October 18th, 2025
It was Saturday morning and after exercise and a cuppa, we began the drive north to Reno. We lost the sunshine about an hour north of Vegas and it never really fully returned that day. We had decided making it all the way to Reno in one day (724 km / 450 mi) was maybe too much so Fran had booked a motel in Hawthorne – about 2/3 of the way. Since we ended up leaving at 7:30, in hindsight we should have just done the whole drive as we arrived in Hawthorne at 1pm and it would have only been another 2.75 hours to Reno but we had the booking so we stopped and went for our walks.
It’s about 19C / 68 F here and mostly cloudy with a pretty strong wind. We’re not in Vegas anymore!
Next morning was but not as bad as we had expected. We stopped for gas in Yerrington where it was $2.99 a gallon – cheapest for a long time. We finished the drive to Reno stopping at Walmart before going to Serena’s for noon. We wanted to get new windshield wiper since we had just put in a new windshield. We have to say it’s been so nice to have that new windshield as the old one was pretty sand blown from being in storage. The weather continued mostly overcast with sunny breaks and we saw a rainbow before we made it to the I80.
Serena and Kurt made us all a nice brunch and we went out to “Birdeez” to play some indoor mini golf with them; this place is farily new and has three 9 hole courses, a bar/restaurant and upstairs boardgames you can play for free.
We had a fun time (forgot to take photos) playing golf and then played a few boardgames while having a drink. We then split up, they went home and we went to check into our hotel before meeting up for dinner at 7 at Kwok’s Bistro. We’d been here a couple of years ago and they make awesome Asian food. It’s a small place that requires a reservation and Serena managed to snag one while at the bar. Parking was only on the street and we met up and had an excellent meal.
We made plans for tomorrow and went our separate ways. We made it to Serena’s before lunch, packed up all of us and the dogs into the car, stopped to pick up sandwiches and went to do a hike. Today’s adventure was the Monkey Condos hike. It’s near Pyramid Lake and Serena and Kurt had previously done part of it but it ended up being a foggy day when they did, so they were happy to try again.
It was a cool day but we had clear skies and it promised to warm up to a comfortable temperature. The drive took about an hour and we had to go off road some near the end and got to a point where Serena’s car shouldn’t go past and we had some lunch before beginning the hike. The dogs were in their element being able to be off leash and explore.
We were parked near the “condos” and took some shots before heading out. The hike was about 3.2 km / 2 mi each way, part on a 4×4 track, part in the creek bed, in a gully and up some switchbacks to the top.
At the top Kurt found a couple of mine shafts and we had an amazing view of the many hills around us and Pyramid Lake itself. The lake is 43 km / 27 mi long so we could only see a part of it.
Here’s a shot of Serena’s family:
The walk back was still sunny but we had some shade going this way.
Here’s a shot of the four us staring into the sun at the largest monkey condos area:
Kurt & Serena very kindly drove us towards Pyramid Lake so we could drive along side it for a bit and then we headed back to their place. It was a great day.
We sorted out where to go for dinner, went in separate cars and headed to Great Full Gardens only to find it closed with a note on the door saying “sorry we’re closed, go down the block to Sup”. This place specialized in soup and sandwiches.
We enjoyed a nice healthy meal there and said our goodbyes.
Tuesday morning after exercising, we grabbed some tea/coffee and were out the door by 7:30 on our way to Fallon. We arrived after a quick breakfast at Mickey Dee’s and began to empty the storage unit in the cold – just about 6 C / 42 F – yikes! A great deal of dust/sand had entered the unit from under the door so we had to clean up stuff before we could put things into a moving truck. Fran had purchased a small leaf blower and this took the heavy layer off and we dusted off the rest. Luckily we had covered all the non-boxed items in shrink wrap so everything was protected. Late in the morning, Doug walked the rental truck place .8 km / .5 mi away and came back with a 16’ box truck.
Amazingly, we got it all out of the 10’x10’ storage before he left to go get the truck and by 2:30 we had it all packed into the truck! (forgot to take pictures!)
Doug had booked a local hotel already so we headed over there and they had a truck parking lot out back where he parked the moving truck. Fran went over to the gas station to fill the truck and then we got into a room by 3:30. We were pretty wiped, but so glad that part all got done in one day.
Tomorrow we will decide if we want to drive all the way back or make an overnight stop.
After a crappy sleep after a pizza and brownie dinner, we left Fallon in two vehicles just before 8:30 am unsure where we’d get to. We thought about stopping in Beatty for the night at a hotel we’d stay at years ago with the kids that had a big outdoor hot tub but when Fran called, there they said the hot tub was closed. We looked into going a little further to Pahrump but of the two hotels with hot tubs, one was closed and the other was rather pricey so we opted to stop in Beatty anyway at a motel. We could have gone straight through but it would have meant arriving in Vegas during rush hour – not a plus.
We checked into our hotel just before 2pm on the outskirts of Beatty and had a chill afternoon. Doug picked up Subway for dinner and we enjoyed the outside temperatures that were back up in the low 20’s C / mid 70’s F.
We left Beatty by 7 and were back in Las Vegas at our trailer by 9am. Doug stopped to try and sell/drop off our four pallets but had no luck so instead he offered them to a few homeless people which they appreciated. He parked the moving truck in front of the trailer and Fran parked the Tundra outside the Rec Hall as we’d been advised by the office as you cannot have two vehicles at one campsite.
We spent the rest of Thursday chilling after a few busy days and began packing up bags of things that we wanted to take into the apartment from the trailer since the trailer is no longer “home” there are several things we’ve been carrying around for years just because we had to have them with us. Fran then went to take the truck over for an oil change with a Groupon we’d found (and had used last time as well).
Friday morning, the guy Doug had asked to help us move, Victor, did not show up at 8 as promised. Doug finally got through to him around 8:20 and he said he’d be here in a minute. Doug left with the moving truck at 8:30 so he could fill the tank before returning the truck once it’s empty and Fran waited until 8:40 as we wanted to be at the apartment by 9. Victor still had not arrived. The apartment seemed all shiny and new and was empty except our new bed frame in a box.
He called at 8:47 and said: “where are you; you didn’t wait”. We told him the address and he finally arrived before 10:30 (it’s a ten minute drive!). We had been unwrapping our belongings (they were all shrink wrapped if they weren’t in a box) and Fran was taking small stuff up the stairs to the apartment. Victor then managed to hump everything up the stairs with Fran still doing small stuff and Doug still unwrapping and bring stuff to the edge of the truck.
We were done by about 12:30 and we found a nearby pub and the 3 of us went for lunch. Then Doug returned the truck, Victor followed him and then returned to the apartment in Victor’s car and then he followed Victor to his home as we were giving him a twin bed complete with mattress and box spring as well our old queen sized bed frame which we no longer wanted.
That afternoon Doug put together our new bed frame and returned to the campground for one last night. The next day Costco delivered our new mattress at 7:50 in the morning and the rest of the weekend and Monday, we spent time unpacking and putting away. By mid day on Monday, we said, it’s time for a break and took the afternoon off “working”. We are 70% there. We spent the night in our new bed but with sheets that really didn’t fit as the mattress requires the deep pocket kind which we have ordered.
We spent Tuesday and Wednesday unpacking taking time off part of each afternoon. We spent some time going through stuff in our new garage, sorting stuff for give away, take to Uganda, keep or sell and what had to go into the trailer.
Doug finished organizing the garage on Thursday and we began to sell things on FB Marketplace that afternoon and Friday – such a time consuming thing with involving photos, on Friday and Saturday.
Saturday night we had tickets to go see Trevor Noah – Fran got a really good deal $63 each! and we decided to make a night of it and go out for dinner before the show. We went to the local Olive Garden for some yummy pasta and then on to the Fontainebleau Casino across the Strip from Circus Circus. We parked at the latter as it’s free there. We went into the casino but found few machines to our liking. We each played $5 and then left.
This casino is where the old Riviera used to be and we’d never been inside this one. We immediately went to find the theatre so we’d know where to go when it got close to show time and made our way through the slot machines to find some to play for a bit. The cheapest we found were 50 cent ones and we played $5 bucks each; Fran won $17 and played it up to over $50 and quit. A bit of fun and we recouped our $20 investment with interest!
The show started 20 minutes late and the headliner wasn’t great. Trevor Noah came on at 8:40 and entertained us until 10:20 which was longer than we expected. He’s very laid back and loves to tell a story and he’s got quite the talent for voices and sounds.
Leaving the theatre was a bit of chore as there’s only one set of exit doors and everyone has to go down the escalator which we couldn’t get near so we went the long way around and left. This was a late night for us and Sunday we paid for it. Doug couldn’t get his long run in and we both yawned all day – man, we’re getting old!
We spent the rest of the next two weeks hanging a few things around the apartment and began the culling of ornaments and keepsakes – we hated to throw stuff out but it did get rid of a lot and we took pictures of it all. (Also did not want to leave it all for the kids to have to go through when we pass.)
The weather continued to be sunny and around 27c / 81 F till the 15th. Then the rain began on and off, sometimes quite hard for the next week causing the temperatures to dip at least ten degrees C. We discovered we have a leaking front door and after three attempts by maintenance to fix it it appears to be repaired but they are having a roof person come in to take a look because, really the water is coming straight down in front of the door sill.
We continue to have late afternoon soaks in the hot tubs almost daily and are enjoying the space and feeling more at home. Doug has found good places to run, we’ve been able to make use of the many shopping/dining/services in our area (went for bloodwork and the lab is literally around the corner!) and feeling happy with our choice of location.
This will probably be our last post for a while until we travel somewhere in the maybe not so distant future. We will be flying to visit Josh and the grandkids for Christmas this year and have booked a flight for mid March to go Taiwan. We have also started making plans for next summer; a trip to Africa to go to see the school in Uganda and to visit a few countries – stayed tuned.
Please take a look at the video below produced earlier this year when the other major donors to KITOJO Empowered Girls school visited:
