When I said we were heading east in the last post, I meant
it, literally. We made two-day stops each in Lancaster, California, and
Pahrump, Nevada.
On Monday, we were on our way right about on schedule, just
after 10:00 AM. We took a route we’d never driven before: CA-166 east from
Santa Maria all the way over to I-5, just north of the Tejon Pass. Geri didn’t
care for the first half of this segment, since she’s increasingly unimpressed
with winding roads. Merlin didn’t like it either, since he usually sticks his
head out of his hidey-hole when we change directions. But, it wasn’t a bad road
and other than some hills that are sure to take a toll on the MPG, we made it
fine. It’s a lot less winding and much more open terrain than going through the
redwoods in NorCal.
Once on I-5, we had a short segment going south. This
segment is called “The Grapevine”, named for the nearest town I suppose, not
for any particular affinity for grapes (although this area is the extreme
southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, one of the more fertile areas in the
country). Climbing The Grapevine involves about 2,650 feet of elevation change
in a few miles, making it one of the more notable hill climbs in the western
US. We kept it slow and steady, and actually managed to pass a few 18-wheelers
in the process.
Shortly after we were on the other side of Tehachapi
Mountains, we made the turn east once again, this time on CA-138, which took us
right into Lancaster. We headed for the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds, which has
a reasonable on-site RV park (we’ve stayed here before).
This was a quick, two-night stop. It could have been a
one-nighter, as we were using it to break up a longer drive, but who wants to
be on the road every day when you don’t have to? Besides, we got a chance to do
some Costco shopping and caught up with Loretta & Desi for dinner. (Loretta
used to be married to one of Geri’s nephews; we’ve known her for 30+ years.)
By Wednesday, we were ready to move on again, heading for
Pahrump, Nevada. “Where is Pahrump and why on earth would you want to go
there”, you say? Well, it’s about 60 miles east of Las Vegas, our next real
destination. We’ve never visited Pahrump before and one of our RV groups is
planning a rally there next spring, so we thought we’d check it out. Plus, one
of Nevada’s few (only?) wineries is there and the Escapees (an RV organization
we belong to) has a park there. Good enough for me!
So, we followed a familiar route out of Lancaster: CA-14
south to Palmdale and then CA-138 to CA-18 into Victorville. We picked up I-15
there, through Barstow to Baker. Of course, I-15 is the primary LA-to-Vegas
route and we’ve driven this several times in the past, but we exited in Baker
to go a different way.
Heading north on CA-127, we started seeing rock and mountain
formations that reminded us of Death Valley. This makes sense, because we were
skirting the southeastern side of that National Park. In Shoshone (don’t blink
or you’ll miss it), we turned east once again on CA-178, which turned into
NV-372 once we crossed the state line. What a difference a bunch of casino
money makes in terms of road maintenance!
Anyway, NV-372 brought us right to Pahrump and we quickly
found our way to the Escapees “Pair-A-Dice” RV Park. You can’t beat a $15/night
full hook-up site.
On Tuesday, we did a little exploring. We scoped out the
location of the spring rally that we’ll probably be going to, did a little
shopping at the Smith’s grocery (have to keep getting more Kroger loyalty
points for gas discounts), and found the local Elks Lodge (not open but they
have several sites for RV parking as a “Plan B”).
Our last stop was the Pahrump Valley Winery. Their tastings
are complimentary and you get to try seven different wines from their menu,
which (surprisingly) is fairly extensive. Geri and I only had a couple of
overlaps, so we got to taste most everything available. They import a lot of
grapes from the Lodi and Sierra Foothills areas in California, but do also use
three vineyards in Nevada, including one on the property in Pahrump. The wines
weren’t half bad, and we got to spend a few minutes chatting with the
owner/winemaker about the challenges of growing grapes in a relatively hot
climate. We picked a Sangiovese and a Tempranillo as our purchases; both were
decent wines at reasonable prices.
Tonight, we’ll get ready for travel, which isn’t too time-consuming
when making a short stop. Tomorrow, we’re off to Lost Wages, I mean, Las Vegas,
for a week to see what kind of mischief we can get into. Of course, that’ll
never make it to the Blog…
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