, including calling the RV dealer about parts. While we were out yesterday, we say a sign for Hay for Sale, so I called and discovered that just a few miles away are some fabulous alfalfa fields, with 100 lb. Three-string bales going for just $15, so I made arrangements to pick some up tomorrow morning on our way out. I really prefer the horses to be on grass hay, but it’s just too hard to find around here, and really not economical, especially since Clio has gotten so fussy now she won’t tough anything but alfalfa. She even picks out the grass in the alfalfa/grass mix I got, even though it is wonderfully green! One thing about alfalfa, though, it’s wonderfully efficient, one bale can last me nearly 3 days, as opposed to the bale a day of grass hay I would normally use. Got everything packed up for a quick exit in the morning before settling down for the night.

Set the alarm for before the crack of dawn, and dawn was just starting to break as we got up and ready to go. We had decided to pick up breakfast on the road, not even making coffee, so that we could get out early. Managed to get out of the campsite by 7:30, but ran into a glitch at the dump, which we eventually solved, but it slowed us down. A quick stop in Carson City to pick up breakfast before hitting the highway, heading east on 50 to 95A, then south. Roads were good, straight and pretty empty, and things were going fine until after we passed Yerington, when suddenly I blew a tire on the RV. This is the first tire we’ve lost on the Open Range, and it was probably because we didn’t empty our gray water at the dump this morning, a contributing factor at least. Fortunately, we happened to be right in front of a gas station (a rare occurrence on this route, so it was great luck), so we pulled in and got to work. Twenty minutes later, the tire was changed and we were on our way again. When we reached Tonopah about 100 miles later, I found a tire store that had a replacement, so while Hubby has getting lunch to go at a casino just up the road, I got the new tire remounted and back in place under the RV. We’ll mount it ourselves later when we have a little more time. We both finished about the same time, miraculously, and I grabbed my lunch and we headed out again, feeling relieved we had a spare again. The rest of the trip was uneventful, and despite all the delays, we still managed to pull into Amargosa Valley RV Park by 4:45. Glen the manager welcomed us, and told us that we could put the horses inside the fence around the residence, rather than putting up a portable fence. It was quite a large space, though I offered to put the portable corral inside to keep them from wandering too much, but they seemed to think it would be all right, so we let them go. Fed them, set up the RV, and since the horses had a safe place, Hubby decided we could stay an extra day to visit Death Valley National Park tomorrow. That prompted him to set up the satellite dish, which he managed to do just before dark, with a beautiful sunset behind him. Settled down for the evening, nowhere near as exhausted as we though we would be considering the long drive and the extra work of dealing with a flat tire. Guess we’re building up our stamina again! Won’t be long out of bed, though : -)

Spent the day doing laundry and packing up for tomorrow’s departure. Hubby decided to grease all the bearings on all the vehicles, and to check everything including all the tires. Unfortunately, our small air compressor had failed a few months ago, and we’ve had a hard time finding a replacement, but finally I found one at Home Depot in Carson City, so he ran down and picked it up, as well as filling a propane tank and doing a number of other errands. He got back, filled one tire, then went to fill a second tire, and the new compressor broke! He had to run back down to Home Depot again and replace it with yet another one, before getting back and attempting to finish the job before it got too late. Meanwhile, I did most of the packing, and in the end, it was a very long day, only just finishing up hooking up the vehicles at dusk. Finally settled down for the evening, not thrilled that it was such a stressful day, knowing tomorrow is the longest day of driving we’ve done in a very long time. Definitely getting into bed early tonight!