8 June - Downtown Elko, Mining Expo, Museum, Casino

8 June
This morning we headed downtown Elko NV which is actually about 10 miles west of the campground.  I'm glad we had to opportunity to stay an extra night so we had today to check out the area.  Elko has long connections to the old west, the California Trail and gold mining.  Being in Nevada, it is also full of casinos!

We started out at the Elko Visitor Center to get information on the sights.  Some years ago a set of very old pioneer log buildings were donated to the city and moved here.  The Visitor Center is located in what used to be the house.  

The Visitor Center

Schoolhouse

Pioneer house kitchen area

Log construction

We then headed across the City Park to the area surrounding the Elko Convention Center where the Elko Mining Expo was set up.  This is a huge event for the city, held once a year and we just happen to be here for it.  It is a gathering of vendors who supply products to the mining industry.  Everything from pumps to heavy equipment, safety equipment, blasting products, lighting, generators, footwear, tools, and on and on.  Each vendor had a tent and there were rows and rows of them, each with their own give-a-ways of course.  Koozies, pens, Frizbees, bottled water, etc.  

Vendor after vendor.

Serious earth moving equipment.  Caterpillar also had many displays 

This looks like it would be fun!

Some of our treasures!!

We then walked over to the Northeast Nevada Museum and walked through various displays of Nevada history

Inside the Pony Express Station 

Interesting display on the California Trail.

A printing press set-up similar to what Doreen's grandfather Schwandt used to use.

Stage Coach delivers the mail

Beautiful peacock.

Hey Bullwinkle, wanna see me pull a rabbit out of my hat?

Students here identifying the various animals.

Remember me?  I stepped out from under your camper last year!!

They sure have put a lot of work into these displays

Just hanging around in Elko NV!

We then headed further downtown to the Stockmen's Casino as Doreen had won and free dinner there.  

We went inside and Doreen played a slot machine for a while.  Wow, they sure have changed.  We both struggled to understand how to play, but she did something right as the bells went off and the lights flashed.  She inserted $1 and after a bit of playing was up over $100 and walked away with over $98!!  Here she is with her big haul and her $6 margarita!  Needless to say Doreen bought lunch!

Tomorrow we are supposed to head to our next destination which is Fallon Naval Air Station NV, BUT had a warning message pop up in the truck that I needed to have the DEF system serviced and to see the dealer.  So I have an appointment with the local Dodge RAM dealer at 0700 hrs in the morning and we will see what happens there.

7 June - Goodbye Willard Bay, Truck & Trailer Repairs, Bonneville Salt Flats, Hello Elko NV

7 June
This morning we packed up the RV and headed out about 0700 hrs to the trailer repair shop.  After leaving it there, we headed to the local Dodge dealer to have the truck oil changed.  In March a recall had been identified and we thought they might be able to do it here, but the parts were not available so they just did the oil change.  Very nice folks at the dealership, gave us a nice discount on the oil change and it was greatly appreciated because diesel oil changes are expensive.  The 6.7L Cummins engine takes 12 quarts of oil.

We picked up some lunch and then headed to the local Camping World to kill some time until 2:00pm when the RV was supposed to be done.  We arrived back at the trailer repair shop about 1:30pm and they were just finishing up.  I cannot say enough good things about these folks.  They worked us into an already booked schedule and expedited the repairs so we could be on our way.  They straightened the bent spring bracket and welded some reinforcement to strengthen it, then undercoated it to prevent corrosion.  They installed four new bronze bushings and four new wet bolts and then greased them.  They also did a full inspection on the suspension system and identified a bent leaf spring, so they replaced that also.

The leaf spring bracket and shackle with a wet bolt through it on the left side - how it should look!

The bent leaf spring bracket and shackle with no wet bolt on the right side - very bad!

The right side repaired.  bracket straightened, reinforcement welded on, new bushing and wet bolt installed, undercoated and greased.

The bent leaf spring they found and replaced.

So all in all was a good day so far.  I was disappointed we had issues with the RV, but considering the miles we have put on and the crappy roads we have traveled, I guess that is to be expected.  I am very glad we found the suspension issue while we were here in Ogden/Salt Lake City area since the resources were available to fix it.

We left right from the trailer repair shop and head west on I-80 towards our next stop - Elko NV

The scenery bewteen Salt Lake City and Elko NV was a bit drab but definitely interesting.  I had no idea the salt and the salt lake extended as far as it does. Then all of a sudden huge piles of salt - ah, the Morton Company!  

Lot and lots of salt with the Great Salt Lake in the background.

Salt for as far as the eye can see

The familiar Morton Salt girl

 

Mounds and mounds of pure white salt!

A mirage - water over the road!  Upper 90's today!

some sort of unidentified artwork along the road

  Before entering Nevada we stopped at a rest area and it provided easy access to the Bonneville Salt Flats where the land speed records have been set.

Very flat salt surface where vehicles are driven to set speed records.  No idea where the water came from on the right side.  People were walking around in it

Doreen and Liberty on the salt flats.  They do not advise allowing pets to walk on the salt as it can irritate their paws

Panoramic of the salt flats

The Wendover NV airport - used to be the old Wendover Air Force base

 

 We will be at Ryndon RV Park in Elko NV for two nights and then on to Fallon Naval Air Station FamCamp

 

6 June - D-Day never forget, Hill Aerospace Museum, Packing it Up

6 June
I never forget my sister's birthday as it falls on the anniversary of D-Day - June 6th.  So happy birthday Karen!

It is hard to imagine what must have been going through those brave warrior's minds as they hit the beach in Normandy.  Our thoughts are with the families of the 425,000 Allied and German troops who perished there.

Today will more or less be our last day as tourists here in the Salt Lake City area.  Tomorrow morning we have to have our RV in to the trailer repair shop at 0800 hrs to fix and reinforce the bent spring shackle mount, and replace the bronze bushings and wet bolts.  We have to totally pack up to move the RV so when they are done, assuming it is at a descent hour, we will head on south and west to our next destination one day earlier than planned.  While we are waiting for the RV to be repaired, I made an appointment to have the oil changed on the pickup.  It is a bit early in the oil life, but the engine is working extra hard in the mountains so better early that later in my book.

This morning I replaced the 12-24VDC converter module that died in our network setup last week. We got the new one last night that we had shipped to Doreen's cousin's house.  The replacement took about 10 minutes and it is working great.  It gives us WiFi in our RV both while we camp and going down the road off our AT&T network box, so it saves us from having to up our Verizon data plan.  Translation:  Saves Me $$!!  A bit later we headed down to the Hill Aerospace Museum.  It is located just outside the gate at Hill Air Force base so the general public can get to it without a military ID card.  We have seen the extensive outside display of aircraft from the interstate several times, but had no idea there were so many inside displays.

We started out inside watching a movie and touring the Utah Aviation Hall of Fame.  We then entered one of two inside display hangars.  The Hadley gallery contained aircraft starting with a Burgess-Wright Flyer and many older "heavy's and fighters".  Here are a few photos of the unique displays in this hangar:

The Burgess-Wright Flyer

An old air traffic control tower

An old Dodge ambulance

A turret gun

A replica of the Trinity Nuclear Bomb 

German V-1 Buzz Bomb

 The next hangar we visited was the Lindquist Stewart gallery.  It contained more recent aircraft, primarily fighters, but also some helicopters and an SR-71 Blackbird.  Many of the fighters displayed Air national Guard markings:

An F-102 with Oregon ANG tail flash

An F-101 with Texas ANG tail flash

Sikorski MH-53M Pave Low IV "Super Jolly" rescue helicopter.  Notice the penetrator lowered to rescue downed aircrew

F-104 Starfighter

F-16 Fighting Falcon.  This one was built in 1979

A-10 Thunderbolt II

The business end of the A-10 - It's GAU-8.A 30mm cannon.  You do not want to be on the receiving end of this baby.  

Nice seating all set up for a presentation!!

An F-105G Thunderchief (Wild Weasel) configured for radar elimination

Nose view of the SR-71 Blackbird

In addition to aircraft displays they had an informative section on Vietnam and POW's.

We then moved outside to the massive displays there.

A panoramic of part of the outside display area

This is a YA-7F Corsair II, "The Plane That Almost Was".  We flew A-7's in Des Moines but this one was a prototype upgrade, one of two made with a longer fuselage, more powerful engine and stronger wings.  The Air Force decided to go with the F-16 rather than the upgraded A-7 and no more were ever built.

A different view of the YA-7F

That's it for the Hill Aerospace Museum.  I took many other pictures but did not want to drown you here with them.  If you are ever in this area and are interested at all in military aviation, you need to divert a short distance off I-15 to this great FREE museum.  After the museum we diverted into Hill AFB and hit the commissary to restock the pantry before we move on tomorrow.

Again, tomorrow at 0700 hrs we will depart the campground and head to the trailer repair shop.  We hope to be on the road with a repaired RV and a pickup with a fresh oil change early afternoon headed west to our next stop, Elko NV - just a two-nighter as we head for Fallon Naval Air Station SE of Reno.  The Ogden UT area has been great.  We have really enjoyed it.  Tomorrow while we travel and as we hit the UT-NV state lines, we plan to stop and see the Bonneville Salt Flats.  As a long time automobile enthusiast, I appreciate this place with all the land speed records that have been set here.