Uraling around Snowbird Mesa

Another very windy day here on Snowbird Mesa where I'm boondocking while waiting for Yagi to be repaired.

I woke in time to catch the sunrise

It spit rain, off and on, throughout the morning amidst strong gusty winds that rocked the VRRV.  So it wasn't till close to 3PM (after a nice nap after lunch) when I got on Scarlett and rode out for views.

This time, I concentrated on finding viewpoints that would allow me to take pictures of Uma, the VRRV, at the campsite.

Uma from two ridges over...

Virgin Peak I believe

Where's Uma?

Can you spot Uma?

View from closest site to my campsite

Here's three panorama shots by my Pixel 4a's camera:

Making a Sh*t Sandwich while waiting for Yagi

 So, yesterday's post detailed the delay of at least a week, until I get Yagi back from the shop in Henderson, NV.  Enough of that.

The first time I heard this saying, it was on active duty with the US Army:  When Life Gives You Shit, Make a Shit Sandwich!  In other words, when things don't go right, deal with it.  No whining.

So with time to kill while I wait for Yagi to be fixed, I set about today to craft said shit sandwich.  I left the dry lake bed area south of Boulder City and headed up the Northshore Road that is within the Lake Mead Recreation Area towards Snowbird Mesa.

Since the road is within the Lake Mead Recreation Area, one had to pay National Park entrance fees.  The fees seemed quite high, but my America the Beautiful Military Veteran Pass got me in for free!  

Northshore road is quite scenic along the southern portion, I will take more pictures hopefully when I return to Henderson next week.  Planning to check it out on the way back, I bypassed the Redstone Dune Trail area, it looked quite nice with very cool red rock formations.

Soon enough (about an hour for the whole trip), I was at Sand Mine Road and the BLM Dispersed Camping area traversed by this road.  There were several spots open and I chose one on a small ridge/peninsula overlooking some nice canyon views:

Here's closer views of the canyon's rock formations below my campsite:

Yep, that's a trail of sorts down there.  The remains of the river that carved this canyon back a few thousand years ago.  (Probably millennia ago, but who's counting?)

Around 3PM, after the heat of the day, though the wind still blew quite strongly as it had most of the day; I headed out on Scarlett to find the trail into the canyon.

After one wrong turn, I found the trail and we headed on down a steep trail to the bottom.  Engaging 2WD due to sandy conditions, Scarlett and I motored along the bumpy (rocks) trail with no issues.  

I was trying to find the spot where my campsite was but I didn't have good signal down there and had failed to leave a marker on the top of the canyon's wall.  Oh well.  I did get a set of coordinates and it turns out I went past the camp, perhaps next time.

As you can see, the overcast skies didn't let through enough light from the sun to get nicely bright shots.

I was slightly nervous since this type of terrain, I've found, is better negotiated with Yagi, my TW200.  But, since she's in the shop, the heir: Scarlett got the mission.

Ever hear the expression: An Heir and a Spare?  Scarlett is the heir, Yagi is the spare.

Got back to camp with no issues, the winds are blowing much stronger outside as I type this and there's even rain in the forecast for tomorrow.  Not much I'm sure but still, we'll see if we get sunny weather in spite of it all.

The Golden Hour arrived:

So far, this shit sandwich is not bad.  

Yagi's Repairs Delayed due to Incompetence

 I wrote back on Thursday of last week that I'd given the shop the go ahead to fix Yagi, my TW200.

Foolishly, it turns out, I thought they'd understood to order the parts and fix the motorcycle.  After all, the admin guy said he expected parts by Tuesday (today) and the motorcycle would be fixed by Wednesday (tomorrow).

Wrong!  When I called this afternoon to confirm whether the parts had arrived, I was told that no, he'd not ordered the parts as he was waiting for the go ahead from me!  He couldn't remember me telling him to go ahead Thursday of last week!

So after a heated exchange on the phone, he's ordered the parts and they might be here Friday.  I frankly doubt it, and since they're closed on weekends, I'm betting the parts won't arrive till Monday.  The guy apologized for the confusion and promised he'd get a tech on the motorcycle soon as parts were received.  Again, I doubt this will happen.

More to follow.  In the meantime, I'd displaced this morning from the boondocking location in Lovell Canyon back to the dry lake bed south of Henderson.  I'd thought, you see, that I'd be picking up Yagi tomorrow.  Dammit.

Pretty angry about this miscommunication.  Now delayed in this area till Monday I bet, if I'm lucky.  I won't be surprised if it's later before I can leave for points north as I make my way to Spokane, WA.

Slow Days in Lovell Canyon

Saturday, April 29

After having spent a couple of days in the KOA in Vegas, the Z's left and joined me at my boondocking site off of Lovell Canyon Road in mid-afternoon,

It was a hot day even within the canyon but not too bad.  We hung out for a bit in the shade of their Overlander: Stewie but it was an early evening for everyone.

Before the Z's showed, I had driven Scarlett south on the canyon road to the top of the cliffside.  There's a pullout just before the summit, I stopped to pose Scarlett with Charleston Peak in the distant background.

I cruised around the cliffside area and marked a couple of nice camp sites for possible future use next time I'm in the area.

Sunday, April 30

Another slow day.  The day's major activity was a short hike up the hillside trail across from the campsite.  It's apparently a major 4x4 vehicle attraction that apparently winds its way to the western edge of Red Rock Canyon.

Here's a view of our campsite from the top of the ridge.  You can spot Stewie easily enough, but can you find Uma?

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at our respective RVs.  Me, listening to audio books and doing minor adjustments to Scarlett.  The Z's rested and relaxed mostly, though they did host me for drinks and later dinner and a movie inside thei Overlander's habitat.