Wash Day

I guess the most important thing that happens today is it is my middle brother and my eldest grandaughters birthdays today, so Happy Birthday to Brent and Claire.

 

Today Brenda was catching up with the laundry. It sounds as if the KOA laundry here is not the most efficient operation she has come across. In the spirit of keeping things clean I have made arrangements to have the coach washed also. They will not allow you to wash it yourself here, not surprisingly many Parks will not, but they have a couple of approved contractors who can do it. So we have asked Stephanie at Spit and Shine to come by and give it the once over. They do the roof as well as the windows for about $2.00 a foot. Doesn't sound like much until you remember how many feet this thing is. While they do that we will run into the casino and get some lunch. Brenda stayed in the Casino after we finished our lunch and made sure to return all of her winnings from yesterday. Don't want to break the bank in one day. The economy has really hit Vegas hard I think. It appears that about 50% of the visitors here are wearing cowboy hats and are here for the NFR. If it wasn't for that event it might be a pretty empty place.

 

After we got the coach washed and shone we headed out to Costco to replenish our supplies of drinking water and reading material. Have to get back to Quartzsite and the naked booksellers used book store soon. After that we made a stop at Walmart to stock up with some things there. The traffic around here is quite a challenge for a couple of country folk. In Cremona and Dease Lake if two folks arrive at the intersection at the same time it is a traffic jam, a little more exciting here.

 

We met up with Del the fellow we bought our rodeo tickets from so we have them in hand now, and starting tomorrow night we are off every night till it's over on Saturday.

 

Circus Circus

Sunrise in the City of Lights, and luckily not much traffic on the freeway for our drive across town early this morning.

We have moved from Arizona Charlie's to the KOA at Circus Circus. We are staying here for the rest of the week and will use this as our base for the Rodeo. I popped in tonight to watch a little of the rodeo at the bar while Brenda made sure the slots were working properly. Probably cheaper to gamble than pay the price for soda pop that they want.

Earlier in the day we were at Las Vegas RV and Camping World getting a couple of things looked at. They have to order parts and they will take a long while to get here so we are going to just make do until we get back home in the spring. Woody's can look after it all then, the important thing was getting it documented so it will be covered under warranty. While they were looking at the coach we ran down and did a little shopping at the Bass Pro. I needed a couple of light bulbs for an electric Coleman lantern I have and we also got a little propane heater to keep us warm on those cool desert nights, if they come.

Also went and had a look around the Cowboy Marketplace at Mandalay Bay but managed to get out of there without buying anything. Other than that we are just cooling our heels and staying relaxed. The weather is not as warm here as down in Arizona but it ain't bad I guess compared to the snow back home with cold weather to follow.

There was a beautiful sunset this evening, difficult to get a decent shot from down on the strip though.

Fremont Street

Today we scouted out the route to Camping World and then to the KOA at Circus Circus where we will be staying for the rest of the week. Looks like we'll be touring Vegas, at rush hour, for entertainment tomorrow.

This afternoon we met up with Randy and Sue again for happy hour and then headed down to Fremont Street for a look around and dinner. We ate at Binions in a Coffee Shop in the basement. Doesn't sound fancy but the food was great and the price was okay. Fremont Street is a hopping place this week with the rodeo going on. Lot's of cowboy hats and the streets were full of people. I'll try to post a few pictures, it's a pretty hopping place.

Fremont Street

Fremont Street

Dancing girls on the canopy

And a video of the Fremont Experience. This all takes place on a canopy of lights arcing across the street above the crowd.

Vegas Baby!!

We left Lake Havasu this morning and headed for Vegas as planned. We are holing up in the RV Park at Arizona Charlies for a few days as our friends from the North Pole, Randy and Sue, are staying here.

We got set up and then headed out to find some supper. We ended up at Tony Roma's for ribs, one of my favourite spots to eat after my own kitchen table. Turns out that the Tony's we stopped at is haunted or so our waitress Peebles was telling us. Yep, that's her real name too. Apparently her folks spent a lot of time in San Francisco in the 60's and 70's. Her uncle is Fred and her aunt is Wilma. Go Figure. She was telling about the strange things that happen around there restaurant, falling pictures, taps that turn themselves on, and sauce machines that turn themselves on without even being plugged in. Haunted it may be but the ribs were good whether or not a ghost had cooked them.

After we got back we hooked up with Randy and Sue and had a good visit. We originally met them in the KOA in Nashville last year and then crossed trails with them in Florida for the shuttle launch. We have kept in touch and enjoy visiting with them.

Jolly Old England

Yep, I imagine the Lord Mayor of London was pretty jolly when he managed to convince an Arizona developer that he had to have a surplus bridge they were replacing. But it has become a central part of the charm of Lake Havasu. We had to go down and see if it looked like a little bit of Old England but alas it is just a bridge although not one made of prebuilt concrete modules. It is spanning a pretty little manmade canal that wanders through downtown Lake Havasu.

Other than the bridge expedition we just chilled around the Motorhome for most of the day. We have a great spot kind of out of the way and there is not much traffic so you can pretend you are just out in the vast desert. You're right Mick, just us and the coyotes, great isn't it. I went for my daily walk up the wash a ways and took a few photos. Hopefully I can get some of them loaded.

Tomorrow we are off for Vegas so we should have a good connection up there.

On the Road Again

We have moved on from our Dome Rock Road site at Quartzsite. We were in a 14 day area and the 14 days was up. It was time to move on towards Las Vegas as we have to be there for the National Finals Rodeo next week. It is only a couple of hundred miles but no point in getting in too much of a hurry. We moved up to Lake Havasu and are now in the Craggy Wash 14 day area. It is certainly different terrain than that around Quartzsite and although the photo shows us in the middle of a different landscape we are only 3-4 miles from the nearest Walmart. Tomorrow we'll head out and see what there is to see here. I have seen the real London Bridge so am looking forward to seeing the one they replaced.

Around and About

Another sunny warm day, it reached the low 80’s today and never dropped below 50F last night. We took a drive today over to Blythe and then north to Parker, Arizona before returning to our camp at Quartzsite. While we were in Blythe we needed to cash a travellers cheque. I went into the Provident Bank and asked it they would cash a travellers cheque and they said sure. After signing it and filling out all the details they informed me that they could only cash an American Express travellers cheque if I had an account at their branch. Hmmmm, wonder why a person would need a travellers cheque if they already had an account in the bank. Strange rule, so I took it down the street to the Union Bank of California where they were much more understanding of the fact that folks who are cashing travellers cheques are probably not from around here and don’t have an account with them. Another strange thing was obvious from the security in both banks, I think Bonnie and Clyde live near here or something. You have to enter the bank through a bullet proof air lock that only allows one person at a time through the door and the same thing happens when you try to exit. There were enough camera’s in the bank to film a Super Bowl game also. This is all in a sleepy little border town. And that is the reason I like to travel, you get to see so many different things. Back home we expect folks with travellers cheques are travelling and we still don’t have to go through an air lock to get at our bankers.
The drive around the loop was interesting though, it certainly is obvious where the irrigation is and where it is not irrigated in this country, even the cactus look for an irrigation ditch to root themselves beside.

Even from afar we are watching the goings on up north in Ottawa, tough to believe that the New Democratic Party, the Old Democratic Party (Liberals) are joining forces with a party that’s sole purpose is to tear apart Canada to try and wrest control of the government that was supported by the largest number of Canadians just 6 weeks ago. I guess that’s what happens when you threaten to take the politicians off of the public teat. But they claim it is for the good of us all. I am wondering how good it is when the TSE drops farther than it every has, in its history, in one day. Well I am sure after they tax the oil business into submission and transfer anything left over to the auto plants in Ontario it will become clear that unless someone buys the damn cars there is no point in building them and with the great relationship (Hah!) that the NDP and Liberals have fostered over the years with the United States we certainly won’t sell many that way.

Tuesday we just hung around camp most of the day other than a trip into town looking for a visor for the window. The power blind on the passenger side has a problem that will be fixed next week in Las Vegas so I will have to remove it tomorrow for the drive north. I have been in contact with Fleetwood and they were very helpful and although they couldn’t repair it over the phone they certainly helped with the removal process.

Other than the trip to town I spent most of the day stalking some hummingbirds in the area. It is quite a challenge to catch them close enough for a picture with the right background and enough light to allow me to use a fast enough shutter speed to stop those little wings. I’ll try to post a couple of shots of the ones I did catch.



Pretty nice sunset tonight also.



And a desert landscape shot.

The last couple of weeks we have been camped in a 14 day area near Quartzsite called Dome Rock Road. It is just to the south and west of town, out past the Love’s station and the Super 8 motel. It is a great desert spot, picturesque with mountains to the west and one between us and town. However that one between here and town seems to block the cell signals pretty effectively. Our Trac Phone doesn’t work out here except in a very few select spots and even with the booster the Sprint Air Card has difficulty with our internet connection. Good enough for email but not quite good enough to manage posting on the blog. We will be leaving this spot tomorrow, December 4th, and moving north towards Lake Havasu before heading to Vegas for the rodeo next week.