A timelapse of driving the coach 177 miles from Caliente, Nevada to Hatch, Utah.
Travel from Caliente, NV to Hatch, UT
We drove our coach 177 miles, 4.5 hours, from Caliente, Nevada to Hatch, Utah. Yay, another state!
Here’s the map, heading east:
An interesting point about this route is it isn’t the most direct route — that would be highway 14. However, as the map indicates, there is a portion with a too low clearance for our coach, plus that route is very twisty and across a mountaintop. We did drive that route in our truck later, and were very glad we didn’t try to take our coach that way. This is an important part of route planning; making sure it is feasible for our RV. The RV Life Trip Wizard really helps with this.
Anyway, on with the travel pics. Caliente is a fairly cute small town; here’s Company Row:
Turning onto 319 East:
An interesting house in Panaca, and fellow RV traveler:
A curvy highway:
The GPS mirrored on the TV, approaching the Utah border, represented by the horizontal dotted line:
Entering Utah:
Interesting rocks:
Train:
The clouds looked fake:
Utah highway:
Hey there Paladin:
Snowy mountains:
Getting on to I-15:
Where the speed limit was 80 MPH, not that we go that fast in our coach:
Paladin sleeping in his safe spot next to my chair:
We didn’t really need fuel, but were concerned that truck stops would be less common out in the wilds of Utah, so stopped at T/A to top up:
We topped up the DEF, too:
A first for us, we parked with the trucks:
And headed in to Subway for lunch:
A couple more Paladin pics:
I noticed a bunch of these interesting ramps along the freeway; presumably to let animals escape the road:
Our exit:
Cattle guard:
Curvy road:
Highway leading to snowy hills:
Snow by the side of the road:
7,920 feet summit, with more curves and steep downhill ahead:
Sharp curve and mountain vista:
Interesting rocks:
“River”:
Arriving at our next destination:
Paladin watching birds while Jenn checks in:
Cellular internet
We are both still working as we travel the country in our motorhome, so having reliable internet access is essential.
To that end, we have six internet options: two cellular plans (AT&T and Verizon) in a cellular modem, one cell plan (T-Mobile) via a Wi-Fi hotspot device, two iPhones (AT&T), and (very recently) Starlink satellite internet.
And sometimes we connect to campground Wi-Fi, when available, though our various options are usually faster and more reliable.
Having four different networks and a variety of devices ensures that almost anywhere we are, we can connect to the internet.
Some details about the plans:
- T-Mobile (via 5G Wi-Fi hotspot): unlimited data; plan provided by the Calyx Institute. This is what we’ve used the most, being truly unlimited.
- AT&T (LTE SIM in cellular modem): 800 GB data; plan provided by Mobile Must Have. A good backup option, though often not very fast.
- Verizon (5G SIM in cellular modem): 150 GB data; pre-paid plan from Verizon. Often the fastest cellular option, but very limited data, so we don’t use it much.
- AT&T (iPhones): unlimited data; plans and phones provided by Apple Upgrade Program. We use these a lot as standalone devices. They only have 40 GB data as a personal hotspot, so we don’t tether other than emergencies.
- Starlink (satellite): unlimited data; plan and dish provided by Starlink. We’ll probably use this the most going forward, if it proves to be reliable enough (and if our campsites can see enough of the sky).
I’ll cover Starlink in a separate post later, once we’ve spent more time with it — as of this post, we’ve only had it for a few days.
This is the T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspot; we can connect to it directly, but most of the time we go via the modem, which also connects to it:
The modem has a roof-mounted antenna (the white fin in the following picture), which we got from Mobile Must Have, and installed by NIRVC; a Poynting 7-in-1 Roof Antenna. It contains 4 cell antennas, 2 WiFi antennas, and a GPS antenna:
Zoomed out a bit:
The antenna connects to the Pepwave MAX Transit modem (also from MMH), which contains the AT&T and Verizon SIMs (and can support two more). NIRVC mounted it in a cupboard above our entry door:
See a later post about some further modifications to this cupboard.
Great Basin National Park
We visited Great Basin National Park in Nevada, and did a Lehman Caves tour.
The road to the park:
Wheeler Peak:
Great Basin National Park entrance:
The visitor center:
We had a picnic lunch behind the visitor center:
Lehman Caves diagram:
Lehman Caves 3D model:
Info sign:
Our ranger guide at the cave entrance. Actually, it’s the exit; they are still doing a COVID-era abbreviated tour, in and out the exit tunnel, a one hour tour instead of 1.5 hours:
The tunnel, heading down into the caves:
A bunch of pictures within the caves:
Young’s RV Park
We stayed at Young’s RV Park in Caliente, Nevada. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-04-21
- Check out: 2022-04-24
- 3 nights
Weather:
- Windy, rainy, cloudy
- High temps ranging between 60 and 72°F, lows around 32-44°F
- Very windy the first day (wind is common in Spring)
Noise:
- No road noise, occasional train noise
- Quiet and noisy neighbors on different days
Site:
- #38, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
- Medium site: no marked edges, but about 60 feet long by about 25 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power conveniently located
- Good water pressure, 55 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located
- Picnic table
Internet:
- Campground Wi-Fi: 0.5 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 45-145 ms ping; not used
- T-Mobile: no service
- AT&T: 3-8 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- Verizon: 3-9 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 80-128 ms ping
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpster
- No pool
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Good basic campground
We stayed for a few nights on our way to Great Basin National Park. Our site was level and easy to get in and out of. Seems like a very popular spot for gatherings as I got the impression everyone else staying there knew each other, but at least everyone obeyed the quiet hours. We camped at Young’s RV Park in a Motorhome.
The weather forecast for our stay:
This park was unusual in that there was no paper map or other information provided, just a credit card receipt (that had the Wi-Fi password on it). Here’s the map from their website:
The satellite view:
Our site:
A tumbleweed blowing in the wind:
Conveniently located utilities:
55 PSI water pressure:
It was very windy on our first day; here’s a GIF of the slide topper flapping in the wind:
Our site and neighbors:
Other RVs:
The office:
Bathroom and laundry:
More tumbleweeds:
It rained on our second day; the first time we’ve had real rain in about a month:
A side-by-side on the back of a pickup; an interesting arrangement:
Video: timelapse of coach driving from Boulder City, NV to Caliente, NV
A timelapse of driving the coach 181 miles from Boulder City, Nevada to Caliente, Nevada.
Travel from Boulder City to Caliente, NV
We drove our coach 181 miles, four hours, from Lake Mead, Boulder City, Nevada to Caliente, Nevada.
Here’s the map, heading north:
Decorations in Boulder City:
More freeway decorations:
Paladin was contented in his safe space:
A trike:
Las Vegas in the distance:
Overpass art:
Wall art:
Passing by Las Vegas:
Exit:
Overpass art:
We stopped at Love’s for fuel:
We were interested to see that this Love’s has RV and boat storage:
Fuel time:
Spendy for less than half a tank:
I used my laptop while traveling:
Motorcycles:
A lake:
Curvy road:
Interesting rocks:
A long straight road, heading for the hills:
A bunch of Joshua trees:
Downgrade sign:
The exaust heat warning light came on, with all the hill climbing; went off again shortly thereafter:
Rocks and curves:
Our destination:
Channel Islands National Park bonus pictures
I posted in early March about our visit and cruise to Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of California.
Well, those photos were taken by my iPhone, but Jenn also took a bunch of photos with her big camera, a Nikon D7200. She has just gone through those photos, and shared her favorites with me, so I thought I’d do a followup post with her pictures. Enjoy!
Whale tail:
Oil rig:
Lioning about:
Dolphins:
Whale tail:
Dolphins:
Birds:
Arch and island:
Las Vegas Fremont Street Experience
Our second trip to Las Vegas was to the Fremont Street Experience in downtown. It’s a couple blocks of that street, covered with a large curved screen, that displays light shows and music videos.
The historic Vegas Vic:
We went to the Cadillac Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar for dinner:
Margarita and corn chips:
Jenn’s combo dinner:
My burrito dinner:
We’re not into gambling, but felt we should pay some tax to the gods of luck while in Vegas. Though as it turned out, Jenn walked away with almost double what she put in:
Back outside:
Las Vegas strip
While staying at Lake Mead, we took a couple of daytrips to Las Vegas. The first one was to the Strip.
We had actually planned to stay overnight at the Mirage, and attend “The Beatles Love” Cirque du Soleil show, but had to bail on those reservations as Jenn was sick with food poisoning for several days. But once she was better, we made do with the daytrips.
Driving to the Strip, we snagged a picture of the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign:
Driving down the Strip:
We parked, and went searching for lunch. We ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe, and walked across the road while waiting for a notification of our table being ready:
Jenn:
Lunch:
Some of the decorations in the Hard Rock Cafe:
Pretty sure those buildings weren’t there the last time we were in Vegas… which admittedly was 16 years ago:
Paris is still the same, though:
The Bellagio fountains:
Definitely a sign of the times: the Museum of Selfies:
Gordon Ramsay Fish and Chips:
We rode the High Roller ferris wheel:
The view:
The MSG Sphere under construction:
The monorail from above:
Bellagio fountains:
Nearing the end of the circuit:
Then we headed over to The Forum Shops:
Fountain selfie:
Curved escalator:
The Forum Shops:
We stopped by the Apple store for a couple of accessories:
The animatronic “Fall of Atlantis” show:
We had dinner at the Trevi restaurant within the Forum Shops:
Hey there Caesar:
Finally, some High Roller greenscreen photos:
