Sept 10th to 13th - Pine Grove to Pahrump NV

Sept 10^th – Mon – Pine Grove

I caught up the blog & email and put a pork roast in the crock pot before we left for the casino.  We gambled (Terry bailed us out with a well timed bonus on an “Alice” machine), had lunch and then started looking for Larry, Julie & Neal.  Judi had to leave early to go to a funeral and wouldn’t be back until dinner time.  Finding the others was more difficult as our phones had no signal in the casino.  We finally found Larry & Julie and then Neal showed up.  We all gambled a bit more and then headed back to the RV park.

We set up chairs in the shade and had a drink.  I packed up the roast and a few other items and we went to Neal & Judi’s for dinner.  Judi mentioned a couple of times that she wanted to use up leftovers so we added her leftovers to my food and brought out paper plates & red Solo cups for  an easy dinner.  Judi arrived home just before dinner was ready and we managed to keep her out of the kitchen.

We didn’t stay too late as we didn’t sleep well last night and will be leaving tomorrow.

Sept 11^th – Tues – to Hawthorne NV

Terry used his new air compressor to top up the 5^th wheel tires before we left this morning – nice!  We went west & north for a bit to hit Hwy 50 and head east.  There are hills all over so roads are squiggly and don’t always go in the direction that you want to go.  We also went a few miles in the wrong direction to hit yet another casino – Red Hawk.  It is a huge hotel & casino in the middle of nowhere – actually 7 miles or so from Placerville so might as well be the middle of nowhere!  There was bus & oversize vehicle parking along one side of the building and when we parked there were only 2 buses & one truck parked with us.  When we left after having lunch, the entire side was filled with busses and there were more busses in a lot further away.  The casino was really busy.

I changed our intended route several times before deciding we had to go to Minden or Gardnerville for diesel.  When we fueled up near Pine Grove, the pump shut off at $100 and Terry left it there.  We had traveled over a lot of hills and expected quite a few more so didn’t want to run on the bottom of the tank.  In Gardnerville we ended up through town without being able to get into a station with diesel and had to turn around to get into a station on the other side of the road.  We finally got headed out and passed a large, accessible station about a mile past where we turned around!  We took 395 south back into California and then 167 east to avoid curvy roads.  It added about 16 miles to the trip but the roads were great and traffic was light for an easy drive.  It was a long day though and Terry was happy to be pulling into the casino in Hawthorne about 7 to dry camp for the night.  I made dinner and then read while Terry went for a walk and visited the casino for a bit. 

Sept 12^th – Wed – to Pahrump NV

We started out with a flat tire this morning.  When I stepped out of the 5^th wheel, the bottom step seemed low to the ground so I turned around and saw the flat tire that Terry had just noticed on a tour around the rig in preparation for leaving.  Terry emptied his pressure tank (no electricity to fill it again) into the tire so the axle was higher and easier to get a jack under.  We had it changed is a short time and headed south.  Terry had seen rain reported in this area yesterday but it was clear & warm when we arrived and when we left.

We got diesel in Tonopah and breakfast there at McDonalds.  From a previous trip we remembered that a big new service station at the north end of town had the highest prices.  Sure enough, today diesel was $4.89 and we got it a few blocks away at a small station for $4.35.  At the other end of town it was $4.79.

We are staying at the same park here that we have used before only now it is named Lakeside Casino & RV park instead of Terrible’s Lakeside.  The Nugget bought this property and one in town (now Gold Town) last spring.  For a while we thought a tree was going to block our TV dish but it kept searching and managed to lock onto the satellites. 
There is no cable here so we might have been moving to a different site!  We are not used to setting up the dish and forget to ask for a site that is not obstructed by trees or signs.

I made a late lunch and we went looking for an RV supply store to find out about a motor for our front jacks.  We also got a tester to make sure the motor was getting electricity before replacing it.  The wires tested out OK so Terry went back to the RV store and ordered the motor as it is accessible and looks fairly easy to replace (!!!).  While we were out we also got our tire fixed.  There is a small crack in the rim so Big O Tire put in a tube and gave Terry the phone number of a place in Las Vegas that welds rims. 

After the running around we went to the casino which is just across a road and a small parking lot.  We played for a long time before calling it quits.  In fact we missed dinner and it was too late to worry about it when we got back. 

Sept 13^th – Thurs – Pahrump

It was hot here yesterday but the night cooled down enough that we turned off the AC and opened windows to sleep.  After breakfast, we took the truck to a car wash where we were going to use the wands to wash it.  We saw a car going through a “touchless” machine and did that instead.  We still had to wipe it all down afterwards and scrub bugs off the front but I think it was less work than the first option.

Then it was time for visits to a couple more casinos.  At the first one, I couldn’t do anything wrong.  I didn’t win too much but gave money to Terry and still came out ahead.  We stopped for some groceries at WalMart and came back.  We relaxed with a drink and then went for an early dinner at the casino right here.  Terry had a dinner with a full slab of baby back ribs for $9.99 so he was in pig heaven.  I had the buffet which was a Mexican theme and ate quite enough too.  We still hadn’t had enough gambling so played for a while after dinner and then came back for TV & blogging.  Our gambling here hasn’t cost much as yesterday I got $30 free play and Terry got $40.  Today Terry got another $25 and also a bottle of wine.  We used points on our cards to totally pay for dinner.