Ahhhh..the open road….
The first few miles from home have been a time of adjustment, getting used to the sounds of the VW Camper Bus on the highway, and deciding which noises are from the camper and which are from the road. The new engine is performing well, runs strong and Tommy has to keep slowing down to maintain the 60 MPH he has decided to drive for this trip. Driving that 5 MPH slower pays off at the pump. Mileage went from 18 up to a solid 20 –now that’s a 10% increase or a 10% savings on fuel cost!

Our stop in Las Vegas for a break from the road and a cup of tea refreshed us and we are off to the Great Basin Highway. We leave the city behind, driving north on Interstate 15 toward Utah. The drive is a long uphill pull from Vegas (well, actually all the way from Havasu) and the 1679 cc engine has good torque. After a few coughs and chokes, the engine bus clears itself of what we think might be some vapor locking as we start our very slight climb in elevation and ever so slight relief from the heat. We are excited to finally find our exit onto Hwy 93 toward Ely, Nevada, via Caliente and Pioche. It seems further out of town than we remember. This turn always brings many fond childhood memories for Julia whose family drove this road many times between their home in Buhl, Idaho and her grandparent’s home in San Diego, California. She remembers this drive through Nevada being a soooo long and boring.

 The view has changed with adulthood! Over the years our travels have taken us across many wide open, uninhabited and expansive areas of apparent nothingness. Always there is something to appreciate in the scenery. This middle area of Nevada is alive with wonderful scenery and quite interesting hills—even mountains—and lots of desert fauna…and in some areas, rocks that look like they have been shot from a canon. There isn’t a lot of traffic but enough to break the monotony and continue our adventure of bringing joy to folks on the road!