Our campground in Death Valley National Park was right next to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center:
Near the Visitor Center is The Ranch, an oasis with a hotel, shopping center, and restaurants:
Buffet at the 1849 Restaurant:
Nice gardens:
Author: David
Death Valley Furnace Creek Campground
We stayed at Furnace Creek Campground within Death Valley National Park, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
The first time we’ve ever stayed inside a national park in our coach.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-03-20
- Check out: 2023-03-23
- 3 nights
Weather:
- Partly sunny, a couple days of drizzle
- High temps ranging between 61-73°F, lows around 43-50°F
- Wind gusts to 37 MPH
Noise:
- No road or train noise
- Some neighbor kid noise, not too bad
Site:
- #69, pull-through, asphalt
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind and in front of coach
- Level
- Large site: about 95 feet long by about 50 feet wide
- Picnic table, fire pit, gravel
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 55 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 43-148 Mbps down, 11-23 Mbps up, 29-40 ms ping
- T-Mobile: no service
- AT&T: no service
- Verizon: no service
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- National Park!
- Visitor center
- General store
- Restaurant
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Great campground in the heart of Death Valley NP
There are two things I wish about this place: 1) That they had more full hookup sites, and 2) that we’d gotten to stay longer. We originally booked a dry camping spot but were lucky enough to snag a cancellation for a full hookup and I’m so glad we did. I would have stayed here either way, as it’s truly the best place to stay in or near the park. The pull-through sites are incredibly long and every site is large so you’re not cramped against your neighbor, which is appropriate when staying in the largest National Park in the contiguous 48 states. It’s also very convenient to all the “must-see” places in the park. If you need internet while staying here, you must have Starlink. Cellular data was non-existent for any carrier. There is WiFi at the Furnace Creek Ranch. We camped at Furnace Creek in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Gas in Stovepipe Wells was quite a bit cheaper than at Furnace Creek and the food was better at the restaurant there, too.
Interactive map:
The campground map:
Death Valley National Park is interesting in that it is mostly below sea level. The campground has an elevation of -190 feet:
Our site:
Death Valley is the hottest and driest national park… so of course it was cool and rainy:
Entrance:
Dishwashing station:
Other sites:
Video: Las Vegas, Nevada to Death Valley, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 121 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada to Death Valley, California.
Travel from Las Vegas, Nevada to Death Valley, California
We drove our coach 121 miles, about three hours of driving, from Las Vegas, Nevada to Death Valley, California.
Here’s the map route, heading west:
An interactive map, with our stops marked:
Horses artwork:
Driving past the buildings of the Vegas strip:
Overpass artwork:
Snowy mountains:
A snack while driving:
Paladin in his safe space:
Mountain:
We stopped for lunch at the Area 51 Alien Center:
It’s Nevada, so there’s also the Alien Cathouse Brothel:
The Area 51 Alien Center:
They have a cafe, but it was closed, so we grabbed packaged sandwiches for lunch:
Cow artwork:
Leaving Nevada, entering California (no welcome sign, just “click it or ticket”; real friendly there, California):
Bumpy road:
Enering Death Valley National Park:
Most of the park is below sea level; passing sea level elevation, heading down:
-5 elevation:
The Ranch at Death Valley, at -190 feet elevation:
Jenn’s movable height-adjustable desk
Last week I wrote about my lap desk. This week, Jenn’s solution.
When we first bought our coach, our first signficant modification was to remove the existing couches. And not long after, we added a desk for Jenn, along with adjustable arms for a laptop and monitor.
She used that for several months, but ultimately decided she didn’t need the big second screen, and didn’t like the desk situation (in particular the slope of the slide-out carpet with the chair), so we replaced the desk with some storage cabinets.
Nowadays, she works at the dining table, using an adjustable standing desk riser, which lets her either stand or sit on a stool. And as with my setup, she also has a SideTrak Swivel 12.5” display that can be attached magnetically, giving her more screen space.
Here’s her setup in sitting position; with her laptop on a riser stand on top of the adjustable desk, in turn on the dining table, with a stool:
And with a quick toggle, the desk can be raised up to standing height, with a standing mat:
A closer look at siting height:
And standing height:
A peek underneath, showing the simple spring-based raising mechanism:
There is room behind the desk for us to eat lunch at the table, and at the end of the day, she can easily move the desk off the dining table to give more room for dinner.
This setup isn’t perfect, but it works well enough for her at present. Who knows, we might make further adjustments in the future.
Valley of Fire State Park
We visited Valley of Fire State Park, north of Las Vegas, Nevada.
A cheeky squirrel found some food in the picnic area (no, we didn’t feed it):
Red Rock Canyon
We visited Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas, Nevada.
Entrance station; timed-entry reservations required:
Visitor Center:
Gift store:
Exhibits:
Tortoise:
Jackson the burro:
Picnic:
We did a hike to a waterfall:
The Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil
One night while staying in Las Vegas, we went to the strip for a nice steakhouse dinner and The Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil show.
The Mirage hotel:
The Mirage foyer:
We were early, so played some slot machines, to make an offering to the gods of luck:
Then checked out a swag shop:
And The Beatles Shop:
Then went to the Stack restaurant for dinner:
Martinis:
Salads:
Steaks:
Adult tater tots:
Desserts:
Professional photos:
Food and beverage:
The Love show (they were okay with photos, a little unusually, so of course I took a bunch):
The Mirage:
Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort
We stayed at Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A large RV resort, just down the road from the Vegas Strip.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-03-13
- Check out: 2023-03-20
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny, a couple days of drizzle, one day of nearby thunderstorms
- High temps ranging between 63-72°F, lows around 41-54°F
- Some wind
Noise:
- Fairly loud freeway noise, though more like a background noise
- No train noise
- Airplane noise; in the flight path for the big airport
Site:
- #108, pull-through, concrete
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
- Level
- Small site: about 55 feet long by about 25 feet wide
- Concrete patio, picnic table, grass
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 55 PSI water, conveniently located
- Fair sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe, 1 2-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 25 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
- AT&T: 22 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 44 ms ping
- Verizon: 25-35 Mbps down, 8-16 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage bins
- Pools and hot tub
- Restaurant
Our ranty review on Campground Reviews:
Large resort, near The Strip
This could have been so much better than it was, but the annoyances started early and kept adding on:
– Upon arrival, we had to wait for a long line of RVs to be checked in. When it was our turn, we found out why it took so long: they checked every rig for the “RVIA sticker”. I’ve never had that before and it was weird because our rig was originally bought in Canada so it had a different sticker than they were used to. Look, if you’re just looking to keep Schoolies and homemade conversions out of the park “for insurance reasons”, I get it, but when someone shows up in a pretty well-known make and model, just wave them through.
– Once you get inside the gate, you have to sign some paperwork and head inside to registration, which was incredibly slow even with four people on duty. Got through that process where I signed as much paperwork as when we sold or bought a house.
– On our way out the door we were accosted by a “Good Sam Rep” that had obviously been waiting for the tired and weary travelers to try to Shanghai them into a timeshare presentation without knowing what was going on. We were halfway through signing up for the seminar when we cottoned on to the shenanigans and walked out.
– Got to our “Premium Pull-through site” and it was quite a squeeze to fit the 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle on the pad. We had to unhook and park the truck diagonally across the pad to keep our bumpers out of the road, also being sure to avoid the lamp post, the garbage can, and the sprinkler heads.
– They have an extensive rule booklet, but nobody else seemed to read it and nobody in the park actually enforced the rules.
– Went to soak in the hot tub, which is a welcome perk after a day of driving, and despite being “adults only” there were many, many children jumping into it with no parents around.
– Wanted to partake in the café, but it was only open sporadically. The one time we did get in, though, the martinis were strong and the tater tots were amazing.
– When you leave the park and come back you have to sit in the long line of RVs checking in because there isn’t a separate line for checking in versus returning.
– On the other hand, it was a conveniently short drive to The Strip.
We camped at Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Convenient to The Strip, but if you want a bit of nature and amazing scenery, Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire are each a decent day trip.
Interactive map:
Campground map:
Our site:
When one enters the park, they first need to check in with security, that hands over a registration form:
Then one parks in one of the several registration lanes:
And goes into the office:
To the registration desk:
They really like their paperwork and inefficient procedures. Perhaps necessary with such a large park, but it didn’t seem very streamlined.
Swimming pools:
We used the hot tub, though despite all the signs about no kids in the hot tub, there were several that used it:
They have family and adult swimming pools; this is the family one, which nobody was using as it wasn’t heated — so of course all the kids were in the adults-only pool. Yay:
A fairly large store:
Always nice to have an on-site restaurant too; we had dinner there once (and were going to another couple of nights, but they were closed — having an onsite restaurant is well and good, but having it closed unexpectedly is almost worse than not having one, though I know lots of restaurants struggle with staffing nowadays):
Tasty martinis; yes, they had a full bar:
Jenn’s sandwich and tots:
My burger and lots of fries:
Also nice when an RV park has a mail room; we got several packages delivered here:
Outdoor game area:
Bathrooms:
Other RVs:
The elevated freeway was very near, resulting in a constant hum of noise:
The big Las Vegas airport was also nearby, so planes would frequently fly over:
The entrance at night:
A nice RV resort; not great, but good, and close to the Vegas attractions. We might stay here again, but would probably prefer to try another place, or go back to Lake Mead.
David’s lap desk
Living full-time in a 40-foot motorhome while continuing to work poses some challenges. One is simply where to work.
For those who don’t know, I am self-employed as a macOS and iOS app developer. My company is Dejal; I am the developer of Time Out for Mac, a popular break reminder tool, and Simon for Mac, a pro tool to monitor websites and servers for changes or failures, plus a couple of iOS apps. I also do macOS and iOS consulting, helping other people create great apps — currently SheetPlanner for Mac (and soon iPad), a powerful spreadsheet/planning tool, and NewsBlur for iPhone and iPad, a popular RSS reader.
When we were considering what kind of RV to buy, we considered toy-hauler fifth-wheel trailers, so we could convert the garage area into an office. Or a fiver or motorhome with bunks, that could be removed and converted into a tiny office; I quite liked the look of the Fleetwood Discovery LXE 44B, with the bunks at the rear.
Ultimately a dedicated office wasn’t deemed an essential feature. When we decided on a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, one point in its favor was a pull-out keyboard tray at one of the dining seats.
But after we actually bought our coach, it turned out that the most convenient desk for me was a simple lap tray. (And we eventually removed that keyboard tray as part of making a liquor cupboard.)
I already had a lap desk that I had used for TV dinners in the homestead, and it works very well for a laptop, too. I can sit on our couch and work comfortably, or take it outside. I’m writing this sitting on a swing seat on a nice sunny day (in the shade of our awning):
More often I use it while sitting on the couch, sometimes with Paladin’s assistance:
To make it more portable, I have velcroed my MacBook Pro to the lap desk, using self-adhesive velcro dots. So it can be removed, but typically remains attached. It’s secure enough that I routinely carry the tray around by its handle, with the laptop hanging in space.
I also velcroed a portable solid state drive to the tray; it is my backup drive. And the tray has a slot where I can temporarily put my iPhone or another drive.
I find the built in keyboard, trackpad, and display of my laptop to be perfectly adequate for my needs. But when I want a little more screen space, I can attach a SideTrak Swivel 12.5” display, giving me plenty more room for reference material or an app I’m debugging.
The display is magnetically attached to a plate on the lid of the laptop:
So when not needed, it can be simply unplugged and pulled off:
This setup works really well for me, giving me the flexibility to work inside or out as the mood (and weather!) dictates.