Perfect days or moments pop up in tiny towns throughout our travels.
On Our Road to Bliss
Dipping our toes in the chilly water of Deloris River
Cottonwood seeds float on a gentle breeze as the waters of the Deloris River ripple past. It’s a balmy 72 degrees and the sun is shining. You hear young girls laughing in the distance. You see them next, braving the chilly waters as they ride their raft downriver on a swift current. This is where we currently are on our Road to Bliss.
Birds flit through dappled shade, off to tend newly feathered fledglings. Deer step to the waters’ edge for a cool drink. The day is crystal clear. Perfect. I want to hug it close and never let go.
Unexpected Surprises
Ken and I feel privileged to spend time in some awe inspiring places. National Parks that portray the majesty of our country. State Parks and forests that protect some of our country’s greatest treasures. But perfect days, those come unexpectedly. Those are the days you want to bottle like fireflies. To tuck away for safekeeping until they can be savored again in the winter years of life.
Perfect days or moments pop up in tiny towns throughout our travels. These small towns struggle valiantly to get you to see them. They beg you to stop and experience the town through their eyes. They beckon with natural resources, creativity, and sometimes even with a little bit of gonzo and flair. The results can often be more perfect than they know.
A Delightful Carousel
A special day could be at the historic 1909 carousel in Albany, Oregon where children and adults ride wooden, hand carved zebra, bison, a giant frog, or other fantastical menagerie. Where the community has come together as volunteers to create this one special, beautiful thing that everyone and anyone can enjoy because the last ride of the day is always free.
Dining
Other times, we find these moments in an outstanding restaurant like Little Brown Hen in Florence, Oregon or Little Gretel in Boerne, Texas. Many come to mind. Places where the chef/owners take pride and pleasure in serving mouthwatering and memorable food.
Flower Farms & Festivals
There are flower farms like Schreiner’s Iris in Salem, Oregon or Purple Haze Lavender in Sequim, Washington that work all year to open their businesses to offer you a day of meandering garden delight. Imagine musicians playing and flowers perfuming the air as you sip wine and stroll acres of floral beauty.
Hot springs, ghost towns, festivals, historic hotels, market days, swan boats or a simple meal by the campfire. You never know where your perfect moment will happen.
Conveyance for Finding Your Bliss
This is what traveling in an RV is. It is the conveyance for finding your bliss. Your perfect moment. Your perfect day. If you slow down and look, it is there in offerings from small towns across the country. Towns that may never have been discovered if you flew over them on your way to that other, fabulous destination.
There is an RV for every age, ability, price and comfort level. Have you ever dreamed about what it would be like? Would RVing be hard? Expensive? Can I (we) do it? It is worth exploring as an option. Everyone deserves to find their bliss and to tuck away some perfect moments. Maybe yours can be found in the destinations you uncover while traveling in an RV.
We bid adieu to the Spring Mountains in Las Vegas and pointed The Burrow northward on Nevada highway 95 to the Comstock Load, Virginia City, Nevada.
Last year, we were delayed in Las Vegas while Ken recuperated from pneumonia, so the push was on to get to the Pacific Northwest a little earlier using a new route. Our RV, a Bigfoot, is habitable to 17 degrees-below-zero. But our snow driving experience is limited since we are Floridians. Give us alligators no problem. Four kinds of poisonous snakes, got it covered. Five species of poisonous spiders and enough mosquitoes to carry you away, (shrug) it’s all good. But snow? Yikes! We crossed our fingers hoping we were not moving too soon.
The drive was a delightful surprise. Highway 95 is good road through the desert, with little traffic and fewer towns to slow you down. The beautiful, snow-capped mountaintops of Yosemite towered on the horizon as we made our way north. We stayed for the week at a quiet State Park in Dayton (just down the road from the famous Bunny Ranch) where we had easy access to Carson City (the state capitol), Virginia City (Comstock Load), Lake Tahoe and my favorite activity…Steamboat Hot Springs.
Carson City, Nevada
How many times have you heard about a town, or place, and it did not interest you to visit? Since we started RV’ing, I feel like my mind has been blown. The little towns and historic places in our country are amazing. Seeing them is a privilege that I hope you have already experienced or will soon have the opportunity.
Capitol Bldg. French Crystal Window
Carson City is of course, the capital of Nevada. So, our first stop was the capitol building tour. Built in 1870, it is the second oldest capitol building west of the Mississippi and is adorned with beautiful architecture , a museum on the second floor in the old senate chambers, and an interactive display in the state supreme court room. An interesting fact is the building was condemned but subsequently restored in 1979. We meandered the Kit Carson Trail through downtown historic homes and businesses, while Ken reminisced about, as a young boy, reading Kit Carson adventure novels and how exciting it had all seemed. We enjoyed a lovely spring day, and had a really, really, good lunch at Gather.
Passive activities like touring Carson City, are good but give us an adventure, give us something we love to do, or give us something we have never done before, and it’s a permanent memory. One of my best memories was during a visit to Hot Springs, Arkansas. To me, a nice long soak in a hot spring mineral bath is one of life’s greatest pleasures. I am excited to be heading into one the most active regions for hot spring activity that produces them (read, Volcanoes here).
Steamboat Hot Springs
Steamboat Hot Springs was right in our path so it was my pick as a “must do”. Established in 1857, the springs are piped into a building, listed on the historic register. The menu includes all types of spa treatments, but we opted for a one-hour couples soak. Being able to do this together is one thing I really liked about their menu at Steamboat. In Arkansas, they segregated the baths and massages.
We arrived, eager for the experience and were asked if we would like to include aromatherapy, then shown to our private room. The building is set up a lot like an old roadside motel. Each bath is in a private room entered from an interior hallway and is decorated in a color theme designated by a stained-glass window. You may choose you room color at reservation time, and we choose the blue room. It included a shower, changing bench, towels, cool towels for your face, and a giant tub. The tub had plenty of room for two people, I could practically swim in it. The attendant explained the faucet system, and then, left us alone.
“Heaven, I’m in heaven,
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we’re out together bathing, cheek to cheek.”
What a great experience we had. If you get to this area, we highly recommend the hot springs experience. Check for a Groupon to see if you can snag it at a discount. We found out — after we got there — you can bring your own bath essentials, like soaps, or bath salts, or snacks, or drinks. Wow! If only we had known. We could have bumped this experience up a notch. Oh well. Next time.
Virginia City, Nevada
Our next visit was to Virginia City, what could be considered the proverbial 1800’s mining town in every western film made and home to the first major discovery of silver in the US…The Comstock Load. It was easy to imagine the bawdy, bustling, booming town that made Virginia City famous. Perched at six thousand feet high on Mt. Davidson, it commands stunning views and still retains the ambiance and charm of yesteryear. Ken and I have been fortunate to tour other historical towns, but this one seems to resonate with the excitement and gaiety that was present in its heyday; almost as if the walls are imprinted with the past residents’ lives.
Chandelier in the Virginia City Tourism Bldg.
Step Back In Time
Walk down the board sidewalks, and the muddy streets, with horses tied and patiently waiting, while their owners entertained themselves with women, or drinks at one of the many saloons, comes to life. You can picture the men made wealthy by silver and gold, dressed in their finest, attending a private club for supper with a beautiful woman on their arm or entering the bank for a meeting. And in your mind, you see the trappers coming in from snowy mountains to socialize and sell their pelts. This is where Mark Twain first began his writing career, publishing news stories in the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, and where others, people notable in banking, mining, and politics got their start. Also, it’s the city that Bonanza’s brothers, Ben, Hoss, Adam and Lil’ Joe rode in to for supplies.
Bucket of Blood Saloon
Virginia City was an interesting and pleasant visit to our past, preserved for our future. We recommend a visit here but plan plenty of time. And make sure to have a drink inThe Bucketof Blood Saloon, notable for the many bloody miners’ fights.
Ken and I were disappointed to miss Lake Tahoe as it was only about twenty miles away but I’m sure we will visit this area again. Our travel style is a mix of unscheduled stops combined with more lengthy reservations so sometimes we just don’t get to linger in an area before it is time to move on. You take the bad with the good. Ken is better at moving on than me.
Travel Tips for Nevada Highway 95
If you are wondering about traveling this leg of Nevada highway 95 with your RV, we were comfortable the entire way except for a few high wind areas. Make sure you have a full tank of gas before leaving Amargosa Valley as gas stations are scarce along the way. Also notable on this route, is the town of Hawthorne that houses the largest munitions depot in the country. You can see the ordinance bunkers stretching for miles and miles through the desert. There is a free museum dedicated to all things munitions. Lake Walker, just north of Hawthorne, is a nice spot to pull out for a quick lunch or an overnight. Oh…. And there is a sizable herd of Desert Bighorn Sheep inhabiting the area. We saw them climbing rocks along the lakefront. Fortunately, we didn’t run over any of them. Not one.
