More Rona time killing

We decided to go for a drive again just to kill part of the day. We weren’t up for an all-day drive, so we headed over the hump to Pahrump. I thought maybe we would see some funny pandemic related displays at the world-famous Chicken Ranch. Instead, even though it is open for business, we didn’t see a single car in the parking lot. One would assume given the Governor’s mask mandate for businesses, at least some of the services that would normally be on the menu can’t legally be performed.

We thought that maybe at the other famous bordello in town, Shari’s Ranch, that there might be a little more going on. When we toured the Chicken Ranch and Shari’s many years ago, Shari’s had a hopping busy bar, with lots of locals just there for a drink (at least that is what it seemed like.) Well, we were wrong. There was not a single car parked here as well.

We finally did find where all the cars were. The parking lot at the Pahrump Valley Winery was absolutely packed. As we drove through, we could see that the dining room was packed as well. Even from the car looking through the dining room windows, it was pretty apparent that social distancing wasn’t the foremost thought in everyone’s mind.

We hope to be talking to you soon.

Special treat

 Since we were only 3 hours from San Diego, we decided to pay a visit to the Silver Strand State Beach campground we have stayed at many times. But we were stunned when we arrived on Sunday

afternoon. Despite the warning signs everywhere about masks and social distancing, the beach was shoulder to shoulder to the point where we probably couldn’t have found even a spot on the sand to sit.

Although both Nick and Valerie are both working full time during the week, we planned to hook up Sunday night. We were excited about sitting by the campfire, but learned that wasn’t going to happen. The State would not allow visitors into the campground. Luckily, we were able to walk into the beachside parking area and find a picnic table where we had enough room to set up our Corn Hole game before we had a nice turkey chili dinner.

Kona hadn’t seen anyone in 3 months, so he was completely beside

himself snuggling with Nick and Val. We did make one exception to our strict self-enforced social distancing and played a game of Wizard. The Woman was the big winner. After the game, everyone got a good squirt of hand sanitizer. Hopefully that was enough diligence.

Dang those Mexicans! Not even Trump’s wall can keep their illegals from crossing the border and adversely effecting our economy. We learned that polluted waters flowing into the Pacific from the Tajuana River at times flow North and end up closing beaches as far as Coronado due to the high levels of contaminants. However, I was even more disappointed to find that we can’t even get “Beach Closed” signs that are printed in English. Sheesh!

Our drive back was pretty uneventful. We got on the road early enough on

Friday to miss the throngs of Californian’s heading to Vegas for the weekend. As we pondered the pandemic and how it influenced our visit with our son, I spotted this sign on Interstate 15. For obvious reasons, we chose not to take one of the next 6 exits.

The news was saying that there were some 367 wildfires burning in California right now. We heard many different numbers, but that is the one we heard being reported many times, so we’re sticking with that one. The smoke in the air was making the Woman cough a whole bunch. But we did have to admit that it made for some pretty sunrises.

We hope to be talking to you soon.

Back to California

We’re heading back to Big Bear for some more Covid R&R. Along the way we stopped to check out something we had seen several times as we drove by along I-15 but had no idea what it was

. It turns out that in 2017, a group of friends bought 36 acres in Yermo (very near Peggy Sue’s Diner). One member of the group was Chinese born dissident Weiming Chen, who christened it Liberty Sculpture Park.

His first sculpture dedicated to the Park was The Origin of Freedom Number One: 

Chief Crazy Horse, celebrating the 140^th anniversary of the death of Crazy Horse in 1877. He sculpted a 16-foot-tall likeness of Chinese activist Li Wangyang. The giant number 64 is what caught our attention from the freeway and got us here. Chen sculpted it as the world’s largest monument to the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square.

In describing this sculpture, Chen says that the massacre took place on June 4, the numbers are 6.4 meters high, and the sculpture is exactly 6,400 miles from the massacre site in Tiananmen Square. His latest addition there is Tank Ma

n, another tribute to Tiananmen Square. Chen had wanted to use a real tank in the sculpture, but couldn’t make that happen, so he eventually built one using steel, wood, fiber glass and plaster.

We got the chance to cross the historic Scottsburg Bridge, open now only to foot traffic. The bridge was built in 1929 to span the then raging Umpqua

River. The bridge was too narrow for current traffic patterns on Highway 28, so a new bridge was built and opened in 2020. California DOT requested volunteers to move the old bridge to preserve it due to its historic nature, however nobody stepped up. Good thing we found it now, as it is slated to be dismantled.

As always, Big Bear was glorious. We managed to find 4 more sections of the Pacific Crest Trail

we had not discovered the last time we were here, and probably knocked off another 8 to 10 miles. The Woman was in her happy place. I wish I had kept track of all the miles we have hiked of the PCT. I imagine it would add up to a not insignificant portion, including having been at both ends in the last year or so.

We hope to be talking to you soon.

Hunkered down some more

We got a special treat today. Lennar Homes has a development in Henderson where they are building homes with RV garages attached. Because of the pandemic, you can book a tour of the model on line. You show up at the front door at your appointed time – one slot each half hour – and their location services send the electronic door lock code to your

phone. No sales office, no sales agent – it felt very safe, although we did bring our own hand sanitizer and wore masks. It did feel a little more like 2019 however – fun!

On the way back we decided to see what may have changed along Water Street in old downtown Henderson. We had completely forgotten that the old

convention center was being refurbished to become the home ice and training facilities for the Las Vegas Golden Knights farm team. We don’t know when the facilities will be completed, but eventually the Henderson Silver Knights will be practicing and playing here – cool!

So, every day we are out walking in the morning before the blast furnace heat arrives, Kona manages to find lots of free toys along the way. He likes to pick u

p sticks, carrying them proudly with both his head and his tail held high. But his favorite is finding a big ole pine cone. He carries them, and occasionally drops them in front of the Woman so she can kick it down the street a bit. He then scampers, batting it with is front paws while growling fiercely. It’s fun just to watch. Every now and then he decides to bring a very special one home. Here is his current collection. The Woman won't let him bring them in the house.

We hope to be talking to you soon.

Hunkered down

Went out to do another drive today, just to kill some time. Kona always enjoys when we drive through neighborhoods slowly enough so we can put the window down and he can hang his head out. Here, something special caught his attention.

Many years ago, we took my mon and the kids to Boulder City to witness this phenomenon. Apparently, every afternoon the bighorn sheep that live near Lake Mead move from one side of the valley to the other. Doing this, they end up walking through the same neighborhoods and eventually end up in Hemenway Park. While visiting Lake Mead Recreational Area for the views, we wandered by Hemenway Park to see if things had changed. We were happy to see that they had not. 

It’s wild fire season in California, which means it is smoke season in Vegas. There is a haze over the valley many days, and our eyes itch like crazy. The Woman says s

he can even smell it, and she is also coughing like crazy, which during this pandemic makes her particularly popular when we are out on our morning walks. There is one upside here, however. The nightly views of the moon are pretty awesome!

We hope to be talking to you soon.