A few truckers had joined us in our boondocking area in Mina, Nevada, but they were back on the road early and were gone before we departed. As I mentioned in my previous post, a storm came through and the outside temperature got down to 45 degrees. We had a little water come past the driver’s side bedroom slide seal. I’ll have to check it out, but it’s not too surprising considering the high winds and heavy rains overnight.
Ozark the cat kept warm by snuggling into the crook of Donna’s knees.
Ozark staying warm
We were on our way continuing up US95 a little before 9am. Traffic was light and the wind was from the south – tailwinds make for easy driving! The storm dropped fresh snow on the mountains around us. It was scenic and the terrain changed as we went north. There was more vegetation and it was a lot greener.
Snowy peak in the distance
A closer view showing snow and foggy peak
We traveled about 400 miles on US95 – it was mostly good, smooth pavement and, in fact, it’s one of the best stretches of highway we’ve been on with regard to road condition.
Our route took us through Hawthorne, Nevada. Before we reached town I saw numerous dirt covered concrete bunkers. It was the Hawthorne Army Depot – the world’s largest ammunition storage facility. It covers about 226 square miles and has 2,427 storage bunkers – about 600,000 square feet of storage.
We followed the truck route which bypassed the main drag through town and continued on past Walker Lake. This is a very scenic area and we saw several places along the lake that were open for camping. One or two areas looked like you could get a big rig in and out – I saw one large motorhome and several smaller RVs. We’ll file that information away for future reference.
View of Walker Lake out Donna’s window
By the time we reached Fallon, Nevada, (map) we were in farmland. There were hay fields and horse farms. The area receives irrigation from the Truckee River. Fallon used to be the home of a Marine Air Station. When the Navy moved their air station here from Miramar, California, I think there was a trade made. The Marines now occupy Miramar and the Navy is in Fallon.
In Fallon, we turned west at the junction of US50. This took us to I-80 where I stopped at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center. I topped off our tank with 60 gallons of diesel fuel at $2.42/gallon. Not the lowest we’ve paid, but still not bad! While we were at the travel center I weighed our rig on the CAT scale. I wondered why they called them CAT scales and found out it means Certified Automated Truck Scale. I wanted to check our weight and weight distribution with the larger trailer – I weighed our coach before with the old trailer.
I’ve read questions from RVers on forums about using a scale at a truck stop. Some guys are intimidated by it. There’s a protocol to follow, but it’s easy. Follow the signage to make sure you enter the scale platform in the proper direction. Pull up to the speaker box and press the call button. The attendant will ask if it’s the first weigh – say yes. Then they’ll ask for a truck number. Don’t try to explain you’re in an RV, give them a number. I always use 42 since those digits are on my license plate. They will tell you when the weighing is complete and tell you to pull through and go to the cashier and give your number to get your certified weight receipt. Make sure you have your license plate and trailer plate numbers also – you’ll need them. When the cashier asks what company you’re from, say it’s a private vehicle. At that point, I give them the plate numbers and they print out my weight ticket. The price varies – it was $10.50 at this center.
The weight ticket gives a gross weight – this is the certified weight using the full length platform scale. Then it breaks down the weight by axles. In my case I had a steer axle weight, drive axle weight, trailer axle(s) weight and gross weight. As expected, the larger trailer and the Spyder in it increased our gross weight over what it was with the 12-foot trailer and scooter.
Our coach weighs 30,700 lbs (combined weight of steer and drive axles) with full fuel and fresh water tanks. This is approaching our gross vehicle weight rating of 31,000 lbs. Our trailer axle weight is 4,400 lbs – well under the 7,000-lbs rating. Our combined weight is 35,100 lbs – again well under the coach’s combined weight rating of 41,000 lbs. Our weight is biased more to the rear than before due to the higher trailer tongue weight at the rear of the coach. I think I’ll move a few things toward the back of the trailer to put more weight on the trailer axles and relieve some tongue weight.
It was a short drive west on I-80 to Sparks, Nevada. We pulled in to the Sparks Marina RV Resort where I had reserved a 65′ pull-through site. The check-in process was efficient and the office was clean and tidy and staffed by pleasant people. They had an escort in a golf cart lead us to the site.
I don’t know how they figured it was a 65′ long site. Out total length is a few inches under 65′ and we don’t fit. They had me pull forward so the front of the coach extends past the site boundary a couple of feet. The rear of the trailer extends past the rear boundary and is a few feet into the street. The attendant that led us to site said not to worry and he placed orange plastic posts on either end of our rig to warn other drivers. I’m thinking it’s a 56′ site that the person read as 65′.
Front of coach overhangs site
Rear of trailer extends into street
The park is very clean and nice. The sites are paved and level. There’s fake turf between the sites over dirt with trees and picnic tables. It’s a nice place. The downside to the way we’re parked is the distance to the sewer hook-up. We’re about 25 feet from the hook-up and I have about 21 feet of sewer hose. I had to make a trip to Walmart for another hose extension.
The reason we came to Sparks was so Donna could fly from the Reno airport to Albany, New York. She wanted to spend Mother’s Day with her parents and spend time with friends and family there. Donna packed her bag and prepared for her trip while I made the run to Walmart. Then we watched TV and sacked out early. She had a cab pick her up at 4:30am to drive to the airport for her 5:45am departure. After she left, Ozark kept me up for a while, then I drifted off to sleep a bit. I was up by 6:30 am.
It’s raining as I type this and it’s expected to rain on and off through the weekend. I’ll be a bachelor for the coming week. I’m so spoiled by Donna, I can hardly stand it, but I’ll get by until she returns Friday night.