The next morning we caught another horned lizard, just like the first. It’s camouflage was incredible!
After a quick breakfast we were on our way, passing through Tonopah Nevada. We continued until we came across a ramshackle establishment by the side of the road very near the junction of 6 and 375. The first thing that caught my eye was the corral made out of rocks and one giant boulder. I guess one uses the materials one has!
There was a hot spring up on the hill behind the buildings, that trickled down the slope along a strangely white stream, ending in a smoking hot plaster blue pool. A chain link fence surrounded the pool with a convenient opening pried in the fence.
We noticed a large herd of bighorn sheep making their way down the hill toward the pool, where they drank the steaming hot water out of the stream, like cows drinking out of a trough. Or maybe it was like tea to them?
With our binoculars we could see every detail of the herd, from the big ram bossing his ewes around, to the lambs prancing and frolicking on the rocks.
An elderly German couple came by in an RV and stopped to admire the bighorn sheep with us. They told us the buildings were abandoned and the man who owned the establishment had moved on. They said they went for a swim every time they drove by.
The sheep were not very afraid and we were able to get closer than I have ever been. It was here, we think, that Roscoe may have picked up a parasite, which plagued us later on the trip. More to come on that topic…
Many photographs and videos later, we decided to crawl through the fence and go for a swim ourselves. It was about 106 degrees, very hot, but amazingly refreshing.
The ambient air temperature was hot too, with an unusually warm breeze. It was a strange mix of conduction heating from the water, evaporative cooling from the wind on our wet skin, warmth from the warm breeze (convection), and radiative heating from the sun. I thought of this later, and unfortunately missed the opportunity to provide a little heat transfer lesson to the boys. But I’ll make a mental note for another time. I’m sure they will be as unenthusiastically thrilled as they usually are when I try to add a touch of engineering, math, or science into our daily lives. I have to believe that deep down though, they appreciate it. Or maybe they will 25 years from now.
For lunch we stopped at Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge. From the inside of our air conditioned vehicle, it looked starkly beautiful, serene even. Palms lined the roads. Grasses and water were evident. We wondered why it was closed between May and September. That is… until we got out of the car, and experienced what a windy 113 degrees felt like! It was like standing in front of a hair dryer. Poor Roscoe didn’t like it at all. He stepped outside for about 3 seconds, sniffed, and then turned around and leaped back into far end of the earthroamer. It was so hot we didn’t even take any pictures.
We crossed the border into Utah, and stopped for groceries. The store was very busy, with people hurrying in and out. We had the embarrassing situation of having our credit card rejected in front of an impatient line of customers. On-line, our credit card company said we did not need prior approval for travel within the United States, but for us they must have made an exception. Or perhaps something we purchased triggered their alert system. I wondered if the $200 plus diesel charges for every time we filled up the 90 gallon fuel tank looked suspicious. At any rate, Jason dashed out to the earthroamer for our bank card, and we got on the phone with the credit card company. It was finally sorted out, and we sheepishly left the store with our groceries.
We were headed for Zion National Park. On his iphone Jason looked up “dispersed camping near Zion National Park” and found a convenient area of BLM land just outside and to the south of the park. It was a beautiful drive up a hilly and dusty road with lovely views to the north and east. Only a few spots along the road required 4 wheel drive. A few others were camped here, but there were plenty of places to choose from. We selected a flat spot with an outstanding view. (The picture below was taken the next morning.)
Within 5 minutes Ian found a rattlesnake, and shortly after that he found a collared lizard. We dropped what we were doing and ran to take pictures.
How proud the rattlesnakes are, without a care, meandering along with their slow flicking tongue.
It must have been blazing hot during the day, but with the sun setting, it made for a pleasant balmy evening. We enjoyed dinner outside watching the sun set.
