Mid-March, I had an idea for one last outing before we leave for Africa. Let's see what this crazy winter is doing to the desert east of Reno, Nevada. After all, we were having near record high temperatures and no rain on our side of the Sierra Nevada mountains -- why not check out the drier side?
I sprung the idea of introducing our friends Daryl and Vicki Maddox to boondocking over dinner one night. I don't know if it was the champagne Daryl kept pouring, cabin fever or the call of the wild, but Daryl and Vicki were enthused and didn't hesitate a minute to agree to go.
The plan was for Daryl and Vicki to rent an RV in Reno and together we would head to Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge near Fallon, Nevada for two days and then move on to Dixie Valley, 60 miles east of Fallon, truly in the middle of nowhere.
It was a good plan at the time, days of near 80 degrees, perfect warm evenings for sitting out and hopefully enjoying the stars, migrating birds swarming all over the NWR. Ha! Did any of the actors in this play read the script? A storm moved in the day before our planned departure. Chain controls on I-80, snow in the forecast for the Fallon area. We hoped for the best and plunged on.
We did make it over Donner Pass. We checked in at the NWR HQ office and were informed we would likely have the Refuge to ourselves. We found the only pond in Stillwater with any water in it. Don't know if Daryl is looking for more water or wine?
We discovered white pelicans were plentiful, almost as plentiful as the white wine we brought.
The Refuge information specialist told us where to camp, a scraped off area near the only two ponds with water. It was flat, and we did have it all to ourselves.
Within minutes of arrival, we had camp established and the fun began.
Daryl and Vicki were really having fun as were we. None of us minded having to scramble to break camp when the first snow squall rolled in.
We awoke to snow all the way down to the valley floor. And a trecherous road on the drive out.
Another empty Stillwater pond.
We figured the day would improve as we moved over to Dixie Valley. And it did, we had this immense valley all to ourselves.
The pavement ended 25 miles after leaving Highway 50 and we only seemed to just reach the center of everything/nothing. The valley is littered with small clumps of trees which were probably once homesteads. We worked our way towards one promising looking stand of cottonwoods, hoping for a good place to set up camp. A maze of gravel roads crisscross the valley and we did see two or three ranch complexes, but otherwise there didn't appear to be another person within fifty miles.
Daryl liked the idea of having Dixie Valley to himself.
The Casita (white spec) tucked in among the cottonwoods. Anticipating the gathering storm, our nightly rain/snow squall.
The valley floor was littered with tracked vehicles, which according to my friend Jim Napier USMC retired, are most likely there for Maverick missile targeting. The vehicle above is an air to ground missile targeting radar platform with anti-aircraft gun.
The next day, under clear skies, we were startled frequently by F-18s from Fallon Naval Air Station running mock strafing missions.
We accomplished our mission! Daryl and Vicki think they like the RVing lifestyle and want to do it again. There is so much more to explore in Dixie Valley we know we want to take another run over there when we get back from Africa. We managed not to run out of water at this dry campsite, nor run out of wine. What more could you ask for. And despite a heavy snow over I-80 on the day we headed home, we made it safely over the mountains and have tucked the Casita into storage until yet another day.
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