Our First Night On The Road….

Revived by our lunch break and some food, we are ready for the rest of our day’s journey. Even the camper bus seems to be revived from the rest stop, and purrs along happily.   Merging onto Highway 6, we start the steeper climb up Ward Mountain toward Ely and the 7400 ft elevation. The old ‘61 is breathing hard and our power is definitely diminished.  The contemporary cars are flying past us but some of the semi trucks are almost as slow as we are. Tommy is thinking something is not right with the bus until we see the sign saying 7387 ft elevation.  Altitude diminishes power.  That explains why we have not been pulling the mountain with our normal gusto! 

About 7 miles from Ely, we see a sign for a forest service campground and decide it is a good time to stop.  Ward Mountain Campground is peaceful and quiet with tall cedars and even taller pinon pines.  There is no air moving until suddenly a breeze makes it way from somewhere, announcing itself with a soft faraway rushing sound and then passes. The sun is warm but the air is soft and comfortable. It will be cool tonight.

The campground is a bit rustic with water but no showers or flush toilets. There are only a few other campers and a camp host. We set up our camp and begin to relax, enjoying the fresh mountain air. It is nice to be off the road and out of the bus —and cooled off finally, We fire up the laptop and, using the air card on ‘roam’, we are in touch with the world, downloading the 100+ emails that have come in.  Now it’s time for some supper before twilight dwindles into darkness, then a good nights’ sleep. Our first night out on our great road trip, bringing joy to folks on the road!.