Utah, Danish Flats Apr 10, 2015

This is one of them days that makes one bite his tongue hard not to utter some very nasty words.  But I keep my cool and did my thing.  We were about 75 miles east of Green River, UT when Another camper pulled up alongside of me, pointing at my 5th wheel.  OK I thought, I must have a flat tire so I stopped.  About then, Kay pulled up behind me and said the tire was laying alongside the road about two miles back.  Sure enough when I went around the camper there was no tire or rim on the back axle of the camper.  It looked like all 8 lug studs had shared off.  We were about a mile from an exit, so I had Kay drive the truck and camper up to that exit to wait for me.  I jumped into the car and went back down the road to find the wheel.  There it was just laying alongside the pavement.  I loaded it into the trunk of the car and headed back to where Kay was parked. Fortunately it did not do any damage to the rim or tire.  The next thing was to pull the brake drum off the camper.  Oops, I did not have a socket big enough to fit the nut on the hub.  So off to Fruita, CO about 36 miles east of us to find a Napa store.  I forgot to take one of the sheared off studs with me, so I guessed the size.  Picked up the right size socket and headed back to the camper.  Well 1 out of two is good.  The socket was the right size, but the studs were all too small.  After taking the hub off and beating the old studs out of the hub we went back to the Napa.  Well Napa did not have the right size of studs, but told me to go to Grand Junction to a trailer store and they should have the right ones.  We found the trailer store and got 8 new studs and 8 new lug nuts then headed back to the camper.  By the time we got back we had put over 162 extra miles on the car.  We were sure glad we had the little car to do all the running around.  If we had not had the car, we would have had to unhook the truck from the camper and do all the running around with it.  With the new studs I could put the whole wheel assembly back together.  This whole thing was a good experience in self control.  I am thankful that I know a little bit about a lot of things so I could do the repair work by myself.

Beating the old studs out of the hub.

Now I get to hammer the new studs into the hub.  Things I really like to do alongside of the interstate.

Torquing down the hub nut to 120 lbs.

Adjusting the brakes.  What a pain in the -----------

Another job well done.

Nevada, Las Vegas April 5 - 9, 2015

We made a stop in Las Vegas for a few days on our way towards home.  We wanted  to visit friends, Drew and Terry Tracey.  Drew and I were in the Air Force together for a while.  

We camped at Arizona Charlie's RV park.  It was a very nice and clean park with wide spaces.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Drew his dog Rusty and Kay in Drew's living room.

Terry and Drew with their two dogs Salsa and Rusty

Salsa, What a gentle dog.

Terry - Drew- Rusty

Kay and I drove down to Fremont Street one evening.

A look down Fremont street in downtown Las Vegas.  People waiting for the light to change so they can cross the street.  You have to look out when it does change, there a mass of people charging at you.  It was very crowded on Fremont street the night we went. 

Some views of the light show on the ceiling over Fremont Street.

Kay and some of her comic book characters.  She is sitting on Thor's knee with Captain America guarding her.

 Just having a good time.

A day trip to Lake Mead National Rec Area, NV

Sidewalk around the Visitor Center

Lake Mead,  The water level in the lake is very low.

Kay always has to have some flower pictures.  The cactus were so pretty.

If Kay can have flower pictures, I can have a flower with a fly.

Once again I love my Canon camera.  Love to stop the wings of a Humming Bird.

Me and my camera.

This would be a good place to launch our kayaks into Lake Mead.

This is one of the campgrounds in the park.  We will try and stay here the next time we stop over in Vegas.  What a view out the back of the 5th wheel.

Looking at Lake Mead from the campground.

Looking at the Colorado River, with the new bridge going over it.

The front side of the dam.

The road across the dam.

The generator intakes are almost out of the water.

Nevada, Pahrump Mar 30 - Apr 5, 2015

Preferred RV Resort, Pahrump NV.  From here we will be able to explore Death Valley National Park, and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

Pahrump Nevada

Zoe and Maxwell waiting for something to eat.

  

The Wildlife Refuge is east of Death Valley.  Most of the roads within the refuge are dirt.

We thought this sign structure was quite unique.

A typical look at the landscape in the refuge.

What we found interesting was the boardwalks to the little pools of water.  You would not think of fresh  water pools in the middle of a desert.

This little bridge and all the design work was across the outlet of the pool.  I love all the metal work on it.

There were all kinds of little fish swimming around in Crystal Springs.  Zoe had to try and jump into the water to get the fish.

The boardwalk around the pool was very nice to walk the dogs on.  Just had to keep them on it so they would not find any snakes.

I have no idea what we were to look at through the field glasses.  I guess the distant mountains.  It was very lovely here.

This sun screen was made of metal and when the wind blew it made strange sounds.

Headed back to the car.

Some of the different types of bushes and their berries

Crystal Reservoir

Another view of Crystal Reservoir with the mountains in the back ground.

We found this duck swimming around in the marshes.

This cabin is out in the middle of  the desert

The park uses a lot of boardwalks to keep people off the desert floor.  I think it is a great idea.

Good looking three some

This is Point of Rock Springs.  It is right next to the cabin.  One can see the water coming up out of the ground.  This natural spring outputs 2800 gallons of  water per minute.  Now that is a lot of  water. 

I think I need to go on a diet.

The big white rock 

Kay caught this dust devil.  We saw a lot of them that day.

There is still so much green in the desert this time of the year.

I use to know what that yellow stuff is on that bush.  It is some kind of algae that has no roots.  The first time I saw it was in WY.

We are now on our way into Death Valley National Park.  Our first stop will be at Furnace Creek Visitor Center.  After that, we found a nice shady spot with a picnic table to eat our lunch.

The way into Death Valley National Park.  

There is not much that grows out here.

This road leads to Badwater Basin

I walked out on the salt flats to take a picture of the parking lot where Kay and the dogs are waiting for me.  It was too warm to leave the dogs in the car alone and they were not allowed on the trail.

Looking the other direction from the parking lot, the salt flats go for a long way.

After our stop at Badwater, we took a side trip through Artists Palette Drive.

Some of the road through Artists Drive.

The colors are so different here.

Kay started to hike up the Gold Canyon, but she did not get to far.  I stayed in the car with the dogs.

The Nugget Casino was just across the street from our campground.