Spring Has Sprung: Just a Regular Day in the life of Moapa Valley residents as they celebrate the First Day Of Spring

By CATHERINE ELLERTON

Moapa Valley Progress

A glorious sunrise begins our journey on March 20th to record the first day of Spring in Moapa Valley.

Ahhhhh – Spring! The trees are leafing out. The flowers are beginning to bloom. The grass is growing. Ahhhhh – CHOO!
Oh dear! Sorry! Now, where was I?

It was the first day of Spring on Monday, Mar. 20, and it just seemed right to find out how the Valley was celebrating that auspicious occasion. So off I set at 7 A.M. with camera in tow, goodies and water, and girlfriend Betty riding shotgun. Our goal was to record what was happening in the Valley from stem to stern.

The journey began as we wended our way to Valley of Fire and met up with a Snowbird bicyclist from Idaho. Seventy- seven years young and younger at heart as he set a goal to ride 600 miles each month.
In Valley of Fire we met a couple from Eugene, Oregon. They were into retirement week three and were enthusiastically approaching the “next stage.”

Karen and Dave Bartels from Eugene, Oregon, were into their retirement for almost three weeks and were “into the next stage.” They take part in “Cycle Oregon” – 500 miles in one week at the beginning of Sept. and decided to do a bit a travelling and bicycling beginning in the Valley of Fire.

From the Valley, we headed to Echo Bay. The Lake was gleaming in the early morning light and Charlie and Lila Brown from Littlefield were enthusiastically heading out to catch some stripers.
On our way back to Overton, we ran into a Triathlon Training Camp team from Toronto, Canada taking advantage of the beautiful scenery and weather to build their bicycle endurance for the “Iron Man” long races.

As we wandered around Overton and Logandale we ran into folks enjoying the Spring weather and an active lifestyle; whether it be an enthusiastic game of Shuffleboard, or out walking the goat, or busy working on a ceramic piece, or building strength and endurance for High School Sports from track to baseball.

As we drove through Logandale we spotted Cein and 4 years old, newly adopted son, Owen Caldwell briskly walking daughter McKenzie’s 4-H goat, Greg.

We headed out to Moapa and the Warm Springs area. Although the parks were closed there were signs of the enhancement efforts being made to create walkways and bridges and sitting areas. We vowed to return to take advantage of this area’s beauty.

As we began our return trip to Overton/Logandale, we stopped to eat at the Muddy River Bar and Grill in Moapa and had an enjoyable conversation concerning the culinary arts with manager/chef Ben Paschal.
As our final leg of a 145 mile, 7 hour journey, we headed up to the Mormon Mesa to view this beautiful Valley stretched out before us. We met Colby Powell who was taking a walk up to the Mesa top with his dog Ciero. He had grown up in this Valley, moved to Reno and had returned to visit his family, the Causeys.