Friday October 18th 2019

Yesterday’s wind slowly dissipated as today progressed. It was a generally cooler overall. The high temperature in the low seventies was almost ten degrees below Thursday.

For some reason the campground really emptied out this morning. There were more vacant sites today than I’ve seen any day this week. I thought they would be filled with weekend campers, but there are still a good number of sites vacant. Every campground has its own ebb and flow of arrivals and departures. I’ve given up any hope of figuring it out, but it’s fun to try.

I drove around the Pahrump valley a little more today. It is interesting how quickly it goes from flat to mountain. There is nothing gradual about it. This area seems to be completely surrounded by mountain ridges. I came in through a pass in the mountains to the north. Net week I will have to leave over another pass to the southeast to get to Las Vegas. When I go to Death Valley National Park I’ll have to pass over some mountains to the west. It doesn’t look like there are any significant roads over the higher peaks on the east side of the valley.

While I was out I stopped in a couple of the local casinos. Like the one at the campground, they are really small. Probably because of the size, I wasn’t motivated to send any money on entertainment. One of the things that I like about Las Vegas casinos is the size and spectacle of the whole place. They make for great people watching.