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By Katrina Kane, on November 18th, 2012 Despite the accident that brought me to Reno and being a true wanderer who had never been to Reno before, I chose to make lemonade out of the situation rather than sit in my motel room crying about something I could not change. I did a little exploring in Reno though I don’t gamble. I snagged one of the cheap prime rib deals available in casinos. Wandered around in one smoke-filled casino as robotic people sat at machines pushing buttons over and over. I went under the Reno arch and saw all the chapels o’ love. I also checked out several RV dealers to see what was currently available in the RV market. OK place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.
One weekend I went to Virginia City. I would like to have gone to see the Ponderosa of Bonanza fame up in Tahoe but apparently it is closed to tourists these days and has been for awhile. Virginia city was interesting with all it’s saloons like the Bucket o’ Blood, tourist shops, graveyard, firemen’s museum, pioneer museum, opera house, and beautiful church complete with bells. After walking around downtown, I had an excellent steak sandwich in a restaurant overlooking the area. It’s a typical old western town. I saw a Zoltar machine like in the movie “Big” and got my fortune told. Since I had not done any geocaching in Nevada before, I decided to go after one with my GPS to earn my state souvenir. The first one I went after was no longer there but the second was easily found outside the old power plant. A great clue always helps. Score!
   
By Katrina Kane, on November 18th, 2012 Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I had good reason. With winter giving me a sneak peak by dropping the temperatures down at night and freezing the water lines, it was time to leave Oregon and head south to winter quarters. I hitched up and drove the trailer on down to Stateline where I stayed overnight on a street that is in Oregon on one side and Nevada on the other. Mitchell’s Stateline RV park is on the Oregon side of the street. It is mostly just a big parking lot but a welcome oasis in the middle of nowhere and it was kind of fun walking back and forth between states.
The next morning I left headed south to catch I80 east in Winnemucca. About 30 miles north I had just come down a minor hill onto open desert when my SUV suddenly moved to the side as if an invisible truck had passed me or a wind gust hit it. That started my trailer fishtailing. Despite all efforts, I could not stop it. The SUV went off the road and rolled over fully then the trailer laid down on it’s side. My seat belt had held me tight against the seat as all the stuff in the SUV flew out the broken windows and went everywhere. I was only slightly injured with a bit of pain in one side but was able to get out OK. Bystanders stopped to help and called emergency services. The SUV was obviously totaled which was a real shame since I had just put on 4 brand new tires. Oddly, all were fine except for one on the front driver’s side that shows evidence of having run flat on the road and possibly causing the accident. The trailer did not look that badly damaged however it was damaged more by the wreckers that came out and pulled it back over on its wheels. They dragged it a bit before it caught and started to pull over and I could see the wheels bending as it came back over. Unfortunately, in the end, there was enough damage for my insurance company to decide to total it out too. That was it. My vehicle and home were both gone and it happened so quick. Amazingly, most of my stuff survived! I did lose some very expensive items like my TV and several pairs of glasses.
I spent over a month in motels first in Winnemucca to get all my stuff out of the SUV and trailer and put it into a rented storage locker then in Reno where I followed my trailer in hopes of it possibly being repaired instead of totaled. Insurance paid for part of the bill but at $60 a night at the cheapest available motel in Winnemucca it did not go far. Reno at least was half that and I had also seen an ad in the Reno paper in Winnemucca that intrigued me.
A word about insurance. While I had enough coverage this time for personal items, I can see it was in no way adequate to replace everything if the trailer had caught on fire. A lot of cheaper items lost can very quickly add up. I’ll be adding more coverage for personal items next time. It took several weeks to get the insurance claims settled and even to get money to pay the motel bill. Don’t get caught without a good credit card in this situation or you may still be sitting by the side of the road in the desert. My agent, Chris Yust, though was stellar. I called her from the accident site and she helped me get the ball rolling. She kept on it for me and kept pushing it through channels. She even called upper management when things seemed to get bogged down a bit and held my hand by phone and email. In the end, GMAC Insurance treated me very fair. They paid off the loan on my trailer and gave me a few hundred extra on it. My SUV they paid full value for including the new tires. I sent them a detailed list of my personal losses and that was paid with no quibbling.
One thing you should be aware of is what happens once your vehicle or trailer goes to a recycler. Once it is there, your access to them and what you can take out is highly restricted. Get everything you can out before your vehicle goes there and be sure to get lots of pictures of all damage both at the accident and after. When I told them the suspect flat tire was missing, they did not even seem to care. After a few calls to the wreckers involved, the tire was located at one of them and the second one offered to pick it up since they were going to the first and should not have left it there. They were to deliver it to the recycler in Reno for me to pick it up. However, when I showed up to get the tire for evidence, the recycler refused to let me have it saying it was part of the car now and only the insurance company could give me permission to take it. It was very frustrating. I eventually got it but what a pain.
Now lest you start thinking that DangRV is no more, let me put your mind at ease. Remember the ad in the Reno paper? I checked it out while in Reno. It was for a package deal of a 1992 1 ton dually Chevy truck that was in pretty good shape and a 1993 30 foot Terry Resort 5th wheel trailer. The truck just needed a new serpentine belt and tires. The trailer needed tires, a new water heater, slideout awning, and some other things. With RV parts on Ebay (new water heater) and the very cheap price negotiated for the truck and 5th, it was possible to buy them for cash and make the repairs including all new tires and still have money left over from the insurance settlement. I am still a happy camper.
I very much miss my extremely comfortable SUV to drive and I will always remember my very well layed out travel trailer but life is always changing and perhaps it was time to move to the next level of trailering. The 5th wheel does have several additional things I had wanted and is also comfortable. I like to think this was God’s way of pushing me on to change though I would prefer to do it without the rolling over next time. Anyway, it gives me lots of new things to write about now! 😀
By Katrina Kane, on September 23rd, 2012 Almost missed some more sightseeing before I leave! I went over to the thrift store in Sunriver again for the heck of it and then went into Sunriver to the mall there. Interesting area. It is easy to get lost there with 4 circles routing traffic everywhere. The houses all look like summer cabins and there is a big fancy resort with lots of rooms to stay in. Bike riding is HUGE there with bike paths and bike rentals everywhere.
The “mall” is more like a tourist plaza with lots of cute little stores full of tee shirts, knick knacks, sporting goods, books, restaurants, and of course ice cream and popcorn. Toward the back is the pavilion where during the summer they have bumper cars and miniature golf. In the winter, those are cleared away and they ice it over for ice skating. This is definitely an all year resort and it’s not very far from excellent skiing on Mt. Bachelor or kayaking on the river. There is a colorful little train around for the kids to ride and a very interesting seating area. At the front of the mall is a full IGA grocery store with hot BBQ being cooked and served on the patio. Bicycle rentals are in the back of the mall.
  
Recently, they opened a new aquatic center known as SHARC. Folks seem to love it as it is full every weekend. They have one pool with a climbing net over part of it and another pool where giant tube slides empty into it. There are ground fountains for the kiddies and a dry tubing run up a hill to the side. Food is available as well as picnic tables outside. They also have a couple of small climbing walls and a kids slide. For their winter visitors, they have an indoor pool to keep the party going. Costs Memorial Day to Labor Day are $25 for adults and $20 for kids (4-17 yrs). Off season rates are $18 for adults and $15 for kids. Location is 57250 Overlook Rd.
  
Nearby is the Sunriver Observatory and Nature Center. The Observatory is very small but still worth seeing. It is free during the day and they have telescopes setup with filters to look at the sun and see sun spots and solar flares. At night, they charge $6 for star gazing. They have a roof that rolls back on one side and a dome that opens above the big telescope. Be sure to read the colorful displays and learn something while you are there. I didn’t go into the Nature Center next door but even the walk up to it was educational.
 
West of Sunriver is Mt. Bachelor which is a lovely drive on a sunny day and I highly recommend it. That day, there was a national bike race going on so I passed one cyclist after another. I realize that somehow riding a bike a hundred miles up and down a mountain is supposed to be fun but after seeing the faces of those coming up the rear, I have NO desire to experience that kind of “fun”. The lakes and surrounding mountains were pretty awesome though. I stopped at one day use area on the lake to get a picture of the lake and watch the sailboats skimming across the water in a playful dance with each other and the wind.
By Katrina Kane, on September 23rd, 2012 I went back to the Thousand Trails park for some more hot tub time. Had a great time for another two weeks then was supposed to head on south but got a call from a friend in Idaho that wanted to come visit. I had found a great flyer at the store here with all the highlights of this area in gorgeous color and sent it to her along with a postcard of the lava tube to see if I could tempt her. It worked! She and her husband decided they needed a getaway before winter sets in and visiting me and a volcano was as good an excuse as any. So, I have extended my stay. They got here in time to use the hot tub and have dinner with me before I had to move my trailer 5 miles away for my week out. I went back down to Cascade Meadows in La Pine, OR.
We met up the next day at their motel in Bend and went looking for something to do. Unfortunately, we missed the chocolate factory tour there but their exhibits were interesting. We ended up late at the High Desert Museum. It was pretty informative and large. We didn’t get to see all the outside stuff due to being late but they were nice enough to sign our tickets to give us a second day there if we could squeeze it in. We saw a declawed bobcat and declawed lynx there that had been pets that were dumped out in the forest with no chance of surviving. They are now living at the museum permanently.
  
The next day, we met up at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument Visitor’s Center. I got to see a bit of what I missed before including a different movie they show about the area. After that, we headed on down to the mile long lava cave. This time, I had a warm coat and two good flashlights with me while also wearing my boots. I was prepared! My friends enjoyed it very much. I thought the husband might get bored since he is a miner and goes underground all the time but he was pretty gung ho for it and told me a lava cave is different and interesting to him. He checked out the walls thoroughly and pointed out some things to us which helped make it different for me. I had to lend one of my flashlights to someone when theirs started going out. On the way back out, my friends gave away one of theirs as well to another unprepared spelunker. We did note that following my friend’s white pants in the dark made the hike easier. Good wardrobe choice!
 
We ended the weekend visit with a BBQ at my place. They went on up to the caldera to look around and see the lakes and waterfalls then came by. We got a game of Uno in and lots of chat.
Now I’m back at Thousand Trails again. Might as well catch two more weeks of cheap membership camping before heading out to areas where there are none of these. It’s a little different this time. The park is starting to close parts down for the winter so I couldn’t stay where I wanted to. Even many parts that are still open will be closing and blocked off at various times. I managed to scout out a decent site up front where they will be open all winter and it is close enough to the town square in the park to connect to their WI-FI with my repeater. The neighbor next door seems very nice and has an electric bike I will have to go see and get a picture of for my other website, rvelectricscootersandbikes.com .
I should also mention there is a pretty good thrift store over in Sunriver that is worth looking at. They are only open a couple days, Friday and Saturday, but they have great stuff and benefit the local observatory, another good tourist attraction. I found a used RV water tank there for only $5 (it was 50% off day). I’ll be mounting that along with a water pump I got from Harbor Freight in Bend in the back of my SUV to ferry water in when boondocking. My SUV has a DC plug right at the back for easy use. Still need the solar panels to boondock and working on that.
 
For more pics click here.
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