CuRVWander

  Mid/Late October 2024 You read that right, I'm talking about camp TV.  That's when you have a campsite with a great view and can watch the comings and goings of campers, kids on their bikes and scooters and the constantly changing light on the desert and mountains surrounding us.  Just set out your favorite camp chair, grab a camera and let what is before you in. So far, thankfully, all the drama has been in the sunsets and sunrises.  The campers just doing their thing has been pleasant to watch.  The desert and mountains may be silent to the ears but they are loud to the eyes. Looking west over the Panamint mountains. That tiny white dot to the top and left of the tree is not a star.  It is the planet Venus.  Incredible how visible it is  even with so much light still in the western sky. Sunset casting shadows on the Funeral Mountains as  the moon rises. One morning I was between rounds and was catching a little camp TV when I heard some s...

  Mid October 2024 With training done we have a few days before the official opening day of the campground, October 15th.  With it still being uncomfortably hot we're just enjoying some downtime (inside under the A/C) and setting up things like our post office box, scoping out the General Store, giving the ice cream parlor a try and sampling the buffet that park employees have access to as well as a deep discount off the $29 rate. I know I bored everyone with my multiple postings about all the maintenance work that I was having to do but I'm going to have to chronicle some more.  We have been fighting toilet floor flange leak for weeks now, essentially ever since we left North Carolina in September.  We came across a Camping World in Tucson, AZ and I bought a new floor flange seal with the intention of replacing the old one as soon as we got to Death Valley.  Dreading this work mightily I finally got myself pumped up enough to do the job.  But like many of ...

  October 9, 2024 Today begins our first of two days of training.  We're getting fire hosed with lots of information and issued our radios, uniforms and given a large tote-full of a variety of things we will use doing our camp host job.  It's plenty hot, above 100, but not the temperature seen in my headliner photo.  However the two rangers facing the camera are our trainers. Training is taking place in a conference room located in the Furnace Creek Visitor Center.  The air conditioning is working great and there is a pretty good spread of snacks and drinks.  Even homemade bagels by one of the rangers. Furnace Creek is a large oasis in an even larger desert.  Death Valley encompasses a good part of the Mohave Desert as well as mountain ranges on either side of the valley.  All-in-all Death Valley National Park is the size of Connecticut.  While being famous for being up to 200 feet below sea level it also spans vertically up to more than 7,00...

  October 7, 2024 Today is the day we get to the destination that started our cross-country adventure, Death Valley National Park.  The truck, Chief, and 5th wheel clocked just a little over 3,000 miles as we meandered from campground to campground between Asheville, NC and Death Valley.  However, Cyndee's little hot rod, a Ford Edge with twin turbos, turned over 5,300 miles.  In addition to making the same trip as the truck it also served as our runabout, doing all the sightseeing at the 15 campgrounds we stayed at along the way. Chief with his 5th wheel and Cyndee's hot rod with her cargo trailer. We got an early start in Pahrump, again trying to avoid the heat of the day.  Fortunately we are having a little cooler start than our last travel day.  And another bonus is that today's travel time is barely more than an hour.  And it is pretty much downhill the whole way.  Pahrump, NV is at an elevation of approximately 2,700' while Furnace Creek, th...

  Friday October 4, 2024 We've departed Benson, AZ and the saguaro forests for our one night stay in Wickenburg, AZ.  This day is  about halving the distance between us and Death Valley.  It's plenty hot and we retreat indoors as soon as we are level and hooked up to utilities.  Our layover is in Desert Cypress Mobile Home and RV Park.  The main part of the park is set up for long term occupancy and we are in a block of RV pads that are outside the main park that is for overnighters.  Not cheap but fits our drive time and ease of access to our route.  We can cough up $70 for one night. Saturday October 5, 2024 Anxious to get to our last stop before entering Death Valley we are up well before sunrise and getting configured to travel.  We have a long leg today at nearly 5 hours of driving time.  Beating the heat is out of the question as it is nearly 90 degrees at 7:00 in the morning.  But we are getting to Pahrump, NV today come hell...

  September 28, 2024 Our report date to Furnace Creek, Death Valley is drawing near.  Just eight days to go.  But we've got some miles to go and sites to see first.  Number one after exiting Texas is Alamogordo, NM, the town adjacent to White Sands National Park.  Our last time in Alamogordo was about eight years ago and it was just a quick pass through on our way to White Sands.  This time we are staying in town at Boot Hill RV.  It's a pretty nice setup for a desert town.  It's flat, although roads and RV pads are dirt and gravel, nice landscaping, an onsite general store (strangely not open on weekends), and key coded entrance gate. Across the street, actually the highway, are two large pistachio farms.  Both have tourist attracting stores with trinkets and everything pistachio.  The pistachio ice cream was excellent! Worlds largest pistachio. September 29, 2024 White Sands is another park that has been some years since we last visite...