Koehler's Karavan: April 7 through 18th, Pahrump, NV

April 7, 2013 Sunday
Went to the All U Can Eat pancake and sausage breakfast this morning. David stayed home as he is NOT a morning person, but I brought his back – after I spent a very nice 90 mins or so socializing with the folks at the clubhouse!
We went to Shoshone today, about 40 miles away and nothing got in our way! We visited a very nice small museum, featuring a Mammoth Wing which was completed in 1998 to house mammoth remains found nearby. The cemetery’s first person to be buried there was 4 year old Ralph Modine who died in a tragic fire. There are about 55 people buried there, many in unmarked graves. We visited the Flower Building which was built in 1939 by the Tecopa-Shoshone Woman’s Improvement Club. The flowers on the outside were originally painted by a local artist, Ethel Rook Messer, but over time they faded in the dessert sun and have had to be repainted. It is a very nice building!
Of course we ate lunch at the Crowbar Café & Saloon – let me say that lunch was good, but the chips and salsa were OUTSTANDING! They cut tortillas into 8ths and deep fried them – served HOT with very garlicky salsa…it was excellent!

The trip over and back revealed yet more amazing mountain formations. You would think that living in the Rockies/Tetons/Yellowstone that we would not get excited about them, but these were very unusual and we did manage to take some pictures! Also some very strange ‘flowers’ that I don’t think are really flowers but some strange kind of bush!

We got back to the MH about 2 and napped – and were sitting outside enjoying the marvelous weather when Jim and Sharon stopped and asked if we wanted to go to dinner with them – you bet! Off we went to ‘Irene’s’ where we had an excellent NY strip steak, salad, baked potato, veggie and rolls for $11.99. The steaks were about 1.5 inches thick and fabulous! We chattered and ate and chattered some more, and before we realized it was time to go home.

April 8, 2013 Pahrump
STORM – high winds, snow on Charleston Peak…we stayed home! Cleaned the front drivers area of the MH – and then the rest. Still have to clean carpets because I can’t find where I stored the carpet solution – but everything else is spotless!
Went to social hour and chatted for over an hour – we’ve met several couples that are going to Escapades in Gillette…exchanged emails with the ‘row’ reps from Pair O Dice, and met a couple from Casper WY that are going…I’ll try to get their names later in the week!
April 9, 2013 Beatty, NV, Rhyolite Ghost Town and more

We got started pretty late this morning, but left Pahrump about 11, heading for Beatty and the Death Valley Nut and Candy Company! We arrived and had lunch at the Sourdough Saloon where we had a very good meat lover’s pizza! Crunchy crust, yummy toppings! We drove around the town a bit, then headed out toward Rhyolite ruins. You can read all about it at www.rhyolitesite.com We then visited the Goldwell Open Air Museum – very very eerie – you can read about this place at

www.goldwellmuseum.org. We drove back to Pahrump and got here in time for social hour.
Tonight for dinner was more clean out fridge – plus fresh veggies!

April 10th through 19th Pahrump NV
Much of this time was spent dodging the WIND – whew! We did have some extremely nice days weather wise, and we went to Vegas twice. First we went to Santa Fe Station Casino and met Monica Olivas and her boys for lunch.
We went to China Date Ranch one day, very interesting and the date shakes were to die for! I never dreamed of a date shake, but it sure was delicious! We had lunch there first in a funky little yard – I had a tuna melt Panini and David had a cheeseburger. It was good but spendy - $10 for sandwich and small bag of chips! We had lunch with a wonderful couple who had spend 13 years in Saudi - Arabia – she as a dental Hygienist and he as a civil engineer! Fascinating couple! They now live in a retirement community in Las Vegas!

Some pics