About Me

The mountains are calling and I must go...Got the t shirt in Georgia one year and this is our calling! We'll see y'all down the road!

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Guess we know how to kill a day!


What a difference a year makes!  Aaron has grown so much, he
towers over his Mom and Dad..and he's only 12..Jacob 15 1/2 


While I was working on getting ready yesterday (Tuesday) Ken took a walk around the loop here at the campground and decided we needed to move.  Ok, no biggie.  So we moved a little further down the loop for a better view of Mt. Rose and it's nice.  I don't think there's a bad campsite here at all.  They all seem to have flat spaces for tents, great views and plenty of room. 

I made some eggs and toast for breakfast and off we went.  It was still fairly early so we headed for Meadowood Mall in Reno.  Ken was looking for a pair of jeans as most of his look like he changed oil in them. hahah...We headed for JC Penneys he didn't find anything but I got a new t shirt and fancy flip flops.  Then Sears was open so we headed there at 1100.  Weird they don't open until 1100 when the rest of the mall opens at 1000.  He did find a pair there and then we headed to Winco grocery store.  I love Winco, wish we had one closer than 90 miles, but it really does save you money even over Walmart.  By the time I finished there it was 1300 or so.  We headed straight to our favorite Chinese place in Carson City.  The Golden Dragon has great food, plentiful and cheap.  Most lunch plates are $6.25 including the best hot and sour soup!  

After that we came back to camp, unloaded the groceries into the trailer refrigerator and truck.  We then headed to Smith's grocery store in Carson City to get some beer, water and soda for the party.  Well, the only water they had was purified and we honestly don't like the taste.  I figure whatever is left from the party we'll be bringing home so we want to get what we like.  We don't drink soda so I got what the grandkids will like when they come to visit.  The grand total without the sale prices was $92.00, but with the sale prices I saved $42.00.  That's why we HAD to go yesterday, because that was the last day of the sale.  Still need to get some more beer and water.  

We didn't get back to camp until almost 1700..Guess we're staying another night :)  Clouds started to come in, wind was up and temps dropped.  Had a quick dinner of tacos.  

This morning we woke up at 0515 and decided it was too early to get up.  Ended up sleeping until 0615 or so and now with coffee, computing, blogging it's just about 0800!  Yeah, we can blow a morning.  

Yogurt, banana and grapes for breakfast and we'll get going in awhile.  We're heading home through Gardnerville so Ken can see about ordering a prescription at Raleys while I'm at Walmart hoping to get some water, beer and whatever else I decide I need..

Cool and cloudy this am.  Supposed to be about 77 degrees Friday night, perfect for an outside high school graduation.  Speaking of that :) 

Golden Sierra Seniors dawned their cap and gown early and headed for the 3 local elementary schools for "Grad Walk"..alot of these kids started in these schools and now have gone through 13 years there.  Adam is one, I still remember his first day of kindergarten:)...


Our favorite 2017 graduate!

On the bus..he's the one w sunglasses on..but look at all those smiles!

Adam and his cousin Mason..at Northside Elementary
Mason also started kindergarten there..

Adam and his Aunt Christina..she is a aide at Northside
so she sent me 3 of these pics :)


Grads being greeted by students at Northside Elementary

2017 Graduating Class of Golden Sierra High School...
Our next favorite grad of 2017...Adam's cousin, Ben.  He'll be included in the party Saturday.  When he was younger and we were in Colfax he spent some time with us and Adam.  He's the one we gave our Mazda camper shell to a few months back.  Great young man and headed for the Air Force in July :)


Ben Noyes...graduate of Del Oro High School


Sunday, May 28, 2017

Basketball in Reno...



Well, I think I might have learned how to load videos..keeping my fingers crossed these will work for you.  The three below are of our time in Hawthorne.

Bottom one is the Bartenders Race..

Yesterday morning (Monday) Ken says.."Plans changed, why don't we go to Reno and watch (grandson) Aaron's basketball game?!"  Our youngest son Russell and his family have been in Reno since Saturday and his boys, Jacob and Aaron have been playing in this HUGE 11 state basketball tournament.  They've done this the last 3 or 4 years on Memorial Weekend.  Thousands of kids and families pour into Reno for nonstop basketball games.  Jacob had one yesterday at 0900 so we knew we couldn't make that one but Aaron's game was at 1200. We were already planning on going to Washoe Lake State Park, dropping the trailer and then meeting them for a late lunch before they headed back to Antelope, CA. I ended up bringing the Patriot, because we knew we didn't want to be parking the Tundra in those Reno parking lots with thousands of other cars.  

We met them at the Reno/Sparks Convention Center and found court 15 for an hour or so of fast moving basketball!! So much fun and on top of that Aaron's team won so they are the CHAMPS in Division 1!!  Ask me what that means and I'm not really sure just that it's an awesome WIN!  
Love this look on Aaron!






Aaron making a free throw...



After pictures and such we found ourselves on the way to Great Basin for a late lunch. Had a great lunch and then we all said our goodbyes..love it when we can spend a little time with family!  

We came back to the trailer and then at 1700 the Nashville Predators were on for the Stanley cup finals against Pittsburgh.  They lost but it's the best 4 of 7.  Another fast paced game.  

A good night's sleep and now after computing, blogging, breakfast and showers we'll head for Reno and some shopping for next weekend's graduation party for Adam.  We may just stay another night here since it's basically FREE ($5.00 for my car).  We don't have to decide that now.  




Winner Winner!






The view from our campsite..




This post will cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning..

Tonopah, NV....a magical little town in the Nevada desert..makes a 61 and 65 year old feel like they're 14 and 18 again!  Dancing in the street until 2300 hours!  
Big Bill Murphy..sad story
This statue stands in town..Big Bill Murphy

Mural in the parking lot

Our hotel ..

Food vendors

The night started with the Bartenders Race..always fun!



Tonopah Liquor Company won! 



Art Jones Band, southern rock, very good!





The show opened with Shawn Williams..Great voice!










Loved his shirt...Ban Idiots, not guns! 

Friday, we left home closer to 1030 than 1000 but no matter we knew we had a 2 1/2 hour drive to Tonopah.  Stopped in Hawthorne to fuel up the Patriot and off we went through the little towns (if you can call them that) of Luning and Mina and then to Tonopah.  We got here close to 1300 and were able to check in to our room at the Jim Butler Motel.  

Before we left home, I went out to the trailer to look for something..and on our concrete under the trailer was this guy! AHHHHHHHHH!   He was a baby only about 18 inches or so. I jumped in the trailer and yelled for Ken..he put it in a five gallon bucket and took it out by the woodpile..YUKKKKKKK...he said it was a gopher snake, but I don't care a snake is a snake!!!  


It s a nice room 2 queen beds, frig and microwave.  Looks freshly painted and the beds are brand new i'm sure.  The a/c works great! 

So we put our stuff away and then headed to El Marques Mexican Restaurant and had a wonderful late lunch.  We've been there a few times in the  past but not in a long time!  

After that we headed out to just walk around town and see what's going on.  Stopped in the Tonopah Liquor Company and Ken had a beer (I had wine w me). They were getting ready for the bartender races at 1800. Such a fun event. 

We watched that and then it was time for music and dancing which we did until 2300.  The motel is right across the street from where the action is so we were able to walk to our room, get a drink and head back over.  Certainly made for a much cheaper night than buying a $5.00 beer (4 for the beer and 1 for the tip). The music was great, the people awesome and all the kids! Glad to see families out enjoying! I think the people who made the most money were the vendors selling Silly String!  It was everywhere :))

Back to our room and nighty night! 

Slept in on Saturday morning until 0730!  Got ready and  headed out to the parade (Be prepared for pics).  At noon is the mucking contest at the Tonopah Mining Park. 

The parade was nice.  I was surprised it seemed as though there really wasn't a lot of red white and blue..and now that I think of it there wasn't even 1 marching band...their schools ended with high school graduation Thursday night, but still you'd think they could put something together..but it was ok.  Hawthorne definitely was better last weekend. 

After the parade it was a little after 11 and since we didn't have breakfast we headed across the street to Hometown Pizza.  They have an all u can eat buffet (which we didn't). Amazing salad bar too. We ordered a medium Tonopah Combo which had all the things i shouldn't eat but what the heck.  It was delicious!  When we got there hardly any people there but it filled up quickly, with most ordering the buffet.  Surprisingly they kept up with at least 4 to 6 pizzas on the buffet. Impressive! 
Waiting for our lunch..

Tonopah Combo..looks like a really thick crust but it wasn't
except the outside crust...

After we ate we drove to Scolari's as they were supposed to have cooked chickens on sale so we figured we'd get one for dinner. They weren't on sale there, they were $8.99 which is ridiculous for a little chicken.  Instead, we decided we'd get another pizza and take it to our room later.  

Headed up to the mining park for the afternoon and watched the mucking events for a few hours.  Figured we'd go back to the room for a bit (which turned into a few hours).  We watched a movie and didn't realize how long the movie was, so we ended up leaving before the ending.  We caught some of the double jack which is always fun to watch.  










Gold panning was available..

The mom with the dark hair, by the little girl w dark hair..
Is the wife and child of our Nevada Attorney General, Adam Laxalt






During the mucking event..single muckers and double muckers
men and women's events.  Men fill ore carts to the top of the cart
about 2000 lbs of dirt to fill a cart.  

During the women's events we found they put plywood in
at halfway..so women fill 1/2 cart..about 1000 lbs. 


Our Attorney General, Adam Laxalt
He and his little family stayed most of the day after
being in the parade in the morning. 



A lot of people here to watch the competition! 


We walked over to the Mizpah as they had a local band playing "The Peavine Pickers"  It's definitely a family band and very, very good!  Not much going on in town so we picked up a pizza and back to the room.  
The Peavine Pickers


Sunday morning,  up about 0630 for coffee and computing.  I was trying to post the blog and load pictures but it wasn't cooperating. We were going to stop at the Mexican place on the home for an early lunch, but we ended up getting out of the hotel a little after 1000 so we stopped at El Capitan in Hawthorne for lunch and we got home about 1400. Tomorrow morning we'll head out with the Jayco back to Washoe Lake State Park for the night and hopefully meeting up with Russell and family for lunch in Reno.  


Warning: Parade Pics Below...
Theme was "Tonopah, on track for
the future"
















The belly dancing group was the only one i saw that followed the
them and I missed the float..It was a train




2nd Amendment float







These two were hilarious..guy and gal..




On our way to lunch...