DAY 30: Winnemucca, Nevada - Can You Say "Close Encounter" of the Concrete Kind??

Tuesday, June 30: Winnemucca, Nevada

Good riddance, Vacaville, CA!  Hello Winnemucca, NV!!  

I must first start off by describing how we exited our Vacaville campground this morning.  You may recall we were parked right smack next to a caboose.  We were packed into this park like sardines with trees everywhere.  

 

Ok, study this picture.  I'm 52' long.  I have not only a caboose to the north of me (red), but between the caboose and the road there is a huge trash dumpster.  On the other side of me (#62), is a large 5th wheel, full size pickup truck and a large tree.  How do I get out of this spot? I'm not going to answer this for you.  I want to hear from you as to what you would do.......

Since we are now in Winnemucca, Nevada, you must assume I made it out of there.  We had a great drive today getting to Nevada.  The scenery was beautiful, the weather was beautiful and the roads weren't terrible; for the most part.  We did have one stretch of road, however, that white knuckled me for 3 miles.  See picture.  We had not crossed over into Nevada yet and had been going through miles and miles of construction when we came upon this.  Yes, I had seen the signs that said if your vehicle was over 101" wide, don't go any further.  Chuck said not to worry about it; we were way under that width.  Let's stop there for a moment.  When trying to calculate in your mind a certain height or width, do you imagine yourself lying in that space and calculate based on how tall you are whether it will work?  For some reason, that's what I do.  And that's what I was doing when I saw the "Not to exceed 101" width requirements".  I imagined myself lying across the RV.  I thought it would be close, but he was probably right.  After all, the semis were continuing on; surely they were wider than me!  Before I knew it, I was driving between two concrete barrier walls that were SOOOOOOOOOOOOO close to me, I think I held my breath the entire 3 miles.  Chuck was looking out his window and encouraging me with words like, "I think I could open my door and not hit the wall.......I think.." and "You're doing great, Liz........just don't look down" or "I think I see the end of the concrete barriers up ahead" but he really didn't.  What a cheerleader.  He knew by the fact that I hadn't breathed in awhile, had the death grip on the steering wheel,  and had lost all the blood out of my face, that these words of encouragement was his way of staying alive.  After what seemed like an hour, we finally moved past these barriers.  I think he was very proud of me.  We found out later from a campground neighbor that had also gone through there, that we had about 6" clearance on each side.  I don't think Chuck could have opened his door........

So here we are in Winnemucca.  For those few of you who don't know where Winnemucca, Nevada is, neither do we!  It's somewhere in the middle of the state I think.  We did learn from George our neighbor here at this beautiful campground that Winnemucca means "one shoe".  It was named after the Paiute Indian Tribe Chief Winemucca.  Legend has it, that he fell in love with a beautiful indian woman and gave her his shoe; just one shoe.  (Evidently, he felt this took the place of a diamond ring). When he died, it is said that his death was attributed to his being bewitched by his young wife, who was stoned to death......with only one shoe (sorry, I made that last part up). 

Well, thats your history lesson for the day.  Now, I need to hear from each of you on how exactly you think I got the RV out of this very very tight parking spot.  

See ya tomorrow in Salt Lake City!

Thank you to my WONDERFUL neighbors Troy, Becky, Steve, Kris and Dylan for taking care of our pets and home while we are gone.....you guys are the best!  We really are coming home.......someday.