Day 3 & 6 – ELY, NEVADA

Dave’s family is from Ely. His Mom was born here and lived with her family in a mining camp (tungsten) owned and run by her father, John D. Tilford. The camp was about 60 miles outside of Ely. She lived in a log cabin with a dirt floor, along with 3 other siblings.

Today the mining camp, and home are all part of Great Basin National Park. One building still stands in the mining camp; a small cabin that was a goods store room (food and supplies). The Park restored the cabin and dedicated that building to the Tilford family in 2016 during the 100^th anniversary of the National Park system. It was also Elinor’s (Daves Mom’s) 100^th birthday.

We stayed in Ely for four nights at the Ely KOA. The best and just about the only RV park in the area. This place is fairly nice with lots of trees. The sites are back-in and pull through’s and spacious for a small trailer. We added a day to our stay and had to stay at a different site the first night and them moved into our original site the next day.

First night

Moved to 2nd site for next 3 nights

Dave has a cousin and his wife still living here along with some 2^ndcousins. Dave and Edith Tilford were our hosts during our stay and took us into the hills to visit the old family sites. It was a full and very busy visit, and hot, hot and hot; but a dry heat.

The highlight of the trip was a short twilight train ride into the desert on the Nevada Northern Railway. Out here in nowhere land with no city lights, you can see the stars and planets with two free glasses of champagne. I saw the Milky Way for the first time ever!! Also saw Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury and many constellations.

The downside of the trip was that the desert was full of blooming rabbit brush. And I turned out to be allergic to the stuff. My nose ran wild during the visit and the drugs dulled my senses. And the 6,400+ altitude was getting to me too. Still had a good time.

WARD CHARCOAL OVENS STATE HISTORICAL PARK

Edith & Dave Tilford and Dave

NEVADA NORTHERN RAILWAY

Edith needed some help getting into the train car
They turn on this red lighting so you can see your way around, but not affect your night vision of the stars and planets.

Tried to take pictures of the stars and planets, but it was just not working out.

GREAT BASIN NATONAL PARK AND SNAKE CREEK CANYON

Pyramid Peak

Milk Thistle

Dave at the site of his grandparents (John and Sarah (Sadie) Tilford) cabin.

Sign at the Tilford Bonita mining camp.

Food and supply storage building that was renovated to it's original condition by Great Basin National Park.
On the last day of our visit, Dave and 2nd cousin Dave visited my Dave's grandfather's home (cabin) from 1930 - 1942 in nearby Osceola.
John Tilford's 2nd cabin; without Sarah and kids (including Dave's mom, Elinor). Tired of mining life, Sarah and kids moved to San Francisco. John sent money and visited now and then.

Side view of cabin.
Mt. Wheeler
To make things clearer, 2nd cousin Dave's father is my Dave's grandfather's brother. Did you get that? Was it clear? Here is some more; 2nd cousin Dave is 6 months old than my Dave. 2nd cousin Dave is 1st cousin to Dave's mother.

Next stop is Twin Falls, Idaho. Stay tuned.

Day 1 & 2 – SPARKS, NEVADA

Spending 2 nights in Sparks/Reno area. We settled into our site at Sparks Marina RV Park. We stay at this RV park every time we are in this area with the trailer; since 2009 when they first opened up. It’s an excellent RV Park with a nice layout with 247 sites (back-ins and pull throughs). Paved roads and pads, picnic table, and fake grass (dogs are not allowed to pee on it). Nice rec room and pool. Comfort stations are excellent.

Smoke from the Caldor fire in South Lake Tahoe

On the way in, we saw tents and crowds at some event going on at Victorian Square (a few blocks from the RV park). We found out that it was a Rib cookoff event with arts and crafts vendors. So, after we settled in, we drove over there and parked at the Nugget parking lot and walked through crowds of maskless people, saw a lot of mass market vendors. Mostly metal yard deco (from Mexico). Always like looking at this stuff with all the colors and designs. Also, lots of dark stuff, clothing with skulls, signs about guns and rights.

Nevada is a conservative state. Saw country music bands and a few large barbeque places with long lines. I think we are getting too old. Could not enjoy ourselves. The worst part was the smoke. When we stepped out of our trailer, we saw a what looked like storm clouds on the horizon. Only it wasn’t clouds, it was smoke (from the fires at South Lake Tahoe). When our eyes started to burn and we could smell strong smoke when we took our masks off, we needed to leave.

We drove to a nearby shopping and theater district called Legends for a pizza dinner. When we got back to the trailer and settled down to watch TV, we could smell smoke inside the trailer. It’s going to be a long two days.

We got a late start the next day, but it was a full day seeing a few sites and not once did we step into a casino.

RANCHO SAN RAFAEL REGIONAL PARK

This was our first stop today. I read there was an arboretum and museum in this park; Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Museum. It is indeed a very nice spacious garden. Unfortunately, we did not explore the whole place. It was just so hot (in the 90’s) and too hilly. And it was still quite smoky. The short walk I did manage wore me out. Another day, another season.

I hid one of my painted rocks here (above). Can you find it?

This is an interesting illusion. It looks like a small stump is sticking out of the middle of the above tree. There is no stump, it's actually laying flat on the tree trunk.

We came across a White Oak that had interesting bark pattern and quite a few wounds in different stages of healing. The healing process is quite interesting.

Injured

Healing

Still healing

Healed

So why am I showing you pictures of tree trunk scars on a trip to Yellowstone? Because it's interesting. I have never seen so many levels of healing on one tree and I never knew the stages. I learned something today. Maybe you did too.

The grounds of this park was where Wilbur D. May had his ranch. Today the ranch house is used for events. The museum is staged with mock rooms of how May's ranch house looked like when he lived there. May was a world traveler and hunter with many trips to Africa. The museum showcased his treasures. Unfortunately, one room displayed a trove of wild animal heads and skins and many elephant tusks. I did not take a picture because this is something I never want to see again or remember.

TRUCKEE RIVER WALK

Drove into Reno to find a place to eat on the Truckee River Walk. Wild/River Grille has excellent food and the outside dinning has a view of the river. After lunch we did a short walk along the river. The Truckee river is disappearing. Quite sad.