When we published the last issue on March 21st, we were understanding that we could stay there for another 30 days. Well----a few days later there was a leaflet on our windshield(and everyone else's windshield)that we had to leave within 24 hours. Thanks for the advance notice-not. The workers in the park totally understood. It was a dry camping spot. There were bathroom cleaners, but no other maintenance needed. The directive , of course, was from the National office. Felt bad for the workers because they received the same notice as a layoff happening immediately.
Everyone in the campground was scrambling to decide where to head and what campground might be open. We decided to head to BLM land above Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The state park was closed, but the dump station and water were supposed to stay open.
In the parking lot and driving around the area was this 1956 Morris Minor 1000. Rarely see any of these.
This is a web picture of a 1956 Morris Minor 1000 , two door traveller. For sale for about $16,500.
A picture from the Marina dock . The campground is a ways behind the trees.
We actually got more than 24 hours. We were leaving the next day and a camper let us know that they were allowing campers a few days to make plans and then everyone was out. We did go to the office to get our one day refund. But when the office was closed, we decided we would stay one more day.
Such a simple move to head west and north on small roads to the BLM spot. Not so simple. They had the road closed that went through Lake Mead Recreation Area(west shore) Route 167. So, of course, we had to backtrack and drive through Las Vegas on Route 515 to Interstate 15 north. A few glimpses of the strip and the Stratosphere Pod above. Stay at home was in place for Las Vegas, but you couldn't tell from the number of vehicles on the road.
Ah-h-h-!
We. find a wonderful spot on the BLM Land, Snowbird Mesa, just south of Overton, Nevada. About 50 miles north of Las Vegas . Our trip turned out to be about 200 miles.
The BLM land is huge here. Room for more than 100 RVs. Nowhere near that many, probably because of the Covid 19 shutdowns. There is no water, electric, dump station, or bathrooms here. And the cost is zero. We called when we arrived, to Valley of Fire State Park and they said the dump station and water were open. Cost would be $10. So, we thought we were good until we knew what was happening in camping. We already knew that our Escapee membership parks were full and not taking any new campers. Corps of Engineer Parks were closed. National Parks were closed. And many State parks were closed for camping as well.
One for Bailey. A Westfalia on the edge of the Mesa with a snow covered mountain for a view. Not too bad?
A picture with the Canon out our window of the snow covered mountain. The mountains mean that clouds can gather quickly and be quite dark at times. Rain too.
Jan is enjoying our walk over to Poverty Flats Mesa. A good deal of walking area here. This Mesa is also not full.
The video above is from Snowbird Mesa. At the beginning you can see the small town of Overton in the distance.
The small plants are beginning to blossom.
The video above is from Poverty Flats Mesa. The separation between RVs is huge. A good thing for Covid19 protection.
Unfortunately, as fulltime campers, it is necessary to make trips to the grocery store, a dump station, a laundry, and a gas station.
Speaking of dump stations. we headed out at our normal interval to use the dump station at Valley of Fire. The road was closed! Thanks for that update too. Yes, we were told by the park that it was going to be open. But, we guess, the state decided that it had to be closed. Luckily , a local RV repair owner found out about that and posted a note at the BLM land that they were available to offer their dump station and water in Overton. They posted the note on that same day that we needed it. They were very nice . Cal's Repair Center in Overton, Nevada. The wife was on the town board and had argued that RVers on the Mesas would have no way to empty or have water. They were not listening , so she opened their business dump station. The alternative was a 60 mile trip . She was going to try to convince the state to reopen the park dump station. We are so thankful!
As of now, 40 of the 52 states have closed their state parks to camping. Utah, for instance, has state park campgrounds open, but only for local residents. Some KOA campgrounds are either closed or limiting a one night stay. National Park campgrounds and National Forest campgrounds are mostly closed. Private campgrounds that we have contacted so far, are reluctant to have RVers stop in because they are afraid of the Covid19 virus.
In a sense, we fulltime campers , are now a pariah of sorts to the campground industry. Hopefully we can stay here until May 1st at least and then see what is available.
Sheltering in place is okay for us, but we do need a spot to be able to shelter in place.
We thank many of you for signing on to that petition to keep parks open. As you might realize, that petition died with the national and state closures.
There are over one million fulltme RVers. Hopefully, they have found places to be.
Yes!! This is a real picture with our Canon. It suddenly appeared and we had just enough time to grab the camera. The sun was setting behind us--not behind the mountain. The light was catching in the clouds and highlighting the snow covered mountaintop. The kind of picture you just cannot plan.
A little gift to end this blog.
If you are looking for a video to take up time during the Covid19 isolation. This gentleman has a number of videos. This log cabin took about a year to build and the video is fairly long(not a year). His name is Shawn James of My Self Reliance and his videos are on Youtube. The build is done alone, without power tools , and over the span of a year in 1917.
Anyone for building a log cabin???
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