Roaming with Beau - Day 7 , March 30, 2023

Virgin, UT to The Valley of Fire SP, NV

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada

The wind blew, the trailer shook, the rain came down, and I'm sure glad I repositioned the trailer. We were warm, dry, cozy and despite all the ruckus we slept well. After breakfast, coffee, and a short walk in the mud we got underway towards Las Vegas. The drive was quite uneventful and I do remember being amazed at the feat of building this freeway through the narrow canyon that it shared with the Virgin River. Eventually I reached highway 169 that took me more south towards Lake Mead and The Valley of Fire State Park.

At the entrance to the park there was a sign that said "Campground Full" and of course I ignored it as it was still before 1100 and I was sure some residents from the night before had not even left yet. I stopped in at the Visitors Center to get directions to the Atlantl Campground and ask about availability. There was a nice woman at the information desk who gave me directions and told me to get a move on as the spots would go fast. Pulling into the campground I grabbed the first empty one I saw. Number 4 was easy to back into and was right up against the rocks but had no hook-ups. I got Beau out and we went for a walk before registering in case there happened to be a better option. There were actually very few sights with hookups and those were occupied by big rigs that didn't look like they were planning to go anywhere for a while. There were two other sights without hookups that had just been vacated but they were smaller than #4. We finished our walk and registered into our spot, which I was quite happy with. I didn't really need hookups as it was cool enough that I didn't need my A/C and I could do without the toaster, microwave, and espresso machine. And if I just had to make toast or microwave popcorn I could pull out my generator. One issue is there is only occasionally a cell signal but only one bar when there was a signal. I did spring $20 to get access to WiFi and even that seems to be spotty. So I that's about the worst of it. On the plus side, it is absolutely gorgeous. Mostly, I'm grateful I managed to score such a beautiful campsite and there are clean bathrooms and free hot showers just across the gravel road.

Campsite #4, VOF, Nevada.

After doing some very minor leveling and meeting a couple of the neighbors we got in the truck and went down to the town of Overton and topped off with fuel, stopped at Ace for some screws to do some minor trailer repairs, and restocked on bananas. I did make a quick stop at the VOF Visitors Center again to look at the gift shop but everything looked kinda funky.

I enjoy walking around the campgrounds and looking at the different kinds of rigs people use for their wandering. A lot of rental camper vans and motor homes, teardrops, and a huge variety of trailers and all. One guy here had a really trick looking travel trailer, a bit like an Air Stream. It was a Silver Streak that he had found abandoned with the windows all broken out of it and missing tires. Somehow he got the title to it and took it home and restored it. He said he had been working on it for ten years now. It was beautiful and the work he put into it was obvious. See the photo below.

Restored Silver Streak travel trailer at Valley of Fire State Park, NV.

It's evening now, we've had dinner and a walk, and the clouds have moved in and it's getting dark. I'm comfortable here and plan to stay a few days. My friends Chuck and Annette are heading back home to North Bend from the Scottsdale area with their trailer and are planning to stop here tomorrow for a visit. I've already worked out a deal with the neighbors so C&A will have a spot here. I hope to get some hikes in tomorrow as I'm told dogs are allowed on the trails here on a leash, unlike the National Parks.