Home to NASCAR Kentucky

Bootle’s are traveling west again.  This time we are headed to the Rockies.  We left New Jersey on Tuesday, June 24^th.  Our first stop was an overnight in Madison, Pennsylvania.  It was a small campground and it rained just before we pulled into our site.  It’s always fun setting up the water, electric and sewer connections in the rain.  Once we got set up (the rain stopped), we ventured out to find a place for dinner.  We found a Cracker Barrel about five miles away, ate dinner and went back to the campground.  We were both pretty tired, so we went to bed.

Wednesday, we were on the road early.  Continuing west on I70, our next destination; Kentucky Speedway for a weekend of NASCAR races.  Terry enjoys NASCAR so we perused the race schedule to find a venue that would fit our schedule.  Kentucky was perfect!  It was not too far off our original route west and the timing worked out for us.  We camped for four nights in Millionaire’s Row.  The site is just large enough for our 45’ motor home with the four slides extended.  We were also able to squeeze the car in with some help from our neighbors who were gracious enough to allow us to use part of their site for the car.  We usually camp with full hookups (water, 50 amp electric and sewer).  This site only had 50 amp electric hence the name Millionaire’s Row.  The other campgrounds at this race track are dry camping (no hookups at all).

Our site was within walking distance of our seats; about three quarters of a mile.  When we were too tired to walk, the track provided golf carts we could flag down for a ride.

We have friends who live about 25 miles from the track.  We contacted them before we left on our trip to let them know we would be in the area.  They were happy to know there was an opportunity for a visit.  Thursday we drove to Walton where we met our friends, Bob & Ruth Exler.  We spent time catching up on our adventures.  They showed us their lovely home and took us to their farm where they stable two horses.  We went back to their house and were treated to a delicious ham dinner.  Ruth is a wonderful cook.  Time flew by.  We had to leave to be in time for the truck race.  This race is shorter than the other two; 225 miles.  Kyle Busch won the race.  The picture is Kyle doing celebratory burnouts.

Friday, we walked to the track and enjoyed the Fan Zone.  This is a pass that gets the fan close to the action, but not too close.  We watched the Sprint Cup cars go through their inspection.  That is where NASCAR Officials actually measures each competing car.  They use metal templates to ensure each car is accurately measured.  See the photo of Dale Earnhardt’s car going through this procedure.

We attended the Nationwide race under very threaten skies.  The rain held off and the race ran its full 300 miles.  Kevin Harvick won this race.  We didn’t stick around to take photos of his burnout.

Saturday, after lunch, we went back to the Fan Zone where we got drenched by a down pour.  We found a food tent to wait it out.  During a break in the rain, we made our way to the tunnel which runs under the track.  We got almost all the way back to the motor home and the skies opened up again.  We were soaked by the time we got back.  Despite the early rain, the Green Flag dropped on the Sprint Quaker State 400 at 7:30 that night.  It was an exciting race.  Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch battled it out for 400 miles.  Brad pulled ahead in the last 20 laps for the win.  This race was billed as a shootout between Busch and Keselowski.  They didn’t disappoint.

From here we head to St. Louis.  I’ll post something when I can.

Pahrump to St. George, Utah

On August 30th, our travels take us back through Las Vegas and north 200 miles to St. George, Utah where we will visit Zion National Park.  On the way, we were given the option to tour Valley of Fire State Park and the Lost City Museum.

Taken directly for the Parks website -- The Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago. Complex uplifting and faulting of the region, followed by extensive erosion, have created the present landscape.

Other important rock formations include limestones, shales, and conglomerates. Prehistoric users of the Valley of Fire included the Basket Maker people and later the Anasazi Pueblo farmers from the nearby fertile Moapa Valley.

The span of approximate occupation has been dated from 300 B.C.E. to 1150 C.E. Their visits probably involved hunting, food gathering, and religious ceremonies, although scarcity of water would have limited the length of their stay. Fine examples of rock art left by these ancient peoples can be found at several sites within the park.

Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire

Once out of the park, we followed directions to the museum.  When we arrived, we realized there was no parking for a motor home the size of ours.  We parked on the shoulder of the road across the street.  Before touring the museum, we had a bite of lunch.  Terry also needed a break from driving through the park (lots of curves and hills).  Following is the history of the museum taken from the Lost City Museum website.

Established: 1935  The Lost City Museum was built by the National Park Service to exhibit artifacts that were being excavated from Pueblo Grande de Nevada.  These Anasazi Indian sites were being threatened by the waters of Lake Mead as it backed up behind the newly built Hoover Dam.  Eventually, when the lake was filled to capacity, about five miles of sites had been inundated or undercut by the water.

The Civilian Conservation Corps assisted in the excavation of the sites and the construction of the museum building. The building was constructed of sun-dried adobe brick in a pueblo- revival style.  The museum also served as the park headquarters for the Boulder Dam State Park that was established at Lake Mead.

Death Valley

Forty eight of us loaded onto a bus at 8:00 am the morning of August 29^th headed for Death Valley.  We rode for about an hour and a half before we reached Badwater.  It is the lowest, driest, and hottest location in North America.  At 282 feet below sea level, it was a desolate place.  From Badwater, we traveled to Furnace Creek.  We scoped out the Visitor Center where the temperature was 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  We ate lunch at the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch.  I went out to take some pictures.  My legs were so hot, I told Terry I had to be good because I didn’t want to find out how hot hell is.

Badwater

That's Hot!!

After lunch, we loaded back in the bus for a 45 mile drive to Scotty’s Castle.  We took a guided tour of the home (more a mansion than a castle).  We learned about Walter Scott also known as “Death Valley Scotty”.  Scotty convinced everyone that he had built the castle with money from his rich secret mines in the area.  Albert Mussey Johnson actually built the house as a vacation getaway for himself and his wife Bessie.  Scotty was the mystery, the cowboy, and the entertainer, but he also became a very good friend of the Johnsons.  Albert was the brains and the money.  Two men as different as night and day, from different worlds and with different visions - who shared a dream.

Scotty's Castle

 We got back to the campground around 6:30 pm.  It was a long day.  Our compassionate Caravan Hosts prepared a hamburger feast for us.  We socialized a bit, instructed on the route we would take to our next destination and dismissed for the evening.  Boy, I slept good that night.

Las Vegas to Pahrump

NOTE:  We have been without internet access since we left Pahrump.  A lot has happened since then.  Will post as I get it together.  In the meantime, enjoy this post.

It has been pretty quiet.  Saturday was spent doing laundry.  Sunday before church we went to a buffet for breakfast.  In the afternoon, Ed drove us up and down the Las Vegas Strip.  We walked the “Fremont Street Experience”.  It’s an experience at night with various light shows.  We went during the day but we did see some of the lights last night when we drove through town.  We ate lunch at a casino with a Sunday Brunch buffet.  There was everything from soup to nuts; breakfast foods, carving station, salad, soup, various ethnic options and, of course, desserts.  It was good, but I don’t need to do two buffets in one day any time soon.

The Vegas Strip

Start of Fremont Street

Monday morning around 10:30, we said our good byes to the Candler’s and left Las Vegas for Pahrump, NV on NV State Road 160.  If you ever watch CSI Las Vegas and they investigate a death in the desert, this is the road where they most likely filmed the episode.  It is miles and miles of miles and miles.

We traveled NV State Road 160 for about 60 miles.  The uphill grades were 6% & 7%.  Terry did all he could do to get the coach to go faster than 35 mph.  And then at the crest of the hill, we started down.  Speeds reached 70 and 75 mph.  Not bad if it weren’t a winding road.

Miles & Miles of Miles & Miles

We arrived around 12:30.  Ate some lunch and set up the coach.  Boy, its hot here!  We ate supper at a local Denny’s and came back to the campground for a social time around the pool with our fellow tour folks.  We participated in a get acquainted game that broke the ice for some of us.  We met most of the folks with whom we will be traveling.

Tuesday morning we slept in, did a load of wash, and took a drive into town.  At 2:00, we all gathered in the conference room for our tour orientation.  From there, we left for the Pahrump Winery for a tour, wine tasting and dinner.  The tour was interesting.  Why a winery in the desert?; because Nevada didn’t have a winery.  Now there are a total of four wineries in Nevada.  We moved onto a room setup for dinner.  The owner of the winery, Gretchen, hosted the wine tasting.  We sampled seven different wines and had a choice between Strip Steak, Roasted Chicken or Atlantic Salmon for dinner.  I chose the salmon, Terry the steak.  The meal was delicious and the wine pairings were perfect.  After dinner, we had an opportunity to buy wine to enjoy on the road (not while driving).