May
24, 2013
Washoe
Lake State Park
Carson
City, NV
There
is an old song that goes something like,
WHAT
A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES
TWENTY-FOUR
LITTLE HOURS
BROUGHT
THE SUN AND THE FLOWERS
WHERE
THERE USED TO BE RAIN
That pretty much sums up
how I felt about yesterday and how I feel about today. Yesterday “sucked”. I knew that living this lifestyle wasn’t
going to be sunshine and kisses everyday and there would be days like yesterday
that had me (just for a second) questioning our decision to be nomads.
When one negative thing
happens it is easier to just roll with the punches but when a series of events
occur like they did yesterday each hurdle is magnified. In retrospect, (sitting in my chair looking
out on a beautiful vista with a glass of wine) I can look back on the events of
yesterday, shrug my shoulders, and count my blessings.
And after putting things
in perspective there are many blessings to count. AND if I were to make a list of negative vs.
positives, the positives totally outweigh the negatives.
We set the alarm for 7am
because we wanted to eat and get ready to leave on a moment’s notice if by some
miracle we were able to get an appointment for today to get our fridge
serviced.
The first place Monte
called at 8am was Hohl RV Center located just a few miles from our current
location. He was informed that the
service tech would call us back shortly.
Not wanting to waste
time, Monte called the second place that shall remain nameless. The soonest appointment they could give us
was Wednesday of next week. When we
inquired about the possibility of being able to stay in their parking lot until
the appointment because we needed to be on shore power, they said they could
not accommodate us and recommended we stay at our present location until Wednesday. At $38/night it was not a very good recommendation.
We went ahead and made
the appointment just in case they turned out to be our only option.
By 9am the tech from Hohl
had not called so Monte called them back.
He spoke to Margo who also said the soonest appointment would be after
the weekend. But when Monte explained
the situation to her she said she would see what she could do and would call us
back.
We were starting to get
nervous because we hadn’t heard back from Margo by 10am and check-out time at
Comstock Country RV was 11. If we didn’t
hear back from her we would either have to move (our options were very limited)
or stay until Tuesday.
Margo called back a few
minutes after 10am and said that not only was the part we would need
in stock (Power Board), but that she was going to squeeze us in and that we
should come in as soon as possible. (WOW-What a difference a day makes)
The power board costs
$199 and the labor ran to $129. Monte
was confident he could have installed it himself. But it would have actually
cost us more money for him to install the power board because the repair was
covered under our extended warranty. So
we only had a $100 out of pocket expense for the deductable and the work was
guaranteed.
We were packed up and on
our way by 10:30.
After checking in with
Margo we took a ride to Carson Truck & Auto Repair because Monte wanted to
ask them questions about the tires on the rig because he has some concerns
about how they are wearing.
Of course they told him
they would have to actually see the tires to make an assessment. So we are going to bring in the rig on
Tuesday for inspection.
Our next stop was the
Carson City Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center.
It is located behind the Nevada State Railroad Museum.
We would have liked to take a tour but I was
concerned about where we would be spending the night and didn’t want to take
the time out for touring.
The clerk at the Visitor
Center was very helpful pointing out the many local attractions and
events.
I had noticed on the Nevada
State Parks map that there was a State park nearby so we took a ride there see
if there were any empty sites. I really
doubted there would be because of the holiday weekend. 
This is a picture of a “rock”
dog on the road leading to Washoe Lake State Park.
Washoe Lake State Park,
located only 5 miles north of Carson City, sits at an elevation of 5,029 feet. In addition to camping, the park offers
activities including biking, boating, water sports, picnicking and horseback
riding trails. There are stunning views
of the Sierra Nevada, Carson and Virginia Mountain Ranges.
The parks name comes from
the original inhabitants, the Washoe Indians who spent winters in the Washoe
Valley and summers at Lake Tahoe. The discovery,
in 1859, of silver in the nearby Comstock Lode of Virginia City brought
thousands of miners, loggers and traders to the Valley. It also brought Mormon settlers who
established a settlement at Franktown.
When the mining boom was
over in the 1870s almost all the towns were abandoned. Those that remained turned to farming and
ranching, gradually displacing the Washoe Indians.
In 1977, the Washoe Lake
State Park was established to preserve a portion of scenic Washoe Valley.
The landscape includes
wetlands and sand dunes and is abundant with wildlife including deer and
coyotes. The park is a bird watcher’s dream
with hawks, eagles, pelicans, great blue herons, ibis, and many other birds in
residence.
The guy manning the booth
gave us a campground map and waived the day use fee so we could check out the
campground. He had said we may find an
available site as the not so favorable forecasted weather had kept many people
away. Also in our favor is the fact that Nevada
State Parks are on a first come, first served basis. There are two loops, A & B. The B loop is and older section with smaller
sites more suited to tent camping or very small RV’s.
Loop A has mostly back-in
sites in varying sizes. We couldn’t
believe our luck- there were 5 sites empty that would accommodate our rig. (WOW-What
a difference a day makes)
I marked down the numbers of the empty sites. We made a second trip around the loop
narrowing down our choices between sites 12 and 15. We got out of the car at both sites to
measure the length and determined that my car would not fit in either one so we
ended up choosing site 15 because there was overflow parking directly across
the road.
We returned to the
entrance booth to notify the attendant of our choice. The fee was reasonable at $17/night. There are no hook-ups but there is water
available and there is a dump station just before the exit of the park. Each site has a table under a pavilion and a
fire ring. There is only one unisex rest
station with two bathrooms and two free showers. The rest station is in the center of the loop
with a trail leading to it from each site.The only bummer was that it cost an extra $5/day for my car. Most places waive the extra car fee when we inform them we are full-timers but the attendant at the entrance booth said it was out of his control. So we are actually paying $22/night. That rate is a bargain compared to the private campground rates in the area that average between $35-$70/night.
The rate is also much more reasonable than California State parks that usually run around $35/night.
When we were at the
booth, Monte noticed a stack of firewood and inquired about the cost. We were informed the wood is available on a
donation basis.
On
our drive back into town we received a call from Margo informing us that they
had received the go ahead from the warranty company and had already installed
the new power board so we could pick up the rig any time before their closing
time at 6pm. (WOW-What a difference a
day makes)
It
was 1:30pm and we were hungry so we stopped at Jack in the Box for lunch that
was located in the same shopping plaza as Walmart and Home Depot.
After lunch Monte dropped me off in front of
Walmart so I could pick up a few grocery items while he went into Home
Depot. The LED light on our Ryobi flashlight
wasn’t working and he wanted to replace it.
Home Depot really stands behind their products because they gave him a
new replacement flashlight without wanting to see a receipt for date of
purchase! WOW-What a difference a day
makes)
We
returned to Hohl RV Center, paid our deductible and transferred the perishables
from the trunk of my car to the fridge.
That
being said, my faith in human kindness was again tested when we tried leaving
the parking lot at the RV Center.
BUMBER
TO BUMBER Friday afternoon rush hour traffic on a holiday weekend. No one wanted to let us enter the road. I was in front of Monte so the second I saw
an opportunity I grabbed it and just missed getting hit by inches.
After traveling a couple
of blocks I called Monte to see if he had made it out yet. He hadn’t.
I was just about to go around the corner so that I could make my way
back to where he was and block the traffic for him when he informed me he
successfully made it onto the road.
I usually follow Monte
and maintain a highway speed of 60MPH.
He expertly backed into
the site. We only needed two layers of
leveling blocks to be almost perfectly level.
The wind had picked up
and I was already dreading the sleepless night of tossing and turning because
of the rattling of the slide toppers. As
we were setting up Monte noticed the fridge was not on. He pressed the on button and within seconds
we received the same error code and alarm warning we had gotten prior to the
installation of the new power board.
WHAT!
Before my stomach got too
twisted from nerves Monte got the fridge going again by pressing the off button
and then restarting the fridge. WHEW!
I was mentally and
physically exhausted so when Monte suggested a bike ride I passed in favor of
just sitting outside with a glass of wine and my book.
Monte rode down to the
beach.
He said parts of the trail are
challenging because of the loose sand near the beach.
This is a picture of the
campground from the beach.
The view from my chair.
When Monte returned, he
took a ride with his truck to the entrance booth to see if any of the firewood
was still available. There was one stack
remaining so he grabbed it and left a $3 donation. He told me he felt kind of bad leaving such a
small donation but it was all the cash he had on him. I told him not to feel too bad because we had
been hit with the extra car fee so it kind of evened out in the long run.
There is a nest in the
tree at our site. When I saw a bird land
on the nest I told Monte it was a Magpie.
He was very impressed that I knew that.
I debated, just for a second, about not telling him I knew it was a
magpie because I had read about them in the park brochure.
We watched as the mommy
Magpie repeatedly returned with food for her babies we couldn’t see but could
hear chirping away. What a good mommy.
Facts about Magpies:
Magpies are monogamous and typically mate for
life.
The male and female build
the nest together.
Only the female incubates the eggs and while
she’s doing so she relies on the male for food.
Both parents provide food
after the eggs have hatched.
As I watched the sunset
that song just kept rattling around in my head- WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES.
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