Left Tonopah about 8 am after stocking up on groceries and headed for Death Valley. I let the dogs out without leashes this morning in the desert. They ran and ran, Aki was just ecstatic , was a little worried when all I could see was black and red dots on the horizon, but when I whistled they came back.
Arrived at Furnace Creek around noon. RV’s as far as you could see. Didn’t join 49er’s since it was last day. Found a spot in the main campground (guess some people had left already) and parked it (backed in) beautifully after about 5 min of getting lined up. Then discovered both sides of me had noisy generators going full blast. The choice was to grin and bear it, offer to lend one of them my quiet generator or look for another spot. So in spite of the fact that I had already pulled the pullout out, I got it all put back together and after walking around a bit, found another spot that was quieter (not much chance of silence with 10,000 RV’s in the vicinity.) Nice guy saw that I was not a professional backer upper and offered to do it for me, Thank you, thank you…..
Met up with some SKP’s who pointed me in the direction of the solo group, and I went over and joined up. Nice people. Happy hour at 4 pm and met a few more and got invited to a Campfire at Texas Springs. Nice to know that there will be others on the road that I can say howdy too.
Big wind last night. The dogs were a bit nervous and the trailer shook quite a bit, but at daylight we were still right side up and the only thing missing was a chair bag. Will look for it this morning. Coffee with the Solo group at 8 am, Coffee cancelled due to dust storm. Very windy. Someone said that all roads to the north were closed and to the south at Badwater there was standing water on the road. Rain a bit today, maybe flowers later???
Nov 10, 2008 - Nice looking day today… I will head down to Pahrump to get repairs done to plumbing and awning. Love the fact that I can walk again without too much discomfort.

A Couple of Starts - But on my way

October 26 – Aki the wonder dog went missing, and after 3 days I thought my companion of the past 8 years was wolf fodder. After driving all over the countryside and total neighbourhood help I decided I would get on the road with the “brat”, Schatzie. Left Salt Prairie October 29 heading for Kelowna. Pulled into Little Fort about 830 that night and decided to stay till morning. Called Ingrid to let her know and was told that Aki showed up at home, tired and hungry but with no explanation of where he had been at 6 that evening.
Ingrid suggested I come on to Kelowna and her and I would drive back to Alberta to pick up the hobo. Thank goodness for good friends, the 2200 km trip took two days, but with both driving was not so bad. Aki was quite upset at the fact that we had left without him and let me know.
After waiting till the USA elected their first black president (Yes he can) I left Kelowna on Nov 5th. The Okanagan Highway was closed around Peachland so had to go by hiway 33. Ran into snow at the top but the road was mostly clear. Crossed the border without any problems at Osoyoos and got as far as Kennewick WA the first night.
2nd night after a day of rain and snow was at Jackpot NV behind the Cactus Pete Casino. $13 per night and wonderful hot shower.
Tonight – Nov 7, - at Tonopah after a days drive over the “loneliest road in America” – You can see that from the pics. Think I only met about 20 cars all day. Thank goodness no breakdowns.