Rolling, Rollin’, Rollin’ …

What can I say?  Well, not much, I’m afraid.

Traveling northbound, I have not been in a rush, so when I spotted the lakeshore campsites at Upper Pahranagat Lake National Wildlife Refuge just north of Vegas, I pulled in even though it was only shortly after noon.  I had hoped and expected that similar diversions would slow my spring migration north, but it has not worked out that way.  I have been sticking to highway 93 up through Nevada in order to avoid the traffic and pace of the I-15.  While very scenic and wide open, there have not been many tempting places to overnight, or longer.  Same thing for photos. 

Lots of nice country, but somewhat repetitious.  So, instead of being tempted to stop early and camp, the days have been somewhat longer, only stopping when darkness is imminent.  And driving slow and easy seems to be saving fuel! 

North of Ely, I checked out a side road that had some campgrounds on it, but it was getting up into the 7000’ elevation range and pretty close to the snow line,

and the pavement ran out, so I carried on in the lower elevation valley, eventually stopping at a historic Pony Express crossing. 

Even this area was pleasantly cool at night, and in the morning, I reluctantly searched for some jeans in the closet, thinking this would be the end of the shorts for a while.  But I was wrong, and before I had moved the rig, I could tell it was going to be much too warm for the long pants yet!

I stopped for a bite in Wells, Nv, and topped off the tank again.

I see that in this section in northern Nevada, they have fenced the highway to keep the critters off the highway; then like home in Banff, have built wildlife overpasses.

I don’t know who is copying who here, but they also are using these wildlife ‘jump-outs’, designed to allow animals to jump over the fence in one direction only.

Speaking of fuel, either I am on a lucky streak, or things are different in Nevada and the north country, but my last three fills have all taken place at the pump, not one of which asked for a zip code.  I had a bit of an unusual experience while fuelling up in Arco, ID. ( Arco is in Idaho, right Al?)

I pulled into the first station in town and was just putting the nozzle into the tank when staff from the station came running out yelling.  At first I didn’t know what was wrong.  Then they said, “If you are filling up with diesel, just wait a moment as we are lowering the price by 10 cents a gallon.”!  So I stood by the pump and watched the price go down, while the guy with a long pole changed the price on the overhead sign!  Now that’s what I call service!  Bring on the gas price wars!

I guess you could say that I’m Alberta Bound! (Gordon Lightfoot)