Destinations: August 29, On the road again!

On the road again August 29, we stayed our first four nights at Palisade State Park near Manti, UT. We had a reservation for three nights but arrived one day early on Saturday afternoon and found the park to be full, but were able to park our first night in the group camp site where we had electric, so it was actually pretty nice. By noon Sunday our reserved site became available and by Sunday evening, the park was just about empty as the weekend crowd had all gone home. The next two days were very quiet. The park has no hiking trails, but there is a nice lake and beach. We spent some time sitting down by the beach where we had a really nice breeze. The rest of the time we spent just lounging around except one short trip to town to fill up with fuel. We found one station that had diesel fuel at 2.39/gal. That’s the lowest price for diesel since we were in Texas in 2012.

Our site at Palisade State Park

Beach and Lake at Palisade

Enjoying the shade

From Palisade, we drove 200 miles to Baker, NV on Highway 50. There was one stretch in Western Utah that had a sign “No Services for 89 miles”. In fact, there was nothing but flat desert for those 89 miles with a view of the mountains in the distance.

We pulled off onto this graveled area, still 40 miles from Baker, NV. It's hard to believe how primitive people crossed the desert on foot and horses. The mountains in the distance must be 50 miles away or more.

At the State line we checked into the Border Inn and RV park. The park office is located in Utah, while next door is the Motel, casino, and RV park, which is in Nevada.

The Border Inn Motel, Casino, RV Park. See the Utah Welcome Sign? The Utah, Nevada border runs between the office and casino/RV Park.

Our site for two nights in Nevada; maybe 50 yards from Utah.

Sunset at the RV Park

After we settled into our RV site and had dinner, we walked across the lot to the casino/restaurant. June pulled out a twenty dollar bill and played one of the 30 or so slots for maybe five minutes, where she had run it up to $38.00 and pushed the “cash out” button. A message popped up on the screen to call an attendant for the payout. I had to walk around and found a lady in the kitchen that filled out a form and gave June her money after signing the receipt. It seems all of the slot payouts are handled the same way. A lot different from what we’ve seen in every other casino where the machine gives you a receipt that you can cash in or play at other machines. Well, with that $18.00 profit, we had pie and ice cream and still had $5.00 left to take home.

About eleven miles away is the very small town of Baker, NV at the entrance to Great Basin National Park. We drove over the next morning. The Park road takes you up the mountain to a height of 10,160 ft. that ends at a campground. The road is restricted to vehicles under 24 ft., so only the smallest RV’s can use the campground. We were in our truck, but had no issues on the narrow winding mountain road. It’s interesting the Park name is Great Basin, as the park itself is the mountain, while the Great Basin is the miles of flat land between the mountain ranges below outside of the Park boundaries. From the pullouts, we were able to see for many miles across the Great Basin.

On the way to Baker, someone with a sense of humor at this cross street.

Views from Great Basin National Park

GPS screen showing winding road in Great Basin NP

Some Desert Road Art near Baker, NV

On the drive back to the Border RV, we stopped at an archeological site where once was an old village referred to as Baker Town. While just a spot in the desert, it’s still pretty interesting that hundreds of years ago people lived here. Where did they get their water? It didn’t say.