When we left Beatty the plan was originally to camp at an air field near
Coaldale on Highway 95. When we got
there it was a dead town, and the area around it looked pretty uninviting.
Bob and Wayne checking out the air field as a camp site
Bob and Wayne took the pickup truck out to
the air field to see what they thought about getting the coaches out there.
They came back and said that although access was good, with the wind picking up
it was a very exposed location and not that great a place to camp. So we hopped back in our rigs and headed to
Mina.
Mina was founded as a railroad
town in 1905 and was named for Ferminia Sarras, a large landowner and famed
prospector known as the 'Copper Queen.' The Nevada & California Railway had
a station in the town. The railroad is long gone, but at one time a local
shuttle called the "Slim Princess" allowed Native Americans to ride
for free on top of the railcars, and passengers and crew would shoot wild game
such as jack rabbits, ducks and sage hens from the open windows. The train
moved slowly enough that hunters had time to retrieve their game and hop back
on board.
Mina is still an
unusual place. This is the Desert
Lobster. “You don't see many yachts in the Nevada desert... Bob Eddy, the
owner, tells it like this. He found this yacht in Texas, burned up and totaled.
At least the insurance company said it was totaled. But not Bob! He bought it
and had it shipped up here to Mina, NV where he wanted to make a restaurant out
of it.” Tom M, Carson City via YELP
We couldn’t find decent free camping near town, so we
decided to stay at the RV park in town.
Once we were set up Wayne and I went to introduce ourselves to the
neighbor with the KTM parked next to his trailer. As we walked up I noticed he had Washington
State plates on his truck, and Wayne realized that he recognized him from
racing at the Puget Sound Enduro Riders (PSER) events in Shelton, WA. Jim comes down from Washington to spend the
fall and spring here each year. He had maps and
information about the area. I had
already mapped out a route for the afternoon ride, and Bob had done one for the
next day. Jim thought my ride through
Volcano Canyon might be rather tough as the road gets washed out during the
rainy season. We thought we would try it
anyway.
We left camp about 3 pm, a little late in the day, but I
just had 43 miles planned, and it stays light until after 7 so I thought we’d
be ok. It turns out that Volcano Canyon
Road does wash out because most of it runs right up the wash. I thought he meant deep washouts running across the road which would have been a pain, but this just meant that the road was
hard to find in places. I had a few
wrong turns, but we managed to get back on track, only to have a road closure
change our route. Good thing Bob’s GPS
has a map in the background so we could see that the road we were on would go
to the highway. I still haven’t got my
new GPS, I’m waiting till I get to Oregon where they don’t have sales tax. Arizona and Washington have close to 10%
state sales tax, and my new GPS will run me about $600 so I would rather put
that $60 toward extra software, thank you very much.
When we got to Highway 361, the weather was changing
quickly. We took a moment to put on more
clothing and rain coats; and decided to go back via the highway. It was a good call, the weather closed in
enough to make it get dark earlier than we expected. And it was cold!
That night the wind howled and rocked the coach most of the
evening. During the early hours of the
morning the fog rolled in and it started to snow. No ride today. We took our time getting on the road, just
making the 11 am check out time, and headed up the road to Yerington.
We drove through snow flurries most of the way to
Yerington. We got there about 1 pm and
during lunch researched camping in the area.
We found something interesting, a free BLM campground named Wilson
Canyon, which has ORV parking. From its
location 20 miles south of Yerington on Highway 208, it appeared to be the
south entrance to the Pine Nut area we rode out of Minden in the fall. (see
October 2012 post Johnson Lane,
Minden NV) We decided we’d go there.
I had an address that I put into both my TomTom and my phone’s Google
Maps. When we got to the junction of
Highways 208 & 339, Wayne was in the lead, and my phone said one way and
TomTom said the other. Imagine Wayne’s
response when I told him first to turn left then half way through I changed my
mind and had him come back onto Highway 208.
We continued on about half a mile until we got to a narrow canyon where
I had the boys pull over and wait as I went east, then west, then back east and
finally back west until I found what we were looking for. But find it we did. A nice big place where we can park off the
highway, not get bothered by traffic and the cats can go outside and play.
The weather is due to improve tomorrow, and we have a ride
planned. Life is good!
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