Bus Stop #15, Big Creek Camp, Austin Nevada, 6-14-11

The first half of Nevada was a truly lonely road, little bitty town or two - miles and miles from each other. But, it was not hot, flat, desert! It was very beautiful.

 From Great Basin Park, we rose up and over a pass through a snow-capped range, and then drove down and down into a massively wide sagebrush valley, and then across and across and across, and then up and up and up again and over the next beautiful range. And so, this entire first half of Nevada went. These monstrously large vistas and spaces and no people.

Then the trouble began. Let me just quote from Deb’s journal. That will be best.
“We knew Austin was our halfway point today. We knew there were two campgrounds, one on the approach to Austin and one on the West side. We were pleasantly surprised to arrive at the first campground just past noon - we had made better time than we anticipated. Small 10-site forest service camp at the very top of 7,195 foot Bob Scott Summit, just right off the road with very few trees.
Thinking the other camp was just a few miles away, also right off the highway, we decided to travel on - BIG MISTAKE! Big Creek Campground is 11 miles off of the highway on a gravel road - no shade trees - 6 campsite - no water - creepy bathroom. But here we are. It has taken me several beers and time alone to work through my emotions.

First of all it was nerve racking driving the bus on that many mile of a gravel road. Thank goodness we have new tires. Secondly, it is an awful feeling to feel stuck. We have driven our quota of miles and there are no other camps for many many miles. My biggest disappointment however, was no possibility of a shower. We had a vision of being able to fill our shower bag, and letting it warm in the afternoon sun. With no fresh water here (two gallons left in the bus) the hopes of washing my hair, are slim to none.
One of the biggest drawbacks of camping in National Parks, is no showers. It has been a week ago tomorrow since my last real shower. My head is itching and my body feels nasty! But as I sit here, the wind is blowing through this canyon, and I know Madison and his band of Angels is saying, “Come on Mom, let your glass be half full, not half empty!”
So the good points are these:
we are not parked side by side in a sea of RV’s;
it is a gorgeous day;
we have a snow capped mountain and babbling creek as a backdrop;
it is warm here;
we have beer in the cooler!;
we have Casper, our porta-potty in the bus;  and
I am traveling across the country in Madison’s bus with the man I am passionately in love with.

Later on……
Roger and I were relaxing with a few beers when I noticed one of the back tires was going flat. Thank goodness for a brand new spare. Another first for us and bus. But the discouraging news was that fact that we would have to backtrack into Austin to have the tire repaired in the AM. Oh well, as Madison always sez, “shit happens”.

The night went south as Roger wanted me to talk about the emotions of the afternoon, and I just did not want to go back there.  He was mad and went to the bus to read. I was mad and sat by the campfire by myself. It was a fabulous fire with a full moon that reflected the snowcapped mountains, and Roger missed it. I was so mad I slept down in the bottom of the bus. In the middle of the night as the temp dropped Roger convinced me to bring Mom Miners wool blanket and join him up top.

Our morning coffee time was spent hashing out our feelings, removing the bricks and getting right with each other. By the time we packed up camp and headed back to Austin, things were good between us.

Agreeing to drive slower on the way out, it took us 30 minutes to go eleven miles to the highway. While I was looking the other direction, Roger saw a Jack Rabbit hopping across the road. After making a couple of inquiries bank in Austin we learned our only chance of getting the tire fixed was, ‘…sometimes Ray at the junk yard will fix a tire….’ So, that is where we went, and luckily, Ray was up to the task. A very interesting experience to say the least.”

Like I said, Deb really said it best - a very emotional stop. But now, after a fine breakfast at a local café, we were finally back to run the second half of Hwy 50!