Russ&Kappy's Summer Vacation

Wednesday, February 24, 2012.  We broke camp at Walker Lake and continued our journey south towards Death Valley.  A totally different route, we passed through Beatty, Nevada and over the summit into the Valley.  We were totally surprised at the accommodations that have been made for the masses that want to visit and stay in Death Valley.  Of course there are the old standby campgrounds but they need to be reserved 6 months in advance and therefore are impossible to secure.  Now, however, the park has opened up a huge “parking lot” sort of facility that allows campers – RV’s, Trailers and Tents – to camp in the gravel.  This sounds unattractive but it really isn’t.  The spots are really wide and the fact that lots of us can stay in the valley now more than makes up for the non-campground feel.  You still get the incredible vistas and dark sky that Death Valley is known for.  We (because we are old and have a senior pass) only had to pay $7 a...

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 , with the trailer all set to go, we attempted to leave the driveway only to find that the automatic tongue jack was D.E.A.D. It was the motor and, of course, the company that made the part had been sold to another company and, well you know the story.  So we had to purchase an entire new tongue jack (that’s the thing that jacks up the trailer so that you can put it on the truck’s trailer hitch). More money spent on this trip without even leaving the driveway.   Did I tell you about the discovery the rv repairmen found while they were greasing the ball joints on the trailer wheels?  Probably not.  Yes, it was some horrible thing that had broken in the trailer brake and had to be replaced and, of course, all 4 of the things had to be replaced. Caching --- $1000.  That happened 3 days before departure.  Anyways, we left home at about 12:30pm (3.5 hours late).  We pulled out and planned to meet our appointed reservation at ...