One Night In Winnamucca

We drove from Walker River to Winnamucca the 19th. Nice easy day. We talked with Joe and Bonnie Nemmers and they told us about a fun little bar in Winnamucca. Joe said it was right on the main drag. Well, I think Joe was drunk, cause we found the "Players Bar & Grill" which he recommended and said they had great burgers.

Well, the Players Bar no longer has food, but they did in deed have a great little bartender, pictured here. Her name was Shyla and she recommended we eat at a basque place called Martin's Hotel. It is on the historical register and is a typical basque restaurant, but oh so good! a little expensive but you really get a lot of food! The picture at the left is at the Martin Hotel. Very rustic and fun with with wonderful old photos on the walls. They bring you a salad and beans first, if you are basque you put the beans on your salad. We were rookies, we ate the beans separate. All good! Then they bring you three sides consisting of mashed potatos, carrots and a hominy dish made with basque chorizo. I didn't know there was such a thing. We both really liked it, and I found basque chorizo in a little grocery in Wells. So, now all I have to do is experiment and see if I can replicate it. Yum yum. Barry had a rib eye that he said was one of the best he had ever eaten and I had sweet breads! I can't recall ever seeing sweetbreads on a menu before. They were delicious! Sooo, we ate too much and had a great time!

Aaawwww, fishing at last

So, we took off from Pahrump and made our way to Walker River RV Resort near Smith, NV. Long day of about 350 miles. Smith is a small town south of Carson City. The park is nice, but we have no cell service which means we have no internet service either. They have a pay phone that we have gratefully used. As far as the internet goes we go to Yerrington about 20 miles down the road and we have great service there.

We got to Walker River on Thurs. April 9th. We left the 5er there and went over the Sierras to visit our good friends the Richardsons in Pine Grove, CA on Good Friday. A lot of snow on the Sierras but guess it was to be expected as it is a little over 8000 feet. Earlier this month we were 200 feet below sea level at Death Valley! It snowed a little on us over the mountains but the roads were good. As always it was wonderful to see Pat, Rick and John. Barry served in Vietnam with John and they have remained great friends through the years. Rick will soon be 90 and Pat is 87. Rick has lost a lot of his sight but remains a treat to visit with, and Pat is an extremely young 87. We cooked Easter dinner and had a wonderful time. John's daughter came for Easter from Sacramento where she lives. It was all very enjoyable. We were very glad we went.

Came back to Walker Rive on Monday, April 13. We met my old friend Colleen from Minot in Carson City for lunch and had a wonderful visit. She looks great and seems to love living in Reno. She and her husband Keith relocated there a few months ago. It was great to see them and catch up a little bit.

Then, we WENT FISHING! Aaaawwww! We restored our souls. We hadn't wet a fly since last summer, so we were really eager to get back to it!. We fished the East Fork of the Walker River not too far from Smith. We found the Angler's Edge fly shop in Gardnerville and Liz gave us maps and the inside scoop on where the best fishing spots were. The first day we fished it was cold and snowing off and on lightly, but the fish cooperated fairly well in the cloudy cool

conditions. Barry caught 3 rainbows about 12 to 14 inches and I caught 2 bows about the same size and 1 brown. The bows were all chunky

solid fish and the brown a little thinner.

The Walker River is a gorgeous piece of water, and just the kind of water we love to fish. Easy wading with lots of riffles, runs and some deep holes. We were successful with pheasant tails, and san juans. They didn't hit hard and we didn't have a lot of strikes. I don't believe there are a lot of fish in that water. We fished in the regular regulation area where you can throw bait as well and flies.

The next two days, the weather was wonderful. Sunny and warm. However, the fish weren't on the bite near as much with the sun out. Once again pheasant tails and san juans seemed to be their choices.

We laughed a lot when we came across the mattress shown above. Must be someone's special spot, don't you think?

This was Duck's first fishing outing so he had a lot to learn. He did pretty good, but it was difficult for him, as he loves water and seems to think if he is near it, he is supposed to be in it! He would make a great "big air dog", as he loves to jump and launch himself into the water!

I don't know if you all know about Barry's uncanny ability to catch white fish!!! If there is one within miles, he will catch it! The photo of him above is with one of the whitefish he caught! I have never caught one in my life, but he can every time. But I told him to quote Bob Crum, "Any fish is a good fish if he is on your fly!"

So, Walker River treated us well. We were happy to have the opportunity to catch some Nevada trout!

Last days in Pahrump

Well, tomorrow we leave Pahrump and head toward Smith, NV. We will be at the Walker River Resort for about 2 weeks. Hopefully by then the weather in WY will be turning somewhat springy! Smith, however, is experiencing some snowy cold weather, so go figure!

Yesterday we went to Vegas and visited our good friends the Woodburys. Paul was the Regional Director for Ducks Unlimited Nevada. Anyway we had a good time, ate down on Freemont St. Barry had not been to the "old" area of Vegas so we saw the light show on the Freemont and that was fun!

Today we were back in Brothel mode! We went to Sheri's Ranch for lunch and a guided tour of the brothel. It was very fun. We ate lunch in the sports bar, (very good food,) and the "girls were all hanging around the bar doing the guided tours. They were all lovely and did not have on much! Sooo, after lunch we toured Sheri's ranch. A pretty young lady named Chirisa was our guide and took us from the sports bar into the Parlor. Very nicely turned furniture and atmosphere. This is where the johns see the "line up." After you choose your lady, then you view the menu, which included things I didn't even know what they were, like the Creme de Minte french......Guess that is a blowjob with a liquor of your choice in the lady's mouth. Found that different, how would the guy know what flavor she was using??? Ok, enough of that! From the parlor you could see out into the back yard of this facility. There was a beautiful pool complete with water fall and around the edge of the lawn area were bungalows and rooms where the ladies conducted their business. The bungalows are themed, Safari, King Arthur, Roman, etc. The grounds were all impecibly groomed lawn, which would take some work in this climate. The ladies sun bath topless there and they have access to a gym and hair and nail salon.

Then back inside the big building we proceeded down the hall to select rooms, most of which have a jacuzzi. One room had a lovely table for two, nicely decorated where you can have a gourmet meal with your "date." The next room was very fun, it had a jacuzzi and the whole room was decoraged in Budweiser stuff! Who would have known that Budwieser sponsored a room in a brothel. Choose that room and you enjoy a bucket of free Bud products! Then you come to the dominance and bondage room! Holy smokes! It comes complete with chains, a cage (for crying out loud!) a brass pole and other really weird stuff! I'm sure your friend wears black leather and boots for this one!

The girls all live there and in my opinion are pretty much inmates! They can only leave for 4 hours, if they are gone longer than that they must undergo another health check. They work 2 weeks then have 4 days off, and they are checked weekly by a Dr. there at the ranch for disease. They work 2 weeks on then they can get some time off, they schedule all their own work and all their own pricing. I dont' think you can go there for much less than a grand. It was a lot more up-scale than the other ones we visited! OK, then, that is your brothel update! Tomorrow we will hit the road again, it will be a long day, 360 miles to Walker River and that is a long way for us. We are hoping to find some fishing there. Until then.

Our Visit to the Brothels

Those of you that know me well will not be at all surprised that visiting a brothel was very high on my list of things to do here. With my collection of "hooker books" it only seemed natural that we should go to a cat house,....so..we did!

There is a sign in Pahrump saying there is a Brothel Museum 20 miles from Pahrump in Crystal, NV. So, we got up this morning and went in search of the museum. We looked on the map for Crystal, but there was no listing, so we headed west on 160, and low and behold, out in the middle of absolutely no where, we saw a sign directing us to turn down a dowdy little road, then we came to this sign! Yippeee, we knew were were on the right road then. So here we go!

the second sign we see is for the Cherry Patch Ranch, boy we are on the right track now!

When we pulled up in front of the Brothel and Museum, much to our dismay it was closed. There was a sign that said it was closed for remodeling. There was a couple that had pulled up just ahead of us, ( we were the only 2 vehicles in the parking lot), and they were just sitting in their car. I got out to read the sign on the door of the museum/bar. They stepped out of their car and we whined a little because it was closed. When we pulled up however, we saw yet another sign that said that Mabel's Whorehouse was behind this particular establishment, so the four of us decided we would go to Mabel's and see if she was open!

Well, Mabel was indeed open. The bar had a sign on the door that said it was open 24 hours a day! The sign shown here was on the fence, so if you were here for the brothel and didn't care to go into the bar, you just rung the bell and they let you in! We decided we would go in the bar and have a drink with our new friends Doug and Barb. They were from New York and seemed to be just as eager for an adventure as we were! They are pictured here with Chelsie, the bartender at Mabel's. We all remember hearing jokes about Mabel's Whorehouse, but who would know there really was such a place. Chelsie was very nice and was more than willing to answer some of my hooker questions. She told me that all the girls are private contractors, they set their own prices and menus, but she did know that $100.00 was the lowest price there was for anything. The place was a little seedy with a bunch of trailer houses out back connected with walkways. While we were there having a $5.00 beer, she told us that the museum would be open in about 30 minutes, so we decided to wait. The brothels are located so far out in the middle of no where because only a few countys in NV allow prostitution. And they have to be so many miles from large metro areas. Mabels and the Cherry Patch advertise as the closest brothels to Las Vegas. OK, so we had our drink, I bought a couple of books, Doug bought the only Tshirt they had left, and then we were off to go back up front to the Cherry Patch museum and bar.

This is a picture of Barry, ringin' the bell to get into the Cherry Patch. Unfortunately the brothel was closed, so he was just out of luck! So that being said, we were off to the museum/bar which was attached to this brothel. I must admit the museum was disappointing, it only had some photos of actors and a bunch of newspaper clipping about the history of prostitution in Nye County. The bartender told us that this skeleton (which was missing it's hands) was assumed to be a hooker that had stolen and so they cut off her hands and shot her in the chest! It could be a skeleton of anyone, but the story was good.

This is a picture of Barry at the bar at Cherry Patch Ranch with the bartender Carrie and some weird guy that was hitchhiking when we came down the highway! He told Barry he had been working on Heidi Fliest's (don't know how to spell her last name, but you kow who I mean!) car. I'm sure she would hire a guy that doesn't have a car of his own to work on hers. Oh well, just another slice of Americana!

What a great day! It is not every day you get to go to an operating brothel. I really wish they had a little more imagination (and money I suppose), to decorate the places more like the old cat houses...(at least what we think they looked like), with flocked wallpaper and red shag carpet!

Here in Nevada

April finds us at Pahrump, NV. We are at a Western Horizons Resort with a winery! We can walk from our rig to the tasting room! (Yes there is a God!) It is a very nice place, and lots to see and do close by.

Yesterday we went to Death Valley, CA which is not far from here. It was remarkable. For some reason I thought Death Valley was bleak and desolate with not much to see. Boy was I wrong! Everyone should go if they are anywhere near. It is so beautiful. The colors in the rock formations are just breath taking. I took photos but they just don't come close to doing it justice. Going there really makes you feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things. The millions of years that it took to create the valley boggle the mind. Most of the valley is at or below sea level with Bad Water Basin being 280 feet below sea level. That elevation makes it the lowest place in the western hemisphere. Bad Water Basin is a large salt flat with small mounds of salt every where. Needless to say, not much grows there. Their temperatures are very very extreme. The lowest recorded temperature is 15 degrees and the highest is 135, and those happened the same year! Yikes.

This photo was taken at Furnace Creek in the Valley. Of course the green grass is watered regularly as there isn't much growing in the valley. The wild flowers were blooming when we were there, but there weren't a lot of them due to a dry winter.

Death Valley is a National Park so we enjoyed the use of our Volunteer Pass earned from working at the Bosque. The government worker that we showed it to didn't know what it was! Obviously they don't use or see many of them.

Anyway, we strongly recommend you see Death Valley if you are any where near. It is truely worth while.