November 8-10, 2026 Hawthorne to Tonopah, Nevada to Shoshone, California

 High of 69 and sunny.

We filled up in Winnemucca. Maverick had diesel at $6.15. It was higher at the other stations in town. Walker Lake, north of Hawthorne, NV.

Fall color and a touch of snow near Walker Lake.We are parked at Whiskey Flats RV park in Hawthorne, Nevada. Rv parks, and towns, are few and far between in Nevada. 

Hawthorne, Nevada has the world's largest ammo depot, native american metal artwork along  I-80, fall colors and a few wildflowers are still blooming. Sunset in the RV park.

Green Link  West Transmission Project, substation, will serve as a collector hub  for large scale solar, supporting industrial and data center power loads.  Welcome to Tonopah! It is an old mining town.

We are staying at the Love's RV stop, which is at a Love's truck stop. A well lighted parking lot, right off the highway. Our first adventure at a truck stop. The price of gold is so high now that they reopened many of the gold mines, so the RV parks are full of the mine workers. Across the highway is the cemetary. The monument in the foreground is the John Kirchen Memorial, the site of the final silver discovery by John Kirchen the manager of the mining company. His ashes are spread here. 

I walked over to tour the cememary. Here are a few of the graves. Nice late afternoon light on the peaks across the highway, with the cemetary in front of it. 

As an added bonus to our truck stop campsite,  across the street there is construction, looks like they will be drilling all night. Sunset was lovely.

The X rated part of the sunset. Our view in front of our site of the truckstop, with a nice sunset. 

We had a nice dinner at the Tonopah Brewery. John with his Gear Jammer a red IPA. This coach belongs to Chuck. He stopped and introduced himself. He has the same year, make and model coach that we do. Even the same length. You don't see many of them on the road anymore. The company closed 16 years ago.

We fueled up here at $6.19 a gallon. We had a new fan  for the engine installed at Oregon Motor coach and now we get much better gas mileage. We got 9 miles to the gallon on this fillup , we used to get closer to 5. Death Valley Nuts and Candy store. We got fuel here, but passed on the candy. Eat it today, wear it tomorrow!

We made it, we are at my sister's house in Shoshone. She put in an RV plug and pad for us, among her palm trees. We are done driving for sometime now.  Great to see  her.  It was 81 degrees when we arrived!

Last light on the Resting Spring range. John and I took a hike on some of the birding trails around Shoshone this afternoon. 

November 6- 7, 2026 Eugene to Summer Lake Hot Springs, Oregon to Winnemucca, Nevada

 High of 65 and mostly sunny. We escaped Oregon Motor Coach and are back on the road. 

We were done at Oregon Motor Coach, but then a bunch of little things cropped up. One of the drawers in the kitchen stuck open - Jackson came over and fixed it, then the closet sliding door stuck open - Jackson came back and fixed it, then the AC/heat pump was dripping water into the coach- Jackson came back and fixed it. After he fixed the heat pump, it rattled when it ran, so Jackson came back a couple times and got it fixed Here he is on the roof working on the heat pump. He has infinite patience! We fueled up at $6.79 a gallon. 

The Willamette river on our route. The Oregon Outback scenic byway.

The office at Summer Lake hot springs. After a 4 hour drive.  The springs are in this barn. Summer lake is behind it, but mostly it is a dry lakebed playa. 

There is a big hot spring pool inside the barn and some nice rock outdoor tubs. Somewhere Else, in the community room.

The bus at Summer Lake Hot springs RV camping. Sunset over the hot spring barn.

Sunset. 

Sunset over the hot spring barn. Aspen on the way to Warner Pass, Oregon. 

Warner Cyn Ski area, elevation 5,683 with a vertical drop of  780 feet. Doherty Slide ahead , the road goes up the ridge  with switchbacks, 1000 feet to 6, 246 feet. It has an 8% grade over 3-4 miles, no shoulders or guardrails with a famous sign at the top that says "Take your time, don't rush, and you'll get there alive"!

Oregon thanks you, come back soon, Sheldon National Antelope Refuge and range. Welcome to Nevada, the windshield has so many bugs on it the camera will not focus past the windshield. Denio Junction, Oregon. The gateway to the Oregon outback and the black fire opal capital of the world. 

The bus at the New Frontier RV park in Winnemucca, NV. A 4 1-2 hour drive. We are exhausted. Sunset. 

Beautiful downtown, historic Winnemucca, Nevada. 

October 30- November 1-5, 2026 Eugene, Oregon

 High of 58, partly cloudy and some rain.

We are now parked at Oregon Motorcoach. In the top photo we are where the red arrow points, we are shorter than all the coaches around us, so you can't see us. The bottom photo the red arrow points to us. We are going to have some work done on the bus on Monday. Another masterpiece finished. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass and abalone shell beads. The center is part of an abalone shell.  It is 6 1/2 x 6 x 2 3/4(at the tall end) inches.

We went for a walk and saw these wildflowers by the road. Queen Ann's lace, witch hazel, chicory, moth mullein, california poppy and ragwort. We woke up to fog this morning. 

Fall colors in Springfield.  Leslie's halloween mask!

Leslie, Anne Marie, Larry and John. Music at the halloween/birthday party. 

Dave blowing out his candles. Our good friends Scott and Leslie.

The black and white girls. Scott and John walking Bodie at Dorris ranch.

Bodie in the hazelnut orchard. Leslie singing her first solo open mike. She sounded great. 

Woo hoo, three of my pieces won ribbons in the Echter's show. Sunset.

Sunset over the bus in front of the bay for work tomorrow. Another masterpiece. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads and the the center is a piece of dichroic glass I fused.  It is 6 1/2 x 2 inches 

The bus inside the bay. It was up on those lifts It had new level sensors put on the tanks. Leslie and John walking Bodie in the hazelnut orchard 

John, Leslie and Bodie at Dorris Ranch. Our bus was parked next to a twin today.

Jackson fixing a stuck drawer. Yet another masterpiece. It is made from dyed pine needles, wire grass, polyester thread and glass beads. The center is selenite with a raven painted on it.  It is 6 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 2 inches. 

Sunset tonight. Bodie sitting in my lap.