Spoffords Travel

Day 3 February 18, 2024 Kathmandu

We are to meet in the lobby at 8:30 after eating breakfast to proceed to the orientation meeting. There we met our guide and the others in our tour. Twenty six of us all together. After a short break to gather travel stuff we loaded in a bus and headed for the sites. The city streets are narrow and run every which way. Most of the vehicles are local buses, scooters and motorcycles. They drive on the left side or the middle of the road. Sometimes the road is only one lane wide. Occasionally there is a traffic cop in the middle of a major intersection. I don’t remember seeing a traffic light. All kinds of businesses line both sides of the street. Living quarters are above. Power poles line both sides of the road with numerous power and telephone lines. Sometimes the lines go no where. Oh yes I forgot to mention that the city is built on small hills. So the roads go up and down and have sharp turns. People are everywhere. Men dress in western clothing while women wear a mixture of modern and Indian. Early in the day and late in the day traffic is quite light, but in the middle of the day it is very dense. We followed a river for a while. Not much water currently because this is the dry season. Lots of trash is in the river. After about 30 minutes we arrived at our first stop. The area is known as Bungamati. We stopped on the street and then slowly crossed the road. Now cross walks rarely exist and traffic still goes. Everyone just slowly walks across and the vehicles move around you in both directions.

As we walk down the alley our guide points out things of interest. Some of them include markings in front of the door or on the sidewalk. He talks with residents and has them tell about themselves. One of those was an elderly gentleman who had a small gold earring. This was given to him by his family when he was 77 years 7 months 7 days and 7 hours old. (Now Rob needs an earring.) A second earring will be given if he makes 88. The alley is composed of uneven cement blocks so you need to be careful as you walk. We walked for 20-30 minutes to reach our first shrine. Nepal has experienced two major earthquakes. One in 1934 and one in 1972. They caused damage to buildings all over. Many of the shrines are under renovation so they are surrounded by scaffolding. Seeing them is not easy. Most are made of hardwood and are Hindu. Over 80% of the population is Hindu with the next largest group being Buddhist. The shrine is located in a small square surrounded by the city.

Back on the bus and off to the next stop Khokana. Here is where mustard oil is made. Mustard is a huge crop in Nepal. You can see it growing almost everywhere. Mustard oil has many uses including cooking and health care.

Next stop is the ancient city of Patan known for its fine arts. This location used to be a royal palace and has a much larger square. There are numerous shrines in varying sizes with a pagoda architecture. Temples to various Hindu gods and Buddha are scattered throughout the square. The crowds are much larger here. The group split up somewhat with those wishing to explore more and those wishing to have lunch. We chose lunch. We went to a cafe that supposedly did fast food. Well it didn’t seem very fast. We had a chicken burger and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Neither was like home. The French fries were much the same however. The restaurant is small and very crowded. We are back on the bus for a drive and short visit to a carpet factory. Having seen this numerous times we chose to remain on the bus. That night we had a welcome dinner in a restaurant a short distance from the hotel with the entire group. Surprisingly dinner included a glass of wine or beer if you wanted it.

Day 1-2 February 16 & 17, 2024 Boise to Kathmandu

We got up at 3:00 am to catch a 5:15 am flight to Seattle. From there we flew nonstop to JFK airport. After about a four hour layover we boarded a Qatar Airlines flight to Doha Qatar where we changed to the flight to Kathmandu. We asked to upgrade to Business Class but it was full. That would have cost us $2200.00 each. Not so sure I would have paid that anyway. Can’t say I was favorably impressed with Qatar Airlines. The seats were more narrow and at least one of us had an interior seat. The temperature seemed be too hot with an occasional too cold. The food was terrible. The entertainment system was strange to operate and the headphones kept sliding off your head. Our seats didn’t recline without help from a flight attendant. The Doha airport is beautiful. All that oil money I suppose. After 22 hours of flying we arrived at the Kathmandu airport at 1:00 am local time. The aircraft parked out on the tarmac and we were bused to the terminal. We needed an on arrival visa. Instructions and assistance were not plentiful. We did eventually figure out that we needed to get in the line to pay for the visa. Luckily the paperwork Rob completed on line was good unlike some of the others. Then we waited in another line to actually get the visa and enter the country. Next came baggage claim. What a zoo that was! Three kinds of people were on the flight. Tourists who had an average amount of luggage, US military who had several large bags each and locals who had big bags and huge boxes. Luggage and packages were everywhere. Rob had air tags in our luggage. Mine showed up as with us but Rob’s showed as being in Cairo Egypt. Therefore we were expecting extra effort, but magically both bags appeared. We were so thankful because the lost luggage storage area was full of rats. Seriously, lots of rats. We collected our bags and proceeded to the exit. A guy from Gate One was waiting for us. We were the first of nine to arrive. Once we were all assembled we boarded a van and arrived at the hotel at about 2:30 am.

November 16, 2023 Day 40 Jackpot Nevada to home 183 miles

Oh dear it’s very cloudy outside and looks like it could rain. Fortunately too warm to snow.

While we were eating breakfast in the hotel breakfast room a police officer came in and went down the hall. A few minutes later the paramedics arrived with a gurney and went down the hall. After we finished and were headed back to our room the paramedics were taking a young woman (I think) on the gurney out to the ambulance. She looked very pale. While we were packing up a second ambulance arrived and she was put in that ambulance. We left before they did but the ambulance passed us a few miles down the road. Lights flashing but no siren. We think they took her to Twin Falls.

Only a few miles out of Jackpot we crossed into Idaho. So glad to see that sign. We soon came to a very large solar farm. There were panels on both sides of the road and more being installed. A large crew was working on the project. No doubt they are also trying to beat the snow.

We fueled at the Costco in Twin Falls and then headed for the freeway. The back roads from here are significantly further and include dirt roads. We cruised at 55MPH and did not cause any traffic problems.

Construction crews were working on the Perrine Bridge on the north end just as traffic going toTwin Falls gets to the bridge. Traffic was backed up from there to the freeway. Then just as we got on the freeway more construction. It didn’t affect us much but it really did the east bound traffic. That was backed up over a mile.

We saw several roadkill deer. Another form of deer hunting I guess.

Off in the distance we could see numerous windmills but none of them were turning. We also saw parts to a new windmill going in the opposite direction. Those blades are so long.

We arrived home about 1:30. Good to be back. Looking forward to a familiar pillow tonight.

Some final numbers:

40 days

22.23 average miles per gallon

$3.95 average price per gallon of gas

6 flat tires

2 destroyed radial tires

5 destroyed tubes

2 new tires

4 new tube

1 big rock chip on windshield

November 15, 2023 Day 39 Ely Nevada to Jackpot Nevada 206 miles

This morning is sunny with a small wind and a little warmer than yesterday. We filled with gas and headed out at our usual 9 am. Not much traffic in downtown Ely. We are getting out of there in time. A big storm is moving in on Friday or Saturday. We learned a tourist train runs out of Ely. Several options are available. Might be fun to do sometime.

The road to Jackpot is a more straight two lane road. The traffic is much more than yesterday. Lots and lots of semis going 65 mph or more. The scenery is much the same. Lots of sage brush. There was some snow on the mountains in the distance. There is a little town of McGill and the town of Wells in between. More side roads headed to lakes and canyons.

The big excitement for the day was the odometer turning over 38,000 miles.

We ate lunch at a Subway in Wells Nevada. We tried one of their new Elite Garlic Chicken and Bacon. We both liked it. Lots of rotisserie chicken.

Lots of deer and/or elk must graze north of Wells because the fences along the road are much taller and there are two wildlife crossing bridges over the road. We didn’t see any wildlife.

We got to the hotel shortly before 3 pm. We were to stay in an Econolodge but the big signs on the building were for West Star. An 8.5×11 black and white piece of paper taped to the door said Econolodge. It must have sold recently. No one was in the lobby. Check in is officially at 3 so we waited and then rang the buzzer. We checked in and took a short nap. No flats or other mechanical issues so it turned out to be a nice easy day, Miracles can happen. This was day 2 without a spare.

November 14, 2023 Day 38 Kanab Utah to Ely Nevada 284 miles

Today is sunny but cold. We filled the car with gas and headed out about 9:00 am. We have a long driving day today.

The first hurdle was a very large mountain between Kanab and Cedar City. The road was long and slow both up and down. The grade was up to 8%. A couple of switch backs were also there. Near the top there were patches of snow along the side of the road. In another spot large icicles hung from the rocks. Also at the top were patches of old lava flows. The elevation at the top was 9910 feet. We have not unpacked our heavy winter coats yet. But there is still time.

Once we got down the wind picked up. We could have done without that. Sometimes it was from the side and sometimes from the front. We never have a tail wind. A small field of solar panels were just outside Cedar City. Nothing like the ones from earlier.

A large dark colored deer bounded across the road in front of us. Best guess was a mule deer. Don’t know if the season is open here. Farm country goes for a few miles before the desert takes over.

Hoorah here comes Nevada. We had yet another mountain to go over. The elevation at the top was 6719.

Lunch was at the gas station in Panaca Nevada. That is the first community passed Cedar City. That is the only place to eat in town according to the high school students that came there for lunch. I am guessing that was the entire high school population. Maybe a count of twenty.

Now the road is extremely straight and there is nothing but sage brush to look at. We did go over another summit of 6180. Sure glad no moisture is falling because it would be snow. Saw several signs saying snow tires and chains required. We do actually have tire chains in the car.

Off in the distance are some 30 windmills. We did not have to see the windmills to tell that we had another headwind.

We had one more mountain to climb. We passed another vehicle while going up the mountain. That is extremely rare. The summit elevation was 7720. Then it was straight and basically flat into Ely. We arrive about 4:30. Yea, no night driving today.

We ran without a spare tire today. Only two more days of driving left on this trip. If we have a flat, Rob will have to patch it on the road. He said that he has had enough practice on this trip. He also said that he is going to buy some better knee pads to bring along next time.

November 13, 2023 Day 37 Farmington New Mexico to Kanab Utah 299 miles

Today is sunny but cold. There is a light breeze. We had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel. One of the better ones. They had scrambled eggs, ham and potatoes. The bagels and yogurt were full size. Six cold cereals to choose from. This was only the highlights.

We filled with gas and left about 9 am. This is a long drive day through the Navajo reservation. As we leave town there were at least two places selling small baled hay. They range in price between $10 and $13 per bale.

The roads were very rough. They don’t seem to repair them. This was true most of the day. Sometimes it was like driving on a paved wash board. This made the woodie creek and moan. Then frequently Connie’s door would come partly open. That let in lots of cold air.

We saw several hitch hikers scattered along the way. They were out in the middle of no where. Not sure where they live. We did see a few homes but not many.

The scenery is very interesting. Lots of color and unusual formations. Definitely lots of land marks. We went up and down in elevation but didn’t notice anything much over 6,000 feet.

We crossed into Arizona and for a few miles the road improved. Unfortunately it didn’t last and we were back to washboards.

About a mile out of Kayenta the left rear tire began to go flat. We pulled off the road and Rob pumped it up so that we could limp into the McDonald’s parking lot. We had lunch there and then Rob changed the tire.

We went maybe 20 miles and the right rear tire blew. This required more work and not a good place to get off the road. Rob got out the new tire from the back of the car and put a new tube in it. Then proceeded to change the tire. We now have no spare. Over the course of the hour or more we were there 3 people offered to help. Hundreds of vehicles passed without offering. Oh to have more of the Canadians.

We got back on the road a little after 4:00 with about three hours of driving to go. That also means about two of those hours was in the dark. For those that don’t know the Model A headlights are not very bright. Then add to that the ones on the woodie act like strobe lights so sometimes they are better than others. Of course they could also go out completely. Thank goodness the lines on the road are in good shape. I am sure we are missing some beautiful scenery. Luckily we are also missing the wildlife on the road.

We crossed into Utah and then it was not too much further to Kanab. We got to the hotel about 7:00 pm. Much longer day and a shorter night.