What we did on our Fall Vacation!

A Bucket List Item checked off - Opal Mining in Nevada's Virgin Valley

September 30 – Tampa to Reno

We left the house at 5:30am to catch our 7:25 flight.  We get there with time to spare, and decided to have breakfast at Chili's To Go.  Neither Marty nor I finished our breakfast.  We chalked it up to nerves.

The flight from Tampa to Phoenix was not great.  We had the middle and aisle seats, which normally are not too bad, but these seats had to be the worst either Marty or I had ever been in.  The backs had the headrest in the wrong spot and the seats were short so they cut you in the middle of your thigh. The cushions seamed to have been worn through and we were sitting on metal. We struggled through the 4.5 hour flight and then because we arrived in Phoenix a little early, the plane had to sit on the tarmac for a ½ hour until a gate was clear.  Oh my goodness, I had never been so happy to have a flight over with.

We had time before our next leg to Reno so Marty got a Turkey sandwich which he could only eat a portion and I got a yogurt parfait for our lunch.  As we were finishing, our flight was called to Reno.  This one was only a 1.5 hour flight with the same kind of worn out seating.  Unfortunately, and neither of us felt right.  Little would we know…..

In Reno we got a Dodge Ram truck as a rental.  Wow, is it big!!  I had to really heave myself up to get into the cab.  It was a short and straight ride to the hotel.  We checked in and ogled the views from our 24th floor room.

We walked around the casino for a bit then went to Cafe Central for a bite to eat.  Marty and I ordered an appetizer Oriental platter to share as we didn’t have much of an appetite.  We both had a very hard time eating it, especially the ribs.  We walked around a bit more but decided to go up to the room and rest.  We watched some TV and fell asleep in separate beds because neither one of us felt well.  We blamed it on jet lag, the bad flight etc.  I woke up at midnight to Marty getting sick, so I got up, made a washrag wet, got Marty back to bed and went to the bathroom.  I got up but sat right back down on the lid.  I sat for a few moments assuming vertigo.

I remember making the decision to stand up then being aware of pain in my mouth then nothing until Marty came running hollering my name.  I groaned and tried to get up.  Marty told me “Stay still!”  Apparently, I hit the marble door ledge on the way down and split my lower lip in several places.  Blood was very evident.  He got me his cold rag and asked me to talk to him.  I thought he was crazy because it hurt but he explained later that he wanted to make sure I hadn't had another stroke.  He brought me a suitcase to sit on to make sure I was steady before I tried to get up all the way.  After a few moments of convincing him, he allowed me to get up and get in to bed.

I used the washcloth on my lip and most of it stopped bleeding in an hour or so.  The worst cut took about until 4am to stop.  It oozed until after breakfast that morning.  I stayed awake most of the rest of the night but was able to rest after Marty came to lay with me.

Marty slept but was restless only getting mildly comfortable on his belly or his back.

October 1 - Reno

We got up while it was still dark to walk around the "Biggest little city in the world".  It was around 5:30am and there was no traffic. The lights were beautiful.  We thought the exercise and cool air would make us feel better, and it did.  We ended up walking to the El Dorado Casino and we decided it was a good place for breakfast.  Marty got a muffin, which he finished and I got an Apple Fritter - it was huge!  And, I didn't realize how much it would hurt to eat or drink or laugh.  What a sight I was trying to drink or of the right side of my mouth and get food into it without opening it.  I left the coffee and took the fritter with the high hopes of being able to eat it later.

We played a few slots but between our not feeling well and bad luck, we decided to go back to the room and rest some more.  We watched TV and slept most of the morning.   One of the other things we had to contend with was our sinus problems.  Both of us had lots of mucus, making it difficult to breathe and when we blew our noses, we'd have blood. The high altitude really had an effect on us folks used to being 10 feet above sea level.

We decided to try to walk around town again and went into a little pawn shop across the street.  We wanted to get a charm to put on the map. Marty looked at and bought a few silver coins while I looked through the owner's scrap box and found a little slot machine that was perfect. We spent a whole $37 for everything - better odds than the slots.  We walked to the Truckee Art Walk which was very nice along the Truckee River and back again.  We went to the room again to rest but I was hungry.  Around lunch I got Marty some banana bread and iced tea and I made coffee and had nibbles of the fritter.  We both took a nice nap.

We decided that we needed to get out for dinner so we went to Cafe Central again.  Marty had a chicken pho soup and I had a house salad.  We talked seriously about whether or not going to the Peacock Mine was a good idea given how we both were feeling.  I ate the whole salad but Marty left most of the soup.  Not a bad thing though, we figured we'd save it for our adventure in the mountains.  Back in the room again, we slept again, watched some TV and talked some more.  We decided that we came this far, we'd assume we would feel better in the morning and finish this bucket list item and go to the Peacock Mine for opals.  Finally we settled in for the night. During the night Marty got sick again although this time I didn't hear him at all and he didn't tell me until we were on the road. 

 

October 2 – Reno to the Peacock Mine

We woke up and went for breakfast at Cafe Central as it was the only thing open and they had cereal which is what Marty wanted, he ate some but mostly wanted the cold milk. 

He was still feeling nauseous. I got a yogurt parfait but couldn't finish it, not because I didn't feel well (because I was feeling good at that time, sleep really helped me) but because it was HUGE, I ate all the fruit and most of the granola and left the yogurt in the parfait cup.  My lip was swollen and angry red.  It was still soft on my lip but under it was hard with 2 separate scabs.  I could still taste the metallic taste that told me it was still oozing a little.  No one ever said anything and we wondered if folks wondered if I'd been hit.  I tried to explain if they looked at me but mostly I just pretended that it wasn't there.

We went back to the room and wanted to relax with some TV before getting ready to go because it was only around 6am.  Guess what, the TV wouldn't work!  I went down to the desk and the clerk fiddled with something (they had already shut it off as we were checking out that day) but on getting back to the room, it still wouldn't work so we gave up, packed and got ready to leave.

Marty took some aspirin and was feeling okay, but when we went to the parking garage, there was an overwhelming smell of diesel which made both of us feel nauseous, Marty worse than me.  He wanted to drive to take his mind off of how he was feeling.  It was about 40 degrees in the garage and Marty got the shivers until the car finally warmed up.

Once on the road though it was smooth going.  Route 80 was easy to find and we got on it and drove due East out of the valley.  We climbed the mountains for the next hour or so following the Truckee River, then started seeing summit signs.

The truck had Sirius radio so we put on comedy and this is the joke Marty remembers:

A Guy speaking: he, as a newlywed who right after the wedding laid down the law about how it was going to be to his wife.  He didn't see her for two weeks.  Then, he started to see a little out of his left eye….

About 175 miles into the trip we came to the town of Winnemucca NV, which I immediately recognized from the Johnny Cash song I've Been Everywhere.  We stopped to get gas and provisions (such as we could given our lack of appetite and Marty's nausea).   We got mini-donuts, two Danish, a soda, iced tea, water, and a really, really bad cup of coffee, probably there since Spring. 

As we drove more Northward, it was beautifully scenic but desolate and no cars passed us, no houses, only some mules, cows and horses. When we turned off state road 95 to local road 140, we saw even less, nothing but mountains everywhere we looked. 

 

We stopped and took a few pictures to show the straight road, a dead antelope and a rest area that was just a sheltered outhouse.  The town of Denio Junction, the closest town to our destination, consisted of a few trailers, and a coffee shop and we were still 30 miles from the Peacock Mine.

20 miles later, we turned into a tracked and pitted dirt road, those bumps and tractor bands in the gravel did Marty's stomach no good at all.  The scenery was beautiful with donkeys all along the way, looking at us trespassing on their turf.  We found out later that the government rounds up the wild horses each year but leave the donkeys alone, so there are a lot of them.

We arrived and checked in with Jake at the Opal Shop at the mine.  Our cabin was an old office trailer.  At least that is what it looks like. 2 twin beds at one end, through the bathroom in the middle to the kitchen with a little table and 2 chairs at the other end. Unfortunately, the space heater had not been turned on and the cabin was cold.  It affected Marty in a really bad way.  He got the shivers and proceeded to give up the donut and coffee he'd eaten earlier.  I went and got another space heater to warm the bathroom and kitchen areas.  I put the heater in the kitchen and turned it on then went outside because on the driveway were Obsidian chips. Marty just calls them shiny black rocks. I started to collect some to take home and found an Obsidian arrowhead!!! I showed it to Jake and he confirmed that the rock looks worked on to make the arrow shape and there were Native Americans originally on the land.   He said a big storm had just gone through and it washes the chips down from the mountain.

 

 We took a short nap, Marty’s shorter than mine. The rest of the afternoon we spend talking and staying warm under the covers.

The nighttime sky was absolutely stunning!!  We were able to see the Milky Way along with so many stars, it was amazing.  Marty could only stay out a few minutes so he went back in but I bundled up in a blanket and leaned on the truck bed for a while longer.  I didn’t want to come in at all but it was getting very chilly and windy.

I came in, got ready for bed and promptly fell asleep.  Marty said he did too.   The space heaters ran constantly through the night and they are not quiet.  Sometimes it sounded like they were dueling.

October 3 – Royal Peacock Mine

We woke up in the morning to SNOW!!  The cold and wind from the night before settled into a beautiful blanket of white. 

Luckily, Marty was feeling better and had no more nausea or chills.  But just as a precaution, he took some aspirin to ensure he didn't get a temperature while we were outside.  My lip this morning was less swollen but it was hard everywhere and felt like your lips do when they are chapped.  We were enchanted with the views everywhere, on the mountains, on the driveways, it was gorgeous.  I threw my first snowball since December 2010!!!  We came fairly well prepared, putting on several shirts under our jackets and even remembered work gloves.

There was only one other person working the banks this day.  He was very knowledgeable and showed us what he looks for when he mines here. He comes twice a year and works a few days each time.  He was a young man and slept in his Kia Sportage with a generator to run his heater. He thought that they might not open the mine because of the snow but they did and we got started first thing.

We understood that the working would be hard but we didn’t know how hard. We quickly learned that the first half of the day was spent cutting the top of the bank down with our rented axes and other tools. 

There are signs everywhere about undercutting the bank.  The space where Opals reside is from about waist level to about knee level and you have to prepare your work site.  Undercutting is not allowed because you really don't want the mountain to fall on top of you. It was cold but between the adrenaline and swinging the pickeaxes, we were comfortable.  It was only when you walked away from the bank that you felt the wind and cold.  Our only regret was that we didn't bring safety goggles because we had bits of clay in our hair, eyes, mouth, down our shirts and in our underwear. 

Around midday, we started using the hands axes and screwdrivers to work the prime areas.  About a hundred times, Marty would ask ”is this something?”  And our co-miner or the guide would say...no it's dirt, or clay, or manganese stain, or silica residue.  Until finally, he swung the hand axe and heard glass. The other miner came over and said “Yup you found a black opal.  A real nice one”.  We could only see the face of it and spent the next 15 minutes digging all around it to get it out.  The more we dug, the more excited we got.  When we finally got it out, it is a little bigger than a golf ball and both guys said that it was a real beauty.  Turns out that maybe 1 in 4 bank diggers find a fire opal at all so we know we were very fortunate. 

The next few hours we found a few more small fire opals, both white and black, and some common opals too.  We moved on to other sections of the bank and dug some more but it was slow going as we both had no strength left to swing the axes.  We were cold, tired and hungry so decided to call it an adventure.  It was around 2 pm and the truck's thermostat said it was only 32 degrees.  We came back to the cabin, heated up the soup and I took a nap.

Marty and I talked, read and updated the journal the rest of the afternoon.  I played with my new precious stones some and chipped some of the clay away from a big chunk so all of them would fit in a baggie that Jake (the grandson of the owners) gave me.  You have to keep them wet or moist as Opals are mostly water and if you let them dry out, they will crack or shatter.  I played with the barn cat a little and he was so friendly, he sat right on my lap and started purring.  When I pet his ears, he grabbed my hands with his paws to move them where he wanted which was under his chin.  He then would love bite me and lick my fingers.

Marty and I redressed to go out and watch the sunset over the mountains.  It was so pretty.  We also saw some hares hopping around outside.   We walked to the store (across the driveway) and got some more to drink.  We remarked that since we haven't been eating regularly, existing on donuts and iced tea, our bathroom habits have been changed and since we were up in the mountain yesterday, it was a good thing.

We also noted that the heaters had not stopped running since we returned so we know it's not only cold, its damn cold.

After dark, we went out again to see the wonderful night sky.  Being able to see clouds of stars, not just the brightest ones, and the Milky Way arms is a dream come true for me.  I remarked that THIS was the best part of our journey.  At 4000 ft, no light pollution, no noise pollution, just mountains, wildlife, and my love by my side (after I read this, Marty added, until he got cold and went inside!).

We settled in pretty quickly and fell asleep with the heaters in concert tonight, it was easy to ignore them.

Royal Peacock Opal Mine - Reno 10/4

I woke up early and read the Kindle for a while, Marty woke up at 5am and we got into the same bed and chatted for a bit.  We seem to have not gotten onto West Coast time.

We tried to inventory how we were feeling after all our digging and hacking and prying in the bank yesterday.  It turned out that other than Marty's stiff knees and hands and my stiff hands and a blister on my left hand we were none the worse for wear.  Yeah for adrenaline!!

As we were eating the last of our Danishes for breakfast, we caught sight of a herd of deer running behind the trailer.  What a sight! One buck with several females in tow.  After that we also saw a pair of jackrabbits too. The photos, of course don’t the animals justice.

We washed the dishes, stripped the beds, checked and made sure we had everything out of the room and went over to the office to check out.  As we did, we looked over the examples of petrified opalized wood and Marty said I should pick one out to take as a souvenir.

At the mine office it was about 21 degrees but we both only wore light jackets.  It really did not feel that cold.  2 ladies were checking in to do bank digging today and had driven in from Denio where they were staying.  That is 45 minutes to an hour away, a very long drive both before and after a day of digging.  They talked about wanting to find something but we said the view of the sky at night was the best part.  They said they had forgotten to look last night and thanked us for reminding them.

As we were driving out of the mine area, we stopped to take pictures of the mountains in the morning Sun, the colors were amazing.  As I turned to get back on the truck, I caught sight of a Bobcat running across the road!  I yelled out to Marty...did you see that!!!  And he had, we spent the next few minutes trying to see where it went but the brush was too thick.  We got back on our way.

It was pretty uneventful on the road until we hit Winnemucca.  We stopped at the first place that has food that happened to be a casino with a cafe inside.  We had a regular breakfast, eggs, hash brown and ham.  It was the first real meal that we'd eaten since Monday and we hadn't finished that.  I had trouble biting into the English Muffin and bacon, so I traded for toast and ham with Marty.  We played a penny slot casino game and I won!

Back on the road again, we stopped to take pictures of a house we had seen on the way out.  We also stopped to get gas near Reno so the tank would be full when we returned the truck to National tomorrow.

We checked into the El Dorado which is right next door to the Silver Legacy where we stayed Monday and Tuesday.  We went across the street to the Pawn Shop to see if they found the other earring (inlaid hot air balloon) but they hadn't and it sounded like they had really looked.  They were very nice.

We went back to the El Dorado and gambled a little and realized that we were both hungry.  We went to the Silver Legacy buffet and ate.  Oh my goodness, it was so nice to eat and have no repercussions.

We decided that we were tired and went back to the room.  It may only be 7pm here but in our heads and bodies, it is after 10pm.  We turned on the TV and I wanted to take a bath but there was no plug so it was a long hot shower for me.  While I was showering, Marty went downstairs to check in with the airline and print our tickets.  He came back muttering because he tried 3 times on the ancient courtesy PC to check in, but the machine was so slow it would time out the connection and then reboot.  The second time he got as far as picking out seats and it showed that none were available.  The third time may have eventually worked if Marty didn’t throw the PC across the room. Can we have a normal day, please?

Reno - Tampa 10/5 

The answer is no.

Our restful and recuperating night's sleep was not to be.  Around 2am, a man in the next room started crying out HELP HELP HELP for minutes at a time.  It almost sounded like a really loud cat.  It didn't sound like he'd fallen or hurt himself in any way - it sounded like he'd drunk too much.  It would stop then start again.  Finally, after the third time, I called Security and we heard them knock on the door next to ours.  They talked to him for several minutes then left and he was quiet after that for a bit.  Security came up later, too. In all, Security came up to his room three times in the early morning hours.

We woke up early, around 5:30am, got dressed and went down for breakfast.  It was nice once again to eat without having to worry how our stomachs would handle the food.  I am still having trouble with bacon and anything with a crunchy edge.

When we returned to our room, next door’s door was propped open and EMTs and their medical equipment were in full view.  We didn't hear them take him anywhere and when we were ready to check out, the door was closed.

We packed everything up, double checked the room and made our way down to the desk to check out.  At the desk, all was going well until the clerk said our card would be charged an amount that was more than the city tax.  We explained that we had prepaid and she explained that if we had, the bill would not have the room charge on it.  We refused to pay and she argues with us a few moments until we insisted that we had paid in advance, she called to the billing office and asked them to check and sure enough there had been an error on our room charge sheet.  We had, indeed, paid in advance.  Our bill was for the room and city tax, about $11.  With that straightened out, we got on our way.

Again, the airport was easy to get to and we were there in no time.  I loved the car rental return for National as every person who passed us said "Welcome back!"  It was a very nice thing to do.

Our flights back were scheduled on American Airlines and the planes were larger and the seats way more comfortable.  They also had a policy of allowing early boarding for those who had only luggage that fit under the seat, it was different and nice for those who qualified.  The trip to Dallas passed quickly and once in DFW we had dinner at TGIFridays and watched a few innings of the Rays-Red Sox playoff game.  When they called our flight, they asked that we board quickly as weather was moving in and they were going to try to beat it.

We did end up beating the ‘weather’ and got to Tampa around 9:30pm.  We flew above the cloud cover and the clouds were amazing.  So thick and high, like skyscrapers.  We hit very little turbulence and the flight was pleasant.  We were home by a little after 10pm but couldn’t settle in.  We read, unpacked and finally watched TV until we were tired, around 1am.

 

Time to plan our next adventure.