Silver City RV Resort, Minden, NV to Duchesne, Utah – July 28-August 3, 2014

There wasn't much going on this week; Monday and Tuesday were spent at or near the Silver City RV Park. Temperatures hovered in the low to mid-90s both days, even though they started out cool at around 60.

My bicycle needed repair, so Tuesday we took it to “Big Dan’s Bike Shop” in downtown Carson City. The problem was with the rear wheel sprocket cassette/free wheel ratchet mechanism. As I mentioned last week, it would make a perfect stationary bike! Dan said he’d have it fixed by Wednesday morning. We made a couple of stops during our outing, to the bank, and to refill one of the propane tanks. That afternoon Hollee and Anastasia came for a visit and stayed for dinner. (David had a rehearsal with his band, Paul David and the Drivers, so he wasn’t able to join us.)

"Grandpa RV" and Anastasia. Cute, eh?

Anastasia smiling at me!

 Wednesday arrived and as I did laundry, Dick picked up my bike from Big Dan, and did a bit of grocery shopping. Afterward, planning to ride to Reno’s Hot August Nights on his motorcycle, he was unable to find a good 2-lane highway to Reno, (i.e., Old Highway 395), so he returned home. He still had a good ride through the north Carson City suburbs although it was quite hot, especially with long sleeves, long pants and the helmet…sweltering…

Here's Hot August Nights' tiniest participant!

Thursday was prep day for our departure Friday. Dick checked the tire pressure on both the truck and trailer, loaded the motorcycle on the back of the trailer, and emptied the holding tanks. We try to do as much as we can the day prior to leaving so we can get out at a reasonable time in the morning.

We had to have one last day with Anastasia and daddy and mommy, so we took one last ride over the mountain to have lunch with David, Hollee and Anastasia before going to baby school. We had barely turned onto Route 28 heading to Incline Village, when I spotted a rather large doe off in the woods. We’ve seen deer in that same area a number of times during our trips to Incline, but no other animal life since we saw the bear our first trip over. Baby school is always such a hoot, with 6 or 7 little ones (all under the age of 1) crawling or scooting around on the floor. And, there are always questions from the moms and dads on everything concerning care and life of a baby.

Anastasia loves the ball pit!

Anastasia stands up, sits down, stands up, sits down...

Daddy and Anastasia at baby school

Grandma and Grandpa with Anastasia after baby school
and before we leave

Arriving back at our coach mid-afternoon, we started chatting with neighbors Terri and Jon, whom I mentioned we met last week. Terri and I decided we didn’t want to cook, so off we went to Five Guys Burgers in Carson City. We didn’t realize that their regular hamburgers were double patties, and that their small order of fries was HUGE! Yup, we were stuffed, but they were sure good!

Thursday night's sunset taken from our site--beautiful!

Friday morning we were up and at ‘em by 7 a.m., doing the final packing and checking before we left. We were on the road by 10:15, after saying our goodbyes to neighbors and checking in at the resort office one last time. It was a beautiful day to travel, as we headed east with a destination of Elko, Nevada for one night. Temperatures were in the mid-90s, skies were clear with no wind, and for the most part I-80 was a breeze.

We planned to spend one night in Elko at the Walmart parking lot. We had stayed in the Cracker Barrel parking lots a couple of times, but never Walmart. Everything quieted down by about 9 p.m. so we were pretty assured of a quiet night. We had purchased a battery-operated fan, so that provided a bit of ventilation and ambient noise; and, the temps cooled to about 60 degrees overnight so we slept OK—sort of.

Arriving at Walmart about 4:30 Friday afternoon, we did a bit of shopping, and then decided on haircuts at Smart Style located in Walmart. They were offering a 2-for-$20 special so we hopped right on that! We both needed cuts desperately. Afterward, we walked across the highway to local eatery, Mattie’s Bar and Grill, for chef salads with home-made blue cheese dressing. YUM! There was a cinema nearby so we walked to it thinking that we’d fill our evening with a movie since we didn’t have hookups in the parking lot for electricity, etc. Alas, the movie we were hoping to see didn’t show again until 10 p.m.—way too late for these old codgers, so we headed back to the coach. The evening was cooling nicely, and we had parking lot lights so we sat outside and read for a good hour and a half. There were 4 RV/campers in the lot when we finally went to bed at about 9:30, and 9 or 10 when we got up Saturday morning.

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny; it was 73 degrees by 8 a.m. so we wanted to get on the road as quickly as possible. We had breakfast at Subway (inside Walmart), then headed out. We left Elko about 8 a.m. It was a good, long driving day, covering 354 miles, up and down mountains; the highest was Daniels’ Pass in Utah at 8,020 feet. Really gave our dually a workout! The transmission temp briefly hit the red zone!

The trip from Elko to Duchesne traversed such diverse terrains, from hills and trees to high desert sage brush; from the salt flats of the Great Salt Lake Desert (covering about 4,000 square miles!), to the high mountains in Utah. Mining of gold is the main occupation in northern Nevada, and we saw quite a few mines along the way. So interesting!

We arrived at Camperworld Lake Side RV Park near Duchesne, Utah around 3:30 Saturday afternoon. Our RV park is situated at about 5,800 feet in the high desert, overlooking 3,495 acre Starvation Reservoir. Open year ‘round, the reservoir offers plenty of fishing and water sports, with RV sites and campsites located around the perimeter.

Our site

Office

Clubhouse

The RV park is full of bunnies!

There are various narratives as to how Starvation Reservoir got its name. One account described a group of fur trappers stranded in harsh winter conditions, who survived by stealing caches of food from local Native Americans, resulting in their starvation. Another account tells the opposite story, with the Indians stealing, resulting in the fur trappers starving. Yet another story is of a local rancher whose livestock starved from meager grazing. The most believable explanation involves settlers in the early 1900s trying to survive along the banks of the Strawberry River, in what is now the reservoir. The settlers dealt with long and cold winters, their livestock often dying. The area’s short growing season was hindered by floods, hail, early frost, and other problems. They nicknamed the area “Starvation.”

Starvation Reservoir

Duchesne, Utah is located just west of the junction of the Strawberry and Duchesne rivers in the Uintah Basin of northeastern Utah. Native stands of cottonwood trees and willows grow along the river banks, while sage and rabbit brush fill the unirrigated mesas. Alfalfa is the main crop of farmers in the area. It boasts a population of around 1,700 in its 2.3 square miles of land.

Sunday we stopped at the Duchesne City Visitors Center to gather information on the area and what there was to see that we hadn’t already planned on. There’s lots to see and do in the area, which we’ll cover in the next blog after we’ve seen and done!

Adjacent to the visitors center is a newly built and beautiful Veterans Memorial, dedicated in May 2014. It was funded totally by donations. We were impressed.

Freedom eagle and liberty bell in center of memorial

Freedom Song at the bottom of one of the memorial walls

One of the things we did attempt to find was the possible burial place of Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, or as we know him, the Sundance Kid. Named the Wild Bunch, he and his conspirators went on the longest crime spree in the history of the American West. Sundance Kid eventually fled to South America where he continued his life of crime. Here’s where historians disagree: did he die in Bolivia in 1908 with Butch Cassidy in a shootout, or did he return to the U.S. under the name William Long, living and ranching in Duchesne until 1936 when he died. And, was it death by suicide, or did someone from his past catch up with him?

“Harry A. Long married Luzernia Allred Morrell in 1894. Whereabouts before 1893 and between 1900 and 1910 unknown. Thought by some to be Harry Longabaugh, “The Sundance Kid”, Long never discussed his origin and history with anyone and there are some obvious conflicts between the census records and his death certificate. The death certificate identifies his place of birth as Big Horn Basin, Wyoming which was not settled until after 1879. However, the outlaw hideout “Hole In The Wall” is located in the Big Horn Mountains. Also on his death certificate Long’s mother’s given name Ann is noted; Ann was also the name of Harry Longabaugh’s mother. According to Utah Death Certificate Long died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head “two miles east of Duchesne”, Utah.” 
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10717210

There are reports that the Sundance Kid is buried in Duchesne City Cemetery, just south of town, so we just had to locate his gravesite. We walked and searched the cemetery, and found only a grave marker for Harry Long with dates off by just a bit. Apparently his remains were exhumed in 2008 but no proof through DNA testing proved yay or nay on that claim. The remnants of his family in the area claim it is him. Just one of life’s mysteries…

This week we plan to see Utah’s Arches National Park, some of the Dinosaur Diamond National Scenic Byway, and of course, some of Duchesne’s County Fair which is held all week. Should be exciting times!

Thanks for joining us again, as we head east to Minnesota. There’s lots to see and do between now and when we plan to arrive August 20.

Hugs,

RJ and Gail