Heading for the Barn - Back to CA

We closed up the AZ home on Wed 8/13 about 10:30 and headed back to CA.   Las Vegas was our home the first night out so I could meet (in person) my ladies pickle ball partner (Dee Eadie) for the Nevada Senior Games and the Huntsman World Games in St George in Oct.  We had chatted and e-mailed but never met in person.  Soooo, she picked me up at the Fiesta Hotel at 8:45 a.m., and we went to a great club and played indoor pickle ball for a couple of hours.  Tooooo hot to play outdoors in LV this time of year.  We did great together, and had lots of fun - so we’re ready for our 2 tournaments (which will be played outdoors) in October.  Next stop Tonopah NV.  Don stopped for 10  geocaches and I spent my time doing the photography along our circuitous path home.  The tail end of our  "AZ  monsoon" brought delightful clouds and outrageous color thru the area as we traveled N and NW.  Hope you  enjoy the ride as much as we did!!!

See what I mean...

A look up at the beautiful bridge on Hwy 95, from
 Burro Creek Camp Ground, 25 miles south of LV. 

Outrageous on behalf of the photographer...

Outrageous on behalf of the geocacher...

Again on behalf of the geocacher, North of Kingman AZ...
we visited Chloride a few years ago... a fun adventure.

Thank goodness for that 46x zoom lens - otherwise you would
have been staring at a "water dot" that was a part of the CO River.

More beautiful, colorful and interesting rock/mountain formations

as we head from LV to Tonopah NV

Amazing that you can capture this flying by at 65+ mph 

Goldfield NV - my favorite photography area

Love those ole mining headstands...

We were got between 26 - 30.2 mpg in that (Nancy's) red SUV.

 

Incredible great old buildings...

The restoration has begun on the Goldfield High School which
was in operation from 1907 to 1953 - google it.  Fascinating!!!

More stunning  hills

and mystery colors...

We stayed at Tonopah Station (Tonophah NV) - back view shows how the hotel
 elevation "graduates" every 4 or 5 rooms due to the lay of the land.
Loved it... we'll stay again on our way to AZ.

And yes, a room with a view to the east.

More beautiful, colorful hills and even

a geocache the next day "a day at the beach" along side
a now defunct salt flat lake and salt processing mine.

Don had to back up because he didn't want to get stuck and
yes, he did find the geo...

Walker Lake - Hawthorne NV is receding, but is a favorite
place of mine to look for great white pelicans - none today... 

but the light made it magical...

and Don made one more find, a total of 10 for the trip!!!
Not bad since he did most of the driving.

That sums it up as we've included many photos in previous
blogs from Walker Lake thru Reno, over Donner Summit, etc...
Home safe and sound about 4:30 p.m. on Fri Aug 15th.

High Peaks - High Elevation & High Temperatures…

My hiking group was suppose to hike in the high Sierra's on Tuesday after the campout, but we cancelled it due to high temperature forecast.   However as Don and I made a mad dash for AZ on Aug 5th we encountered light rain and 48 degree temperatures as we passed over Donner Summit at 8:30 in the morning!!!  

Why AZ, you might be asking.  Well, after weaving and gathering a variety of "treasures"   that we wanted to take to our winter home,  we determined it was the time to make a quick trip down since there wouldn't be enough room in my Hyundai SUV to cram all the stuff we wanted to take during our normal winter relocation run in Oct.

We headed to Reno and down Hwy 395 (one of our favorite routes-which isn't suitable in mid-winter with a 5th wheel). Then it was thru some new country as we entered Ridgecrest CA, where we spent the night. A beautiful drive so put it on your bucket list sometime.  And some interesting things to see next time in the Ridgecrest area, when it's not 98 degrees!!! 

Day 2 of the 940 mile trek wasn't  too exciting as it was all "re-runs"... across Hwy 58 to Needles CA, south on Hwy 95 to Blythe Ca and East on I-40 to arrive in Phoenix AZ at rush hour.  However, Don did a little geocaching and we both enjoyed the 26 mpg instead of 12, and especially the ease of driving a smaller rig.

We're coping with the daily temperatures (lows 82-85 and highs between 102-107)  In the next few days  the highs will drop to the upper 90's  Lots of A/C running around here.

Art work (bald eagle) decorates the Hwy 50 by-pass

as we travel thru the Carson (Carson City NV) Valley,

Minden and Gardnerville.

The clouds start to lift revealing the mountains to the West.

Back into CA & across many summits - Devils Gate, Conway (8138')
& Deadman (8041')

Before Mono Lake to the West, a series of very high mountains
start to appear thru the clouds....

as well as remains of early settlers.

is a large, shallow saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in a endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake. These salts also make the lake water alkaline.

Tufa formations (calcium carbonate) decorate the shallow waters
where Don and I have kayaked in the past.

Mt Lyell, Red Slate Mtn, Mt Abbot

Mt Tom and 

Mt Powell all top out at over 13,000'

Before we pass Mt Palisade at 14, 242'

and other peaks all over 14,000' that surround
Mt Whitney 14,491 - the tallest peak in the lower 48.

The Mountains to the East also provide a beautiful site.

On Day #2 we take a side trip to

Amboy Crater which is a NNL (National Natural Landmark)
near Historic Route 66 near Amboy & Hwy 40 in CA.

A young cinder cone that erupted  about 10,000 years ago.

No hiking today, too hot, but this would be a great stop in the Spring.

As we left the area, we found several of these about 200 yards
off the highway... on the south side.  No clue!!!

Other interesting formations. and 

time for a little geocaching on Hwy 95 (still 98 degrees)

Ocotillo leaving out in this heat!!!!

Almost there...  Phoenix

Gold Canyon AZ - and our 

Winter home in the summertime!!!

The Century Plant in our back yard gets ready
to bloom next to the beautiful Palo Verde Tree.

AHHHH, not it's time for bourbon and wine...