Sunday
;
Sunny and mild.
We left the camper, at Main
Street Station Casino’s RV Park, about noon and headed for the bus
stop a couple of blocks away near Fremont Street. We caught the SDX
( Strip to Downtown Express ) articulated bus and rode it all the way
to the Bellagio on the Strip, for an afternoon of “doing Vegas” !
We
got off the bus a couple of minutes before 1 PM, just in time to
watch the hourly performance of Bellagio’s dancing fountains, one
of my favourite things to do in Las Vegas. This performance of the
dancing fountains was choreographed to a Celine Dion song. Oh, well
! After the dancing fountains
performance
we walked into the Bellagio to visit
their Conservatory, and see the current floral extravaganza on
display. Right now the display theme is celebrating the Chinese New
Year / Year Of the Pig. Joanne thought it was spectacular. I
thought …
<
shrug > … we’ve
seen better !
From
the Conservatory we wandered through the Bellagio, and the upscale
shopping areas between the Bellagio and Caesars Palace next door,
then through Caesars Palace to their upscale shopping area, the Forum
Shops Of Caesars. By then it was 2:30 PM, we were tired and hungry,
and ready for a late lunch. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory,
a restaurant we have been to three or four times in the past. Today,
the food was good, as always, but the service was terrible. Having a
simple, light lunch, NOT
at peak lunch time, took almost two hours ! And
… despite me ordering a bowl of soup “extra
hot”,
it was brought to me barely lukewarm. I sent it back !
After lunch we walked through
more shopping area, I went into an expensive shoe store to look at
shoes for me and … HMPH … we walked out of there much later with
… HMPH … Birkenstock sandals for Joanne ! HMPH ! We exited
Caesars Palace a few minutes before 6 PM, just in time for another
performance of Bellagio’s dancing fountains.
WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO, WOO-HOO …
the 6 PM performance of the dancing fountains was choreographed to
Bruno Mars’s Uptown Funk, my favourite dancing fountains routine !
AND … I recorded it on my camera ! Afterwards we crossed Las Vegas
Boulevard and caught the Deuce ( double decker bus ), sitting in the
front row of the upper level, sightseeing all the way back to our
exit stop at the Mob Museum on Stewart Street a few blocks from Main
Street Station.
Monday
; Las Vegas to Laughlin, Nevada
Sunny and mild.
We
left the Main Street Station Casino RV Park around 11 AM and headed
south on Interstate 515 out of Las Vegas, then Hwy. 95 south and Hwy.
163 east to Laughlin. We stopped to have lunch and a nap at a rest
area near the intersection of Hwy. 95 and Hwy. 163. We arrived in
Laughlin around 4 PM, parked at the Colorado Belle Casino, then went
for a long walk with Ozzie on the Colorado River waterfront walkway.
WHEW … long walk ! Nice beaches on the Colorado River. We
returned to the camper, fed Ozzie, then left him in the camper with
Emma while we walked a couple of blocks over to a new marijuana
dispensary to browse. The sale of marijuana in small quantities for
medical and recreational use is now legal in Nevada. We did not buy
anything. The choices are somewhat overwhelming and certainly
confusing for those not “in the know”. The clientele inside this
dispensary seemed to be of two demographics. Old people buying
edible product for pain relief, and scruffy
dude “stoners”
buying “smoke” product.
We
returned
to the camper and rested
briefly before going inside the Colorado Belle for a bit of
exploring, then across the street to the
Tropicana for supper. MMMMM
… our annual visit to the
Tropicana’s Passaggio Italian Restaurant for their bottomless pasta
bowl special. Like yesterday in Las Vegas … good food, poor
service ! I suspect that the Nevada casino towns have a chronic
shortage of labour, resulting in a lot of employer tolerance for a
lot of poorly performing employees.
Yes,
yes … it is
hard to find good help !
Tuesday
; Laughlin, Nevada to Quartzsite, Arizona
Mix
of sun and light overcast, warm
! What a difference a few days make !
We left the parking lot of
Colorado Belle around noon, and drove across Laughlin, north to south,
to Avi Casino where we refilled our freshwater tank. We crossed the
Colorado River from Nevada to Bullhead City, Arizona, and stopped at
Smith’s Supermarket. We bought some groceries, had lunch in the
camper, and refilled Lanoire ( the truck ) with diesel.
We drove south out of Bullhead
City on Hwy. 95, then dipsy-doodled around on Historic Route 66 back
to Interstate 40. East on I-40 then south on Hwy. 95 again, all the
way to Quartzsite. We arrived in Quartzsite around 5 PM. We found a
place to park in the desert at Hi Jolly BLM Campground, took Ozzie
for a walk, then rested briefly before I lit a campfire.
AHHHHH ! ! ! We sat around
the campfire relaxing and talking, planning our future for the next
five years or so ; finances, housing, that sort of thing. We need to
do that periodically. Having a good five year plan has always been
an integral part of our lives. As it got dark around 7 PM Joanne
went inside the camper and prepared supper. We ate our salads
sitting around the campfire, then went inside to eat the rest of
supper before going back outside to sit around the campfire again.
Life is good today !
Wednesday
; Quartzsite to Yuma, Arizona
AHHHHH
… sunny and very warm, 79ºF
/ 26ºC.
It’s about time !
We
slept late, and left the Hi Jolly BLM camping area around noon. We
drove into Quartzsite and went again to the “scratch & dent”
grocery vendor in the Tyson Wells flea market area to look for more
of the scar gel Joanne bought for me last week. HMPH ! There wasn’t
any more. So … I bought potato chips ! HA HA HA ! Well ! Where
else can one buy large bags of gluten free, kosher certified, Sweet
Maui Onion flavoured potato chips ? For a buck ! I
wonder if they will be as good as the Lime & Cilantro flavoured
potato chips I bought there last week ? HA
HA HA !
We
drove a few miles south of town on Hwy. 95 and stopped at the Mile
Marker 99 BLM camping area to have lunch. And a nap for me. HEY …
I’m retired ! I can sleep until 10 AM and still have a nap after
lunch. HA HA HA ! We continued south on Hwy. 95 back to Yuma,
arriving home around 5 PM.
In
the evening I was able to confirm that Joanne’s first Old Age
Security pension benefit payment was deposited to our bank account
yesterday.
WOO-HOO ! I knew marrying an older woman was the right
thing to do ! HA HA HA !
Thursday
;
Sunny
and hot … finally ! Temperature in the low 80’s. Joanne baked a
Saskatoon Matrimonial Cake in the Sun Oven today.
We
worked on “return home” chores this morning, unloading stuff from
the camper, cleaning inside, disinfecting and refilling the
freshwater tank, that sort of thing. After lunch we headed to the
Humane Society for our regular weekly shift of dog walking and cat
cuddling. I brought tools so that I could fix doors on kennels in
the cat wing, at Joanne’s request. She didn’t get much cat
cuddling done today. The cat wing was empty, under quarantine. Back
at home I downloaded and processed photos from my camera to my
laptop. I downloaded and printed month end bank statements and
investment updates. I reconciled our U.S.$ MasterCard billing.
Friday
;
Sunny
and hot.
This morning we rotated and
flipped our mattress, a task that is a lot more complicated than it
sounds, since it’s actually two pieces of foam mattress within one
zippered cover.
Late
this afternoon we left for Ray Kroc Stadium, to attend Midnight At
The Oasis, Yuma’s annual classic car show, with music concerts on
Friday and Saturday evenings. We arrived about 6:30
PM, as the first of three bands was halfway through its set. The
first band was a local blues band. We found a spot to set up our
chairs, and listened to the second half of their set. The second
band was an Allman Brothers tribute band. While they played for an
hour and a half we walked over to the food vendor area, had supper,
then wandered around the displays of hundreds of classic cars. We
returned to the music stage area for the beginning of the third band,
a Tom Petty & The
Heartbreakers tribute band.
We had an enjoyable evening.
We missed our friends Laszlo and Gayle who traditionally attend
Midnight At The Oasis with us.
Saturday
;
Sunny
and warm, windy
in the evening.
This morning I discovered a
problem with the fridge in the trailer, necessitating an immediate
“MacGuyver” repair.
This
afternoon we left in the truck and camper to run errands. First stop
was the Giant Fuels station on 4th
Ave., just past the “big curve”, to dump the camper’s waste
holding tanks. Then to the car wash on 8th
St. to wash the truck and camper. Lots of bad weather road grime
from driving in rain and snow on the way to Las Vegas. We
were close to Food City so Joanne wanted to buy some advertised
produce specials. Okay ! HEY ! Food City ! Might as well buy some
pan dulce ! HA HA
HA ! Second last stop was Harbor Freight for “guy
stuff”, then another Giant Fuels to refill the truck with diesel.
In
the evening while
Joanne did laundry I
did some planning for the return trip home in late April, planning at
which casino to have Easter dinner. HA HA HA ! Cactus Pete’s it
is !
DSK
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