Sunday
;
Sunny, mild, windy.
Around
lunch time we left for a matinee performance by Yuma Community
Theater. On the way we stopped to have lunch at a Sonic drive in
restaurant. Food was good. Service was atrociously bad. The play
was The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I was ambivalent about
attending this play. I’m glad we did. We both liked it. It
was one of Yuma Community Theater’s best presentations. On
the way home we stopped at Lowe’s and bought some firewood for a
campfire at Quartzsite on our way to Las Vegas later this week.
While we ate supper we watched
Andrew McCabe’s interview on 60 Minutes. Just like James Comey,
Andrew McCabe certainly does seem credible, doesn’t he ? ! ?
Monday
;
Sunny,
mild and windy early in the day, becoming cloudy, cold and windy late
in the afternoon.
Today we began preparing for
departure on Wednesday on a trip to Las Vegas. This afternoon Joanne
went shopping by herself. Just before supper we gave Ozzie a bath.
I continued working on some financial planning for 2019 and 2020.
After supper I checked the
weather forecasts for Quartzsite, Laughlin, and Las Vegas for the
next week. Uh-oh ! Didn’t expect temperatures that cold !
Tuesday
;
Sunny,
cool, windy.
This
afternoon we went to the Humane Society for our regular weekly
volunteer session of dog walking and cat cuddling. When we returned
home we stopped to visit with George and Betty, neighbours / friends
that we haven’t seen in two years … and their two Cavalier King
Charles Spaniels, Rocky and Molly. Eighty-two year old George is
recovering from his third heart attack, two of them at the top of the
left main artery / left
anterior descending artery.
A heart attack at that location is considered not survivable, and is
therefore known as the widow maker. That’s where I had an eighty
percent blockage, necessitating immediate triple bypass surgery.
Wednesday
; Yuma to Quartzsite, Arizona
Sunny, cool, windy in Yuma,
cloudy, cold, very windy in Quartzsite. Too cold and windy to have
our planned campfire.
We finished preparing for
departure this morning and left home at 12:15 PM. Through Yuma
heading northeast towards the Foothills, then onto Hwy. 95 heading
east first, then north. Near Yuma Proving Grounds
( military
equipment testing and research facility ) we stopped at From The Farm
& Afar, a “farm to table” farm produce stand, to have date
shakes. On impulse we decided to have tacos for lunch there. As
always, the date shakes were great. Unfortunately, the tacos were a
huge disappointment. < shrug > Oh, well !
After
lunch we continued north on Hwy. 95 reaching Quartzsite in
mid-afternoon. We stopped in town to shop at the “scratch &
dent” grocery vendor at the Tyson Wells flea market area. WHEW
… bought more than we had anticipated ! HA HA HA … lots of good
stuff ! After grocery shopping we continued
north on Hwy. 95 about ten miles north of town to Hi Jolly
Campground, one of the many BLM unserviced campgrounds in the area.
We found a good spot to park in the desert, beside an arroyo, then
took Ozzie for a long walk. BRRRRR … too cold and windy for a
campfire.
While Joanne prepared supper …
indoors / Plan B … I set up the TV and roof top antenna, and tried
to find a CBS feed ( from Phoenix ? ) in order to watch the season
premiere of Survivor. No luck !
Thursday
; Quartzsite, Arizona to Laughlin, Nevada
YIKES ! Cloudy … very cold
… Canadian winter cold ! Raining heavily ! Snowing heavily just
to the east of us.
We got a very late start to
our day, and left the Hi Jolly boondocking campground after noon.
North on Hwy. 95, then east on Hwy. 95 to Parker where we refilled
our freshwater tank at a water spigot on the outer edge of Safeway’s
parking lot. Good memory, Dan ! Between Parker and Lake Havasu City
we stopped to have a very late, very light lunch. Just a banana for
lunch, to ensure that we were good and hungry for a casino buffet
dinner. HA HA HA !
We continued north on Hwy. 95
through Lake Havasu City when the weather got ugly. At Interstate 40
we turned west towards California. I-40 was closed east of Hwy. 95
due to winter blizzard driving conditions, with many accidents and
abandoned cars on the freeway. The intersection of Arizona Hwy. 95
and Interstate 40, where we were turning left / west towards
California, was clogged with a huge number of semi-trailer trucks
trying to park on the shoulders of the freeway to wait out the storms
to the east.
At I-40 Arizona exit 1, a mile
before crossing the Colorado River into California we turned north on
Historic Route 66 and “dipsy-doodled” around on that until
reaching the continuation of Arizona Hwy. 95 which we followed north
to Bullhead City. We refilled with Diesel at Smith's
( supermarket )
Fuel Bar, then crossed the Colorado River from Bullhead City, Arizona
to Laughlin, Nevada, and the Avi Casino.
We
parked in the Avi Casino’s large
but crowded RV
boondocking area, walked Ozzie … BRRRRR ... and rested briefly
before going into the casino for the Thursday
2-4-1 buffet restaurant promotion. MMMMM … the Native Harvest
Buffet is one of our favourite ETYS casino buffet restaurants.
WOO-HOO … barbecued beef ribs featured tonight !
Friday
; Laughlin to Las Vegas, Nevada
Sunny and mild. We left The
Avi Casino late this morning and drove through Laughlin from south to
north. We stopped at Laughlin Outlet Center to shop for shoes at the
SAS Outlet Store. HMPH ! They did not have exactly what I wanted.
Shortly after noon we left
Laughlin heading west on Hwy. 163. As we passed the road leading to
Christmas Tree Pass I decided on impulse to take it. We have passed
the road to Christmas Tree Pass many times in the past, and I have
wanted to explore it. Today was the day ! It was a fifteen mile
difficult ( four wheel drive necessary ) gravel road, leading
northwest up and over a mountain range, coming down to Nevada Hwy. 95
leading to Las Vegas. Near the summit, where we stopped to have a
late lunch, there was snow.
When the road came back down
to Hwy. 95 near Searchlight, Nevada, and we turned north towards Las
Vegas, there was … < sputter > … much snow ! Fresh, clean
snow ! Must have fallen yesterday, in the same storm that closed
Interstate 40 heading east.
Attach
pics 2774 / 75
We reached Las Vegas late in
the afternoon, and found our way without difficulty to Main Street
Station Casino’s RV Park where we had a reservation. We checked in
at the casino, got parked in our assigned spot in the RV park, then
rested briefly before heading out for dinner and an evening on
Fremont Street.
We jay walked across the
street from the RV park to Main Street Station Casino, housed in the
really lovely old train station building. Beautiful chandeliers,
fresco painted paintings, stained glass windows, grand staircases to
the mezzanine. From the mezzanine we took the covered walkway above
Main Street crossing to their sister hotel, the California Hotel &
Casino. There is a restaurant in the California that I have long
wanted to try. Again … today was the day !
We had supper at California
Noodle House. MMMMM ! Very good ! Not cheap ! ! ! After ( too
much ) supper we walked a few blocks over to Fremont Street, the
“original” Las Vegas “Strip” and now the tawdry, old, bizarre
“downtown”. Seeing Fremont Street for the first time is jaw
dropping awesome. After seeing it many times, it just seems a sadder
commentary on mankind each time. Joanne wanted to see the hourly
light show exhibited on the enclosed walkway’s arched ceiling,
which we have seen during the day, but never at night.
Yes, yes … here on Fremont
Street, for the right amount of money, you can still “have your
way” with Minnie Mouse. HA HA HA ! God Bless America ! <
ROFLMAO >
Saturday
;
Sunny
and cool.
After
an early lunch we walked to an SDX ( Strip to Downtown Express ) bus
stop on the far side of the California Casino & Hotel. We bought
bus tickets from a dispenser then caught a Northbound SDX articulated
bus and rode it two stops to the Smith Center For The Performing
Arts. The reason for this trip to Las Vegas was to attend this
afternoon’s matinee performance of the Canadian play “Come From
Away”, the story of the small city of Gander, Newfoundland,
population 9000, when it had to accommodate 7000 people who were
forced to land there in 38 airplanes bound for the United States when
the US airspace was closed on September 11 following the Twin Tower
terrorist attacks. The play was powerful, and had both of us, and
the rest of the audience, fighting back tears multiple times
throughout the performance. The play made me
proud to be Canadian.
After the play we walked back
to the nearest bus stop, and while waiting for the bus chatted with
two women from Toronto who had also attended the play. We were back
home about 5:45 PM. I napped briefly then went into the Main Street
Station Casino to use Wi-Fi to check e-mail while Joanne prepared
supper. After supper I set up the TV and roof top antenna, and was
able to acquire some “over the air” Las Vegas TV signals, hoping
to be able to watch Saturday Night Live, but … I was not able to
receive an NBC signal.
DSK
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