Heading North, April 6-9

We left Tucson around noon on  Friday right after Joel's last doctor's appointment.  Big mistake.  I forgot that it was Good Friday and the start of the Easter Holiday weekend.  Getting out of Tucson wasn't so bad, but going through Phoenix was stop and go traffic reminiscent of LA or SF Bay area.  Our goal was to make it to the SKP park near Congress, AZ for a quick overnight stay  to use the dump and fill facilities.  After dry camping for nearly two  weeks the fresh  water tank  was  very low and the grey and black water tanks were very full.  We did make it to the SKP park just before closing... around 5:00.

The next morning we were on the road by 8:00...after dumping and filling.  Our route took us up Highway 89 through the Joshua Tree Parkway to I-40 and then over to  up Highway 93 and then to Highway 95 .  We had to make a quick stop in Kingman, to hose out the radiator because the engine kept overheating, and we had a lot more elevation gains ahead of us.  A lot of junk came pouring out of the radiator  and Joel will need to work on getting the radiator steam cleaned when he gets to Oregon.

On the way we crossed over the new bridge which by passes Hoover Dam. Pedestrians were lined up on the bridge to view the dam.

 Getting through Las Vegas was easy with the lightest traffic I have seen in a long time.  Our goal was to make it to  Beatty, NV, the half way mark. The drive up Highway 93 and Highway 95 on the eastern side of the Sierras is barren and stark, although there are lots of interesting formations. It had been a long day already with several unplanned stops, but with the radiator somewhat cleaned out we purred along and pushed for Beatty.

Some of the interesting terrain along 93 and 95.( I've been this way many times, but never stopped to take any pictures.)

 We pulled into Beatty much later than anticipated and found a nice dry camping spot. I decided to explore a little and get the cobwebs out of my head and happened on some wild burros feeding on garden trimmings.

They were a little shy and didn't like my interrupting them and wandered back up the hill.

And this is the view from our RV.

We were on the road Sunday morning by 7:30 A.M. and filled up with fuel in town.  The Rebel station in Beatty was open and very busy for an Easter Sunday morning.  The best part was that diesel was only $4.05 per gallon.  I say only 4.05 because after looking at Gas Buddy, diesel prices will be $4.59 plus as we approach Reno and parts of California that we will be  travelling  through.

We arrived in Reno mid day with plans to stay at one of the casinos, but Joel wasn't up for black top camping so we continued on to Portola, another 50 miles, where my Born Free has been stored at Jeremy's house. We caught up with Jeremy, and visited and had a nice Easter dinner of steak and beans.

 There is an Elks Club  two miles down the road from Jeremy's,  so we decided to park there for the next day or so while I get my Born Free straightened up and we move some stuff around, and get it road ready .   Ahhh to be in the pine trees again!

Over 850 hundred miles in 2 1/2 days.  Not bad, when you consider most of the time we may travel 100 miles in one day, but our push is not over.  We have nearly 450 more miles to go to the finish, in Leaburg..maybe by Wednesday or Thursday? Stay tuned.