There are times when even us vandwellers get a little stressed out...well I do anyway. J' always seems to handle himself pretty well in flustering moments...the same things send me into a catastrophic whirlwind of emotions and anxiety. Thank goodness we tend to balance each other out, haha! I think it may have been a handful of things that made me feel the way I felt today; being a dirty girl (no shower going on seven full stinky days), being at our destination but not knowing (quite yet) where we would be camping, things that happened to us once we found a spot and then having to deal with the rest of the day from then on. It started out a nice morning, we slept at Wal-mart last night. It wasn't too bad except I forgot how extremely bright those parking lot lights are...whoa! It's like someone shining a flashlight in your face all night...and the trucks coming in and out, but for some reason the noise didn't bother me. We got up, I walked the Bug and we got online trying to find where the B.L.M. land was that we had talked about a few times with Bob. We weren't really finding anything so we just hit the road and started watching paved to unpaved roads that went into the mountains and turned off on one and drove. After a few miles of driving on a not so great for your vehicle rocky, gravel road, we came to a conclusion this was not the road that Bob had been talking about.
This road would be way too rough to come in and out on a daily basis, so we turned around and went back toward the Albertsons. Since we were in town again, we figured we would look for water. We stopped at a couple of gas stations and saw they have air and water but for a fee. We thought we might as well get some here just in case we can't find a spicket or anywhere else to get it. It cost us .75 cents for 3 gallons of water. I guess we're not in California anymore Toto...we started looking for a better solution.
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Cheap Gas, Expensive Water[/caption]We drove back over to the grocery store and as we drove by the front of Albertsons we saw three Glacier water stands...perfect. The cost of the water there was .20 cents for 1 gallon and $1.00 for 5 gallons, much better. After we filled up our empties, we drove around the side of CVS where all the shade was and got on the computers to try to find where "this place" was. We searched and searched, I sent an email out to a friend and we found a place that we were going to go but it was still a good 28 miles away. Everyone that has been to Pahrump and stayed on public land said that it's only about 4 miles to the Wal-mart..we were missing something. My friend, twoknives, got back to me almost instantly and told us from memory where to go. Thank you girl!! We followed her directions and within minutes we were on B.L.M. land. When we were driving on that rocky road, we were about two miles away from the main road into the desert...only we were parallel to it. Finally we were in the land of the free! There looks like there's only one other person/group here (so far) but they are outfitted more with tents and forts, looks like they've been here for a while. We drove in off of the main road into the desert a few miles and found a great pull-off spot. To be further off of the road we pulled more into the desert then just the clearing that we pulled into. To get to where we were we had to drive over a couple of pretty small bushes...we thought we had done this so many times in Shaver with bigger bushes, it wouldn't be any problem. We parked and got out to take in our new view. As I got out, I heard a noise kind of like hot air releasing, so I listened at the hood of the van...nope not there. I walked to the back of the van and heard it even louder, looked down at the tire spitting out all of its air. We learned at that point that these "small, innocent" bushes were nothing to be messed with.
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Mean little bush[/caption]We were both glad that before we left 'home' we spent the money on a new pump, due to our older other one not really working that well anymore...good thing we were thinking with our noggins back then! This van and her tires, I tell you what!!
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Pump, pump, pump it up![/caption]We thought we would try to drive on the regular tire to the tire place that was only 2.1 miles away but by the time we got back on the main dirt road it had already spewed all the air back out. That's when J' realized that we had not only one, but two splits in the sidewall, so he put the spare on...and off we go to the tire store.
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Cheap tires, cheap water next door![/caption]We already knew the answer but asked them if they would patch the holes (most places will not patch sidewalls). We didn't want to pay for a "new" used tire so he pointed us down the road to another tire place...they were pretty much the same thing so we bit the bullet and drove over to Wal-mart for a brand new tire. We discussed that it would be better off down the road (literally) if we just got a new tire, with all of the driving we do or would be doing. We treat the van how any other 'normal' person would treat something breaking in their home. This is our home so we have to treat her with the respect she deserves, she takes real good care of us and keeps us safe. Cringing, we got a new tire and road hazard for it...wasn't expecting that $100 bill, but since we budget on the things we spend...we had it!
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...meh[/caption]I think at this point the two of us just want to take showers and call it a day! We drove back to the same spot...only stopping in the clearing instead of driving back off the road more, a much better idea! The good thing is...now we know not to trust the flora! We were finally able to take our very much overdue showers and it was a perfect day for it: No wind, sunny & warm, and no one is around...and if they were (with 'nocs) they got themselves a nudey show! haha
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Just call me Mentos[/caption]Now it's time to just sit back, eat something and for me, update my posts I've been slacking on due to travel and the chill the F* out already! I know Savannah won't have a problem with that... lazy girl!
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The definition of not a care in the world[/caption]Our new spot in the desert sure is different than anywhere else we've been or camped as of yet, but it's different in the most beautiful ways. It's a tad scary to me as well due to these holes in the ground...don't know if they are from rattlesnakes or chipmunks or both???
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Tons of them, everywhere[/caption]We took a very small walk but with the sun setting and not really being able to see where I was stepping I wasn't really into it...maybe tomorrow. And let me tell you about the sky tonight.....Holy Sunset Batman!!! I think it was Pahrumps' way of welcoming us because whoa, it was amazing!
And remember that one "red night sky" that I was showing you a couple of weeks ago??? That was child's play compared to tonight. Look at this true Sailor's Red Sky...
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Where are the Sailors?[/caption][caption id="attachment_1263" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Amazing[/caption][caption id="attachment_1264" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
It's all good[/caption][caption id="attachment_1265" align="aligncenter" width="225"]
Crazy clouds[/caption]I could add about 20 more pictures but I'm sure you get the point, haha. Isn't that the most incredible thing? Well it was amazing to us and I can't wait to see what the sky will hold for us tomorrow...as well as the rest of the day. I have a feeling Pahrump will be a nice home to us for however long we decide to stay here. I hope your day was not as eventful as ours but your night was just as beautiful.
PEACE
