After dropping Tiffany off at the airport, I was able to get packed up and finally get out of town en-route to Baja. I detoured to Bend, Oregon to take care of some things and to be reminded how little I miss the cold and snow. After taking care of "things" and visiting friends in Bend, I was ready to leave but the weather was certainly not being very co-operative. Snow with more in the forecast. Rather than heading straight south, I opted to go east and then south down through Nevada/Arizona. Seeing as how I left Bend early morning on Christmas Eve I figured I'd have less holiday traffic by taking the smaller highways and staying off the main roads. Heavy snow was being forecasted along the Sierra's to the south and numerous traffic accidents had already been reported south of Bend. It took me an extra day to get down to the border but the traffic ended up being minimal. The snow and cold didn't co-operate as I ran into quite a bit of snow in the higher elevations. Was an enjoyable trip down as I camped and did some off-road exploration in Nevada.
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| Mountain pass in eastern Oregon. |
Christmas Eve was spent in the little remote mountain town of Austin, Nevada where I met Victor. While sipping a purchased beer and free shots being provided by Victor I was Victor's captor while he ranted on about world problems and of course, how he'd solve them. The more he drank, and he was drinking quite a bit, the more solutions he was coming up with to fix things. What I was able to gather, when allowed to get a word in, was that Victor owns the bar, is from Serbia and loves Donald Trump. Had big signs out front supporting him. He can't vote but wants to see "The Donald" get in there so he could fix all the shit! Victor was quite entertaining but I was eventually rescued by the only other patrons in the bar on Christmas Eve, Marcus and his girlfriend Effie. They were camped just up the road and invited me back to their camper for a Christmas Eve dinner. It was snowing like hell but we were able to get back to their camper where we had a nice spaghetti dinner. I enjoyed Victor but it was nice spending Christmas Eve with sane people.
Victor expounding on how he'd fix all "the shit" going on in the world!
Victor's choice of art in his fine establishment.
Petey outside Victors Place styling his new Ruffwear jacket.
Effie was a huge fan of Petey. He's a major babe magnet!
Following day, I made the mistake of trying to find an old ghost town that Victor had told me about. After pounding down numerous frozen dirt roads back in the mountains, I never was able to locate it but had fun exploring. Petey and I ended up camping back in there on Christmas Day. Wasted the better part of the day poking around back in the mountains. Cold but nice country.
Camped back in the mountains pictured.
Did find some old buildings but not what I was looking for.
Following day, we kept heading south in search of warmer climates. No, I didn't stay here but did have to stop and take the picture. You see signs advertising these once you get into Nevada. This one was located right next to a convenience and gas store.
Finally got a little further south where the temps started to improve. We spent a cold Christmas night while camped out in the mountains and were glad to be in warmer climes. Pulled off above Searchlight, Nevada in a wash where we four wheeled in about a mile before calling it a night. Had a beautiful spot in the desert where we watched a full moon rise early that evening.
More updates coming soon..........
