3 States in 3 Days

After equipping Gulliver with new shoes, we left the tire shop in Northern Las Vegas around 3:30 p.m. on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, wanting to get some ground behind us. Three hours later, we stopped for the night at a rest area north of Tonopah, Nevada. We slept comfortably without unhooking the trailer or opening any slides and, as a result, were able to get back on the road early the following morning.

Saturday we drove through the historic town of Hawthorne, Nevada, home to the Hawthorne Army Depot and nearly 2,500 bunkers that were used to store reserve ammunitions after major military conflicts, starting as early as 1930. We also skirted Walker Lake, which is surrounded by camping areas, and witnessed three young bighorn sheep cross the road in front of us. 

Wanting to put California on our map (the rule is we have to spend a night in a state to be able to put it on our map), we spent Saturday night in a casino parking lot in Susanville, California, arriving around 2 p.m. Although the casino was closed due to COVID-19, the restaurant remained open. After donning the face masks we were given to walk through the casino, we enjoyed a nice relaxing dinner in the restaurant.

We ventured farther north on Sunday, semi-circling California’s magnificent Mount Shasta at the end of the Cascade Mountain Range. Standing 14,179 feet tall, Mount Shasta’s snow-topped summit peeks above the pine trees from many miles away and is quite a sight to behold. 

Mission Accomplished: Medford, Oregon

We had planned to park and stay at one of my cousins’ in Medford, Oregon, upon arrival but learned he had been exposed to someone recently diagnosed with COVID-19. So, we opted to visit his sister and her husband who are also in the area. After examining their driveway, however, we determined we wouldn’t be able to get our trailer up it, especially with the low-hanging branches. (Our rig stands 13 feet, 3 inches tall.) 

We quickly searched RV parks/campgrounds in the area and found a place behind what used to be an Econolodge with 12 RV spots. The location had one vacancy, which we took for two nights. The spaces were tight, and we had the biggest rig. It reminded me of “A Goofy Movie” when Pete and PJ set up their expansive RV next to Goofy’s. 

The majority, if not all, of the other 11 spots were occupied by full-time residents. To say the place was sketchy is an understatement. For example, one of the residents suggested we fill our rig with marijuana to sell elsewhere. But we just needed somewhere to park and sleep for two nights while hanging out with my cousin. And it worked without event, thankfully. We were happy to pull away from there and have no intention of going back.

Officially Homeless

​We headed to a Jayco dealer to get estimates on some minor RV repairs: drawers opening every time we go down the road, loose flooring in the hallway that leads to the bedroom and bathroom, non-functioning USB plug-ins, ripping/peeling trim on our internal stairs and, of course, the cattle guard-related cosmetic damage to the outside of our rig. 

As it turned out, the service center didn’t have trim color to match the exterior of our rig and wouldn’t be able to get it for a number of weeks. Not planning to spend that many weeks in the area, we opted to deal with that later down the road. But we are having the other issues looked at.

With free parking in the RV shop in Medford, Oregon, we headed to Eugene, Oregon, where our son and two of Bob’s brothers live. Although temporarily homeless, we’re enjoying catching up with family.