As mentioned in a previous post, I spent the the night of T 15/W 16 Mar boon-docked at the junction of two roads near a mining area past the Gold Field Cemetery. No, I wasn't worried about ghosts; rather I was worried about the high winds.
Thought about putting 2 or more jacks down to stabilize the camper against the high winds, but it was too cold to say outside long. There weren't many radio stations on the FM dial, but I did receive the FM version of the only station I could receive during the day when I taught at Bishop Un HS: KIBS, Voice of the High Sierras. [Other AM stations began skipping in after sundown.]
The forecast for Mammoth Lakes north to Topaz Lake called for high winds, with gusts up to 100mph over ridge tops and gusts up to 70mph elsewhere. The forecast for the Tonopah area, where KIBS has some sponsors, said the winds would last until 8am Wednesday morning. Got 3.75 hrs sleep before having to get up to drain off some of the beer I had with dinner. But then I couldn't go back to sleep because of the rocking motion caused by the winds. [For you Santa Cruzans, think of it as trying to sleep while riding the Looff Merry-Go-Round at the BeachBoardwalk.]
Ate the earliest breakfast yet since I started traveling during the last third of Oct 2010: 6am. Rinsed the dishes in cold water because I felt the wind was too strong to light the water htr. [I don't leave it on overnight because the heater hasn't worked since the refrigerator was repaired to run on LP-Gas.] Then drove to the Goldfield Library, where I sent a sibling an e-mail that I was driving back through Tonopah and on to Hawthorne. [Didn't mention the lack of sleep since that might have caused excessive worry.]
Before I even got to Tonopah, which is c27 mi N of Goldfield, began to feel sleepy. But I discovered that if I turn the Hot/Cold knob toward Cold and open the vents, the cold air from outside on my legs did a fairly good job of keeping me from nodding off.
And the stop at Mina, where I learned at its only RV Park that the WiFi was satellite-based & cost big bucks, also served to keep me awake longer. Also made it through a few dust storms. [N.B. Much of the interior of Nevada was once covered by Lake Lahontan, with Walker Lake just north of Hawthorne and Pyramid Lake north of I-80 being the only remnants other than numerous salt flats.]
Drove though Hawthorne and noted that the older parts of the town where the El Capitan Casino and Joe's Tavern, also a Casino, looked much as they did in 1966-67. But the lot where the Hawthorne Club stood was vacant. I watched the dealer/part-owner deal seconds one time when there was a full table. [I want to say the table was filled with active-duty naval personnel, but note that the Ammunition Depot is an Army facility -- perhaps it was back then also.] In any event, I never played Blackjack at the Hawthorne Club again; besides, I was too well-know, especially at Joe's Tavern, so I took my "act" to Reno shortly thereafter.
At the far end of town were some businesses which were not there in 66/67: a McDonald's and a Safeway (though there may have been a smaller store in town) [Actually the food back then in the El Capitan Restaurant was rather good, but I preferred not to play there because of the "amateurs" flown in from Central California.]
The Library's WiFi worked well, but the one RV Park with WiFi, Whiskey Flats, didn't show up on Mapquest despite an address on US95 and Google Maps showed it half-way up Walker Lake, which I'd estimate to be 22-miles long.
Asked a librarian where the Safeway store was located (their Store Locator showed a store in Hawthorne) and she said just up US95 from McDonald's. Bought some things I needed such as bread, carrots, celery (which was $2.99 a head) and low-sodium garbanzo beans -- though I prefer Trader Joe's garbanzo beans in sea salt because of the taste and larger size.
As I drove out of the Safeway parking lot I looked up US95 and saw what appeared to be a business named "WH***** Something." Turned left instead and discovered that it was the Whiskey Flats RV Park. Cost was $24.75 without cable TV but otherwise a full hookup. The restrooms were clean and 1 of the 3 showers was the same kind which impressed me so much at a Motel 6 in Kingman, AZ. [I took showers all of my life using 2 knobs -- not one. Always seem to scald myself or get a shot of ice-cold water; and there was a heater that went on when the lights were turned on -- not an open barn door through which a cold wind could quickly cool off your hot bod after you stepped out of a hot shower.]
While I recommend the Whiskey Flats RV Park, if you're even tighter-fisted than I, there are likely some other older and cheaper RV parks in Hawthorne.
Links:
- Wikipedia article on Goldfield, NV
- Color photos of Goldfield
- History of Hawthorne, NV
- Brief history of Walker Lake & Hawthorne
W 16 Mar Actual Route: Goldfield - Tonopah - Coaldale Jcn - Mina - Hawthorne
Th 17 Mar Actual Route: Hawthorne - Fallon
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