Few days ago, we don’t even remember when and where it was, we felt a bit tired. Last few weeks we were on really tight schedule. Yes, sure, it’s nice to travel, but getting up in the morning (ok, we exaggerate here), car then sightseeing then car then looking for a place to stay then writing our blog…, we thought we needed a few days break. On top of that Maciek in Vegas had a fever, Kalina caught something too. Our dream of vacation from vacation was stronger and stronger. Be careful what you wish for …
Pahrump was supposed to be just a stop in our way to California. Until last moment we were undecided whether to stay with our boondocking hosts - Marylin and Glen - for one night and explore Death Valley with Eddie, or to see the valley without a trailer and then take a highway to California.
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| Our hosts, Marylin and Glen |
We finally got there. Glen works nearby so he came to greet us. Our hosts live on a small street - we parked in front of the house, just like the last time, although this time we also had water and electricity. We left the trailer and Glens showed us the nearest shop. They send us to the other one, supposedly the only one in Pahrump that fixes transmissions, and that seemed to be our Jeep’s problem.
In the shop they had bad news for us. They had to open the transmission, diagnose the problem, order new parts… Not only it would cost us a lot but also it would take a few days. It was Thursday, if we have left the car the next day, the parts would have got here on Monday and the car would be ready on Tuesday. Well, we didn’t really have much choice.
We considered for a while staying with our hosts those few days, but after all we decided to move to the campground. Glen and Marylin live a few miles from civilization and campground is on the other side of the plaza from the shop (there is supermarket and casino on the way). And, if we have to sit in one place it’s better to have more space than a trailer and a street. There was also a chance that Maciek would have some more entertainment at the campground.
On Friday morning we went to the campground, we paid for 4 nights (with Passport America discount it was 18 USD per night) and we left the car in the shop. We hoped that by Tuesday we would catch up with blog, plan next steps, sleep a lot and not have move too much. And again we got what we wished for, just not in a way we wanted it..
Maciek’s coughing is nothing new for us - he had bronchitis so many times we don’t even take him to the doctor with it. With Kalina, so far so good (knock on wood). On the other hand we have no experience, so when we heard the whistling breath and cough getting worse with each hour, we decided, just in case, to go to the doctor. Especially that it was Friday afternoon, so it was better to go then and not look for an emergency room on weekend.
The nearest pediatrician was less than two miles from the campground. That’s not far. But after we googled them we had only 20 minutes to closing time. We’re not that fast. We asked our campground neighbours for a ride (and from now on for the next three days they would ask us whether we need anything, maybe a ride to the supermarket or a pharmacy). Very nice of them, we are very grateful for all their help. Still, we gladly walked to the nearest plaza which is only 5 minutes from the campground.
At the doctor’s it looked a lot like one of many doctor’s appointments we had with Maciek in Libya (which is one of the reasons why we don’t go to doctors any more). Doctor checked Kalina trying not to touch her, she said it’s a virus, checked her temperature and said she has 105 F (we did the conversion later - 40 C…) and gave prescription for antibiotic. Kalina did not have a fever - mother’s hands are better than any thermometer and she did not have 40 or 105. She was nebulized, we paid 35 USD and we went home. What we found out by the way was that our little picky eater weighs 22 pounds / 10 kilo. Unless their scale was just as good as their thermometer. We decided to skip the antibiotic.
Next days we did sleep until late, all four of us. Maybe because all nights long we had to get up to wipe some little noses, both of them were coughing, Kalina was making sounds like zombie from "The Walking Dead" or Maciek sometimes had a high fever. Only Pawel went twice to the swimming pool, and even outside usually it was too windy for sick kids. By Tuesday, when we were supposed to pick up the car, virus attacked mother’s throat. Well, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger…
On top of Pahrump campground we got to know very well a supermarket Smith’s and casino Golden Nugget. Casino had a buffet dinner - on the first day we went to check the price: 10.99 USD for adult, kids half price - we’ve decided it’s too expensive and ended up going there on Monday. And that’s when we found out that with a card (which you get for free) for the whole family we paid 11.77 USD after taxes.
They also had very good cheap breakfasts, playground for Maciek (where we could leave him for free!) and bowling (when we shared our sad story we also got a discount). We learned there some basics from one of the local bowling league players, Patrick. In Pahrump there is also an art galery - Marylin is on board of it, university where Glen teaches and choir where Marylin plays piano and Glen is singing - we got to see the concert, they were really good.
Pahrump is another interesting American town. It was built (we think) as a mining town, there are mines of gold, silver and God knows what else further north. Now it’s mostly a retirement place. We found out, that our dear friends from Louisiana - Linn and Lynn, plan to retire here. In their very active lives it probably means those few dozens of years after they turn ninety or one-zero-zero. Anyway, for us Pahrump didn’t seem like a place we’d like to stay for long. There’s anything one might need (Wal-mart, Auto-zone, few shops, few rv resorts), but not much more.
And of course there are two casinos, including Golden Nugget. This is a real downtown. It has a cheap buffet where everyone eats, there is bowling, there is gambling. There is even a bukmacher and few sports channels, but despite their promises they didn’t have the one where Poland played with Ukraine. Anyway, to realize what is the difference between Polish and American retirement: in Warsaw at the square near our place, where mostly retired people live, there is an outpatient clinic in a center. In Pahrump there is a casino. Besides they are both quite interesting, but it’s "our" square that has lots of potential and nobody is doing anything there. Maybe we will.
In Pahrump casino we could probably win some money for a new transmission but not being into gambling (because we never have any luck) we didn’t even try. God probably was really angry, he listened to our prayers to give us money for fixing our car, and looking from behind the cloud he pulled hair from his beard, mumbling “play damn it, that’s why I broke your stupid car in Pahrump, that’s why the shop is right next to the casino …!".
On Tuesday we picked up our car with brand new transmission. We moved to our boondocking hosts planning to stay two more nights. We got up early in the morning and went to Death Valley. We didn’t even got up to the first view point - Dante’s View - when the control light came up again, the same as before. The computer showed the same transmission error. We turned around. On our way down the breaks started smoking… In the shop they said we needed new brakes. Transmission, they said, was fine.
Next day we got up - unlike us - at 7 am. We got to the shope before 8, they promised they would fix it in 3 hours. Great - we thought, at 11 we would go to Death Valley and first thing in the morning tomorrow we would be out. The car was ready at 3 pm. We didn’t make it to the Death Valley that day, we just went to see the gost town Rhyolite (we’ll write about it later). We called our next boondocking hosts in California that we’ll get to them next day late in the evening and we left the valley for tomorrow.
Next morning - second day in a row! - we woke up at dawn and we went to see the valley. Going up Dante’s View - deja vu: control light, error - transmission…. This time we decided to be tough and to see a little bit of the valley - we'll write about it later. Considering however that it was Friday before Easter more thorough sightseeing we've decided to leave for next time, maybe in a few years, and after less than 4 hours we headed back to Pahrump.
In the shop they checked it once again and they said it was fine. We didn't really believe them but we were too tired and frustrated to fight. We packed our things and we headed towards California.
After a week in Pahrump at some point we felt like we're in "Truman Show". Or in "13. floor". Or in canceled after first season (for obvious reasons) "Persons unknown". People around were nice, food cheap, sun shining. But somehow our universe were ending just at the border with California. We started suspecting that one step too far and we would walk into electromagnetic wall or that during escape we would just turn to see again a well known sign "Welcome to Pahrump"... And, in fact, we didn't get far...
...to be continued
...to be continued
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