Terrible's RV Park

Pahrump, NV, is a little over 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas, but still sports one strong similarity when compared to its more well-known neighbor.

That common characteristic is the presence of gambling sites--from the two banks of slot machines in the local pharmacy to the casinos along the main steet through the city.

Our search through RV park directories for an RV park in Pahrump led us to Terrible's Lakeside Casino RV Park. And the name led us on a search of its history.

"At first glance, the name Terrible's may not seem like the most appealing name for a casino, but it is but a small part of the Terrible Herbst empire of gas stations, car washes, quick lubes and casinos" (wizardofvegas.com/hotels/terribles).

"The Terrible’s name dates to when the casinos were built by Herbst Gaming — Terrible’s Town in June 1996 and Terrible’s Lakeside in December 1998 — based on that company’s branded convenience store and gas station chain of the same name. The name comes from the fact competitors complained about the company’s cheap gas prices as that “terrible” so-and-so " (Mark Waite, Pahrump Valley Times, February 29, 2012).

However, a sale of the casino and RV park was finalized earlier this year, and the name "Terrible's" was dropped from the name.

We arrived near the October full moon and were able to capture these scenes of the park on the night and morning of our first 24 hours at Lakeside Casino and RV Park.

We had driven through desert lands to reach Pahrump and would be traveling through sections of Death Valley in the next few days, so finding this oasis was most welcome.

This view of mountains to the west added a nice touch to this already beautiful haven.