November 22 to 28, 2007

November 22 to 28, 2007

Pahrump to Las Vegas, Nevada

 

Thursday ; Happy American Thanksgiving

Today was sunny and mild, temperature in the mid 50's. The "Merkins" were complaining about what a cold day it was. HA HA HA ! The local radio station ( 95.1 KNYE ... in the shadow of the Valley Of Death ) started playing Christmas songs in earnest today !

We went to the park's Thanksgiving "turkey dinner" luncheon. Walking with our next door neighbours Glen and Rosi to the clubhouse, we stopped to knock on the door of another neighbour, Cindy. She is a single woman living and travelling in a small "Hi-Lo" trailer, with ... wait for it ... 1 large dog, 3 small dogs, and 2 cats ! When Rosi knocked on Cindy's door, some "misunderstanding" took place inside. All we heard was barking, growling, snapping and snarling from dogs, and screaming from Cindy. Rosi rushed into the trailer, with me right behind. When Rosi knocked on the door Sassy the Schnauzer and Bella the French Bulldog had rushed at the door from opposite ends of the trailer, and all hell broke loose at the door. Sassy sustained a bite puncture wound on one front leg, and Cindy got 2 bite puncture wounds in her hand trying to break up the scuffle. I told Rosi to go ahead with Joanne and Glen to the clubhouse, Cindy and I would be along in 10 minutes or so. The biggest challenge was getting Cindy calmed down. Once I got her calmed down a bit, we tended to Sassy's minor bite wound. This is not the first time Bella has bit Sassy. It's too bad that Cindy can't ( won't ) realize that Bella should go to another home, for the sake of the other 3 dogs, particularly Sassy, who always ends up on the losing end.

Thanksgiving "dinner" was nice. Good food, well organized event attended by about 120 people. Thanksgiving dinner no. 4 for us this year. HA HA HA ! Over dinner we chatted not only with Glen, Rosi, and Cindy, but a couple from Leduc, Alberta seated beside us. We knew it was time to leave when some old cowboy got up and started playing the guitar and singing cowboy songs.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny, cool, and windy. The "Merkins" are freezing ! Today, the day after Thanksgiving, is known in the United States as "Black Friday". It's the day that retailers' "books" move from the "red" to the "black". It's the second largest shopping day of the year. Almost all retailers open at 4:00 A.M. with specials that only last until 11:00 A.M., or until stock on hand runs out. Yesterday's newspaper was stuffed with a lot of flyers, with exceptionally good prices on advertised specials. Yeah ... if you want to camp overnight out in front of the store to buy one, of the inventory of two per store, laptop computers that is regularly priced at $750 but is on sale for $300.

We went to the Post Office today to mail a small package to Canada. Parcel postage rates are much cheaper in the U.S. than in Canada. Why is that ? ! ? We went to Wahlgreen's to buy another 16 chocolate bars. HA HA HA ! We gave Bo a bath. My goodness, he was filthy and sticky. Remind me not to let him run into the Deschutes River next year. Or not to let him eat his own date shake, with his entire face shoved into the large foam cup to get at the bottom. His muzzle and face became sticky from the date shake, then covered in dust from the desert. What a grubby mutt he was ! We went to the Christmas tree lighting at the Nugget Casino across the street at 6:00 P.M.. There's something incongruous about fan palms decorated with Christmas lights. We watched the outdoor lighting being turned on, then went inside to watch the lighting of the huge tree in the lobby. We had hot chocolate and cookies. We chatted with Santa. Which reminds me ... I'm considering participating in the Las Vegas Great Santa Run. Over 4000 people, all dressed in Santa suits, will run, jog, or walk a mile, to get the event into the Guinness World Records for largest gathering of Santas. HA HA HA ! Participants pay $45 to get a Santa suit and a goodie bag worth $100.

 

Saturday ; Today was sunny and mild. I spent the entire day on a maintenance project, and didn't really accomplish much. It was kind of discouraging.

This morning I phoned 1 of the 2 Camping Worlds in Las Vegas to make a service appointment for Monday afternoon. Their service department was booked up for the next 2 weeks. I phoned the second Camping World, in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas. They were able to give me an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. So we'll probably stay here in Pahrump until Tuesday morning. We were planning to leave Monday morning.

I spent the rest of the day working on aligning and lubricating the piston and guide channels for the bed slide. We removed the bed. I dismantled the entire bed frame assembly to get at the bed slide mechanisms underneath. The problem seems to be one of poor engineering and manufacturing. Harvey is a 1998 Cardinal by Forest River. That was the first year that Forest River installed bed slides on their fifth wheels. They obviously had not yet perfected all the engineering and manufacturing issues with bed slides. I got the piston aligned and lubricated. I had a lot of problems with the alignment of the piston. I got the guide channels lubricated. But I wasn't able to get the bed frame properly mounted and aligned. I'll need to buy some hardware and make some modifications to the mounting of the bed frame to the slide base, to try to prevent ongoing recurrences of the bed slide alignment problems that have plagued us since the first day we've had the trailer. < sigh > By the time I got everything put back together, it was supper time.

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and cool. Today's project was to try to fix the day / night shade on the window behind our bed. Another unsuccessful project ! We had that shade restrung last summer in Penticton, when a string broke. The work done in Penticton was very poor. I'm going to have to have the shade restrung again, probably while we're in Yuma < sigh >. We visited with our neighbours, and gave them a bottle of peach syrup from Summerland, near our home in Keremeos, for being such wonderful neighbours while we've been here. They gave us their newspaper every day after they finished with it, some books to read, some chocolate cake Rosi baked, Glen lent me his drill and ladder, they "sponsored" us as their "guests" for part of our stay here, getting us a cheaper rate. Their friendliness almost makes up for the rudeness and ignorance we encountered at tonight's weekly dinner and ice cream social. We sat at a table for 6, with 2 couples who knew each other. They ignored our presence at their table, leaving us to eat in isolation. They were 2 younger "trailer park trash" couples with what I think were Arkansas accents. They likely live here full time. Their behaviour was inconsistent with that of travelling RV'ers. We don't often encounter that sort of ignorant unfriendliness in RV parks, but occasionally. One of the highlights of this lifestyle is meeting and talking with new people from all over North America at RV park social activities. We trimmed Bo's dew claws, and administered flea treatments to Teddy and Bo. And, of course, we watched Amazing Race.

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. I had a rather lazy day, doing a few chores, mostly reading a book. Joanne was very productive today. I did a minor repair on the dinette window blind. I dusted the truck. Dusting a truck, with a "California duster" is a distinctly desert activity. Even though we washed it a few days ago, it was coated in desert dust. I cleaned dog nose marks off the inside of the truck windows. Gee, Bo ! Joanne washed laundry. She cleaned the inside of the trailer. She cleaned the sticky white blobs off the insides of the rear wheel wells of the truck. Tough job ! I must have driven over freshly painted road lines. She did some Wal-Martin' while I refilled water jugs and refilled with diesel. I wrote some e-mail. I went to the clubhouse to get on Wi-Fi, check e-mail and phone messages, check investments, check bank balances, etc..

< huge sigh > We've lost about $100,000 in the stock market in the last few months. It's hard not to worry about it.

 

Tuesday ; Pahrump to Las Vegas, Nevada

Viva Las Vegas ! What a bizarre place !

We left Pahrump this morning heading east on Hwy. 160 " over the hump" ( the Spring Mountains ) to Las Vegas. On the outskirts of Las Vegas we stopped at a PETCO to buy pet foods. We found our way to Camping World in Henderson. The high speed, congested, urban traffic on the freeways in and around Las Vegas made for a stressful drive with the truck and trailer. The driving styles and habits in Las Vegas are almost as bad as Los Angeles or Montreal.

The trailer's fridge has been misfiring on the propane function which we use whenever we have no electricity. I had the fridge inspected, cleaned and adjusted today at Camping World. I was able to watch the technician do the work, to learn how to do it myself in the future. While entering the trailer at Camping World, I stumbled on the steps into the trailer as I was opening the door, smashed my knee into the bottom corner of the door, and punctured a hole in the knee of a new pair of jeans < sigh >. I did some comparison browsing of new RV water pumps and CB radios while at Camping World.

We drove from Henderson to "downtown" Las Vegas, to the RV park adjacent to, and operated by, Main Street Station Hotel. Joanne's efficient navigating made a stressful driving experience a little easier. We checked in and got set up in our site, then headed out for an evening of exploring Freemont Street, the "old" Las Vegas "Strip". We walked through Main Street Station Hotel, stopping to use our Wi-Fi phone inside the hotel to phone Joanne's sister, to check on how her father-in-law is doing after his quadruple bypass surgery a few days ago. Main Street Station Hotel is obviously the original Las Vegas train station. They have retained many of the design features of the original train station. It's quite stunning. Like something out of a very old movie. Well, except for the endless slot machines.

"Downtown" Las Vegas, the "old" Strip, is centred on about a 6 block stretch of Freemont Street, about a 2 block walk from Main Street Station. We walked the length of Freemont Street, with me shooting photos frequently. I was somewhat slack jawed by the neon lights ! At the "end" of Freemont Street, we stopped to have dinner in a Szechuan buffet restaurant at the El Cortez Hotel & Casino. After dinner, we slowly walked back the length of Freemont Street, stopping to watch the Freemont Street Experience free stage shows performed each evening. Somewhat like busking, but with Las Vegas style. We wandered through a few of the casinos, but they all look pretty much the same. We bought some souvenir t-shirts, 4 for $10. HA HA HA !

For 4 blocks of Freemont Street, there is a high, arched canopy ceiling over the street, filled with 12½ million tiny coloured LED lights, capable of projecting images, like a giant, 4 block long overhead TV screen. Every evening there is an exhibition of this "VivaVision". Hard to keep one's mouth shut, and breathe through the nose, when watching a 4 block long overhead TV screen. Las Vegas has turned me into a " mouth breather" . HA HA HA ! Too bad that the "show" was all "Rah, rah, we're number one, God Bless America" stuff.

When we got back to the trailer, I discovered something that really frosted my cake ! When we bought 4 t-shirts for $10, paid by credit card, I was required to produce photo ID. Of course, I produced my driver's license. Because the clerk saw that I was Canadian, he coded something into their credit card machine which converted the purchase into Canadian dollars, at a terrible "rip-off" exchange rate. And I was using a U.S. dollar credit card. So this jerk converted my purchase into Canadian dollars, at point of purchase, and MasterCard will convert it back into U.S. dollars, because it's a U.S. dollar MasterCard, with an "upcharge" for a foreign currency transaction. So I get ripped off twice ! Especially by the merchant ! Good thing it was a small purchase ! I've never had that happen before. Guess I'll have to be more careful !

Joanne had an interesting fortune cookie at dinner tonight. Her fortune was "Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you." Well ... 3 months from this date is the day we begin our Baja California Mexico caravan journey.

And this morning ... HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ... we finally figured out a particular word to an old song that we have been singing along to on the radio for about the last 35 years. Three Dog Night's "Well I've Never Been To Spain" played on Pahrump's 95.1 KNYE ... "In The Shadow Of The Valley OF Death" ... great catch phrase, n'est-ce pas ? We had to travel the highways and byways of North America for 3½ years to "get" the reference. The line is "Well, I headed for Las Vegas ... only made it out to Needles ... in California ... not Arizona ... what does it matter ?" Of course ... Needles ... been there ... on Interstate 40, just before crossing from California into Nevada and turning north towards Las Vegas !

Tonight we were reading some Las Vegas tourist guide books we picked up. Did you know ... one can rent a handgun in Las Vegas ? ! ? “Hey, Vinny ... I forgot my piece ... let’s go rent one before we meet up with OJ at that memorabilia show”. HA HA HA < SNORT SNORT > HA HA HA HA HA ! Yessiree, Bob, God Bless America ! ! !

 

Wednesday ; Today we remember Toby Cat, who died 3 years ago up in the Ozarks of Missouri. We miss you, little friend.

Today was sunny and cool. Whew ... a long, tiring day of exploring "the Strip".

We started today's exploring by driving to Circus Circus at the north end of "the Strip". Inside Circus Circus we wandered around until we found the Midway. A seemingly endless, indoor carnival midway. What a neat place to visit with children. We found our way to the Midway Stage, to watch the free circus acts. We caught the tail end of some high wire / trapeze performers, then a very good juggling clown, followed by an unusual pole balancing act. I wonder how circus performers even dream up some concepts, let alone perform them ?

From Circus Circus we drove to the south end of "the Strip", and parked at the MGM Grand parkade. We walked slowly down the long stretch of retail shops leading from the parkade to the hotel and casino. I browsed in Houdini's Magic Shop, but wasn't inspired to buy any magic today. We wandered around the MGM Grand until we found Studio Walk. Gee, inside the Las Vegas massively huge hotels and casinos, it's almost impossible to know whether it's day or night, what time it is, where you are, and where you're going. I guess they design them that way quite intentionally. Once we found the Studio Walk mall, we found our way to CBS Television City, where Joanne wanted to attend a special screening of future television show pilots, as members of a "survey" audience. We were hoping that the show we would preview would be good, but we got to watch and critique a real stinker of a show called El Capitan.

From the MGM Grand we crossed Tropicana Ave. to the Tropicana, then crossed Las Vegas Blvd. to the Excalibur where we caught the monorail to Mandalay Bay. At Mandalay Bay we wandered around trying to find our way to the Four Seasons. We finally had to ask a hotel security guard for directions. He walked us through the Mandalay Bay and steered us to the Four Seasons. I felt a bit like a hick farmer from Kansas. “Golly, Ma, have you ever seen so many bright lights ?” But we certainly didn't look like the only slightly "lost" tourists around. At the Four Seasons we found the 2 things Joanne wanted to see there. The huge, elaborate Gingerbread Village. WOW ... what accomplished pastry chefs ! And the Teddy Bear Village. A fireplace lounge in the hotel completely filled with ... lots and lots of different types and sizes of Teddy Bears ! All provided by the FAO Schwartz Toy Company. You've got to hand it to Las Vegas. It's a town that certainly fosters big thinkers and dreamers.

We walked back through Mandalay Bay and rode the monorail back to the Excalibur, then walked back to the MGM Grand. As we walked through the MGM Grand on our way to their parkade we stopped at the lion enclosure to watch the antics of a couple oflions. Gee ... theyact just like huge versions of Teddy. Slow moving, none too bright felines.

I've been wearing a knee brace on my wonky right knee to reduce the discomfort of long days of walking. Saw an attractive, long legged blonde hooker wearing a knee brace on her left knee. Couldn't help thinking "Hey, Baby ... wanna rub knee braces ?" HA HA HA !

 

DSK