Sunday
; Salton Sea Beach, California to Quartzsite, Arizona
Sunny
and hot, temperature 88ºF
/ 31ºC.
We left the parking lot of Red
Earth Casino late this morning. On our way out of the casino we
refilled our freshwater tank at one of the casino’s three RV
potable water spigots. Thank you very much, Red Earth Casino.
We had planned a new route to
Quartzsite today. We were going to take a back road shortcut, from
the town of Mecca, on the north shore of the Salton Sea, northeast on
Box Canyon Road over the Orocopia Mountains to the Chiriaco Summit
junction at Interstate 10. However … as we drove though the
village of Mecca signage indicated that Box Canyon Road was closed.
So … we returned to Hwy. 86 and followed that northwest all the way
to Palm Springs, where we turned east on Interstate 10.
Just
before reaching Palm Springs we stopped at Oasis Date Gardens and
bought date shakes for lunch. HA HA HA … all three of us really
enjoyed
having date shakes … and only date shakes … for lunch. First
time in the year and a half that we’ve had
him that Ozzie was willing
to forego dog food for lunch. HA HA
HA !
Date shakes must be an
acquired taste. The first time Ozzie had a date shake, he was
unfamiliar with the taste, and was a bit uncertain. The second time
he was eager. Today … his third time … he was as uncontrolled
enthusiastic as Bo used to be about date shakes. HA HA HA HA HA !
And after having a significant portion of Joanne’s date shake, he
went into the back seat of the truck and snoozed contentedly …
without demanding his regular dog food lunch … until we reached
Quartzsite a few hours later.
I
was trying to avoid having to buy diesel fuel in California, where it
is about a dollar a gallon more expensive than in Arizona. And not
being able
to
take the short cut, and having to go all the way to Palm Springs
before we turned east on I-10 towards Quartzsite, the truck was
sucking up diesel fumes from the bottom of the tank by the time we
reached Quartzsite. I haven’t run the truck that low on diesel
fuel in a lot of years !
We arrived in Quartzsite
around 3:30 PM, bought diesel at Chevron, then headed north on Hwy.
95 to the High Jolly BLM unserviced campground. We found a quiet
place to park in the desert beside a nice, clean fire pit. The
desert boondock camping areas around Quartzsite are almost deserted
this late in the season. We took Ozzie for a long, leisurely walk.
Joanne cooked supper inside the camper, then I lit a campfire and we
sat around a campfire for a couple of hours.
Monday
; Quartzsite, Arizona to Laughlin, Nevada
Sunny and hot.
We
left the High Jolly BLM unserviced campground this morning and
continued north on Hwy. 95. We stopped at Wal-Mart in Parker
and while Joanne went into the store to buy a few items I used their
free Wi-Fi to check e-mail and upload my weekly blog entry. By the
time we were both finished we decided it was time to have lunch.
After
having lunch in the camper in the Wal-Mart parking lot we continued
north on Hwy. 95 to Interstate 40, then west to the Arizona /
California border, then north and west on Historic Route 66, then
north again on Hwy. 95 to Bullhead City, Arizona. We refilled with
diesel fuel at Smith’s Fuel Bar, then drove across the Colorado
River into Nevada, and the Avi Casino.
We refilled with freshwater at the Avi Casino then parked in their
RV boondocking lot, and I napped for an hour.
We
continued north on the west / Nevada side of the Colorado River a
short distance into Laughlin and found our way to the Colorado Belle
Casino, our boondocking home for tonight. When it was time to have
supper we walked across the street to the Tropicana Casino to have
the bottomless pasta bowl special in their Passagio Italian Garden
Restaurant. MMMMM ! Excellent food, as always, and … excellent
service from our server Taylor.
Nice
change from the poor service we received the last time we were here,
in February. Big tip for Taylor
! Thank you !
Tuesday
; Laughlin to Las Vegas, Nevada
This
morning when we left the parking lot of the Colorado Belle Casino in
Laughlin it
was sunny and warm. When we arrived in Las Vegas a couple of hours
later, the temperature had dropped about forty degrees, it was cold,
and raining heavily. < sigh > By suppertime the rain had
stopped and the sky had cleared.
From
Laughlin we drove west on Hwy. 163 then north on Hwy. 95. As we
entered Las Vegas we took the Sunset exit to look for a grocery
store. We bought a few items at Sprouts Farmers Market, then got
back onto Interstate 515 heading to downtown. We found our way to
Main Street Station Casino and while I waited in the truck in the
parking lot Joanne went inside and got us registered into their RV
park. We parked in our assigned site, and … < sigh > … I
got soaking wet and cold hooking up utilities, refilling freshwater,
and draining waste tanks. We had a late lunch and I napped for
awhile.
At
6 PM we took Ozzie for a long walk. The rain had
stopped, the sky had
cleared, and it had warmed a bit. At 7:30 PM we walked over to the
California Casino next door and had supper at Aloha Specialties, a
Hawaiian restaurant
that Joanne wanted to try. We shared a huge bowl of Kim Chee Saimin.
WHEW … spicy ! Interesting experience.
We
returned to the camper, and I set up the TV and raised the roof top
antenna.
I was looking for an over the air CBS feed, so that we
could watch Survivor and Amazing Race tomorrow evening. Our antenna
found twelve channels, but none were a CBS feed. So … I don’t
think we’re going to stay here tomorrow, as planned.
Wednesday
; Las Vegas to Pioche, Nevada
Sunny and mild. Which is
pretty good, considering that here in Pioche we are at an elevation
above 6000 feet ASL.
Yesterday’s supper of Kim
Chee Saimin did an excellent job of clearing out my sinuses last
night … and my intestines this morning. HA HA HA !
This morning while Joanne went
into the Main Street Station Casino to settle our bill I did some
maintenance on the camper’s “house” battery, removing it from
its compartment ( a difficult job ) and checking the acid / fluid
levels. It has been performing poorly since we left Yuma. It seems
as if we will have to replace it very soon, despite it being only a
bit more than three years old. Hopefully it will last for another
week or so, and we will be able to replace it in Oregon … tax free.
We left Las Vegas and headed
north on Interstate 15, then west and north on Hwy. 93. It was a
long day of driving through endless miles of desolate, scruffy, high
desert. No wonder the U.S. military used to blow up atomic bombs
around here. HA HA HA !
YOW ! ! ! Darn ! I just
opened a bottle of salad dressing and … it exploded all over me.
HA HA HA … way more pressure inside the bottle than outside the
bottle … we’re at a high elevation. Hope I remember that when I
open … HOLY SHIT ! ! ! A herd of eighteen White Tail Deer just
walked by ! ! !
As I was saying … I hope I
remember the pressure difference when I open my toothpaste tube
tomorrow morning.
Shortly before arriving here
we refilled with diesel in the pretty little town of Caliente. We
stopped here in the small town of Pioche around 5 PM, to spend the
night in their free municipal campground. What a lovely gesture, a
free municipal campground. Thank you, Pioche. It’s
not really free, there’s a donation box. The campground has ten
sites, each with a water spigot and a sewer dump inlet, but no
electricity. It’s beside the lovely and very large municipal park.
After choosing a site we took Ozzie for a long walk around the
perimeter of the municipal park. The sun was shining, the
temperature warm, the neighbourhood children were playing baseball
and basketball in the park, the neighbourhood dogs came over to visit
Ozzie. What a nice little town !
Thursday
; Pioche to Cathedral Gorge State Park, Nevada
Sunny and warm.
This
morning before leaving the Pioche municipal campground I refilled our
freshwater tank and dumped our grey waste tank. We back tracked /
drove south on Hwy. 93 for 19 km. / 12 miles to Cathedral Gorge State
Park. We entered the park campground around 11:30 AM, the second in
a line of three vehicles entering the campground. AND … <
sputter > … the three of us got the last three available
campsites. The campground was filled by 11:30 AM ! Such is the
pressure on the state park campgrounds for the upcoming Easter
weekend ! Oh, well, we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning, so some
lucky incoming
camper
will score a campsite when we leave.
We selected a site, and
registered, then took a walk around the campground with Ozzie. We
had lunch, then Ozzie and I napped. After a nap Ozzie and I went for
a hike to the nearby slot canyons, about half a mile away. Joanne
was feeling ill, so she did not come with us. And without Joanne
being with us, and the sun beating down brutally, Ozzie was reluctant
to go on this short hike. Like hiking with a cranky two year old !
“NOOOOO … I DON’T WANNA GOOOOO ! ! ! ! !”
< rolling my
eyes >
We spent the rest of the
afternoon relaxing around our campsite. I chopped a bit of firewood
for a campfire tonight. I worked on our income taxes, and am almost
finished. I did some vehicle depreciation calculations. While
Joanne prepared a salad and foil packets of meat loaf and vegetables
I lit a campfire. I cooked supper on the campfire, we ate supper,
then spent a very pleasant evening sitting around the campfire.
Good
Friday ; Cathedral Gorge State Park to West Wendover, Nevada
Sunny and warm.
This
morning we pulled out of the Cathedral Gorge State Park campground,
dumped our waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater tank at
the park’s sani-dump station, and were back on Hwy. 93 heading
north again at 11 AM. Another long day of endless scruffy high
desert, with an occasional antelope running across the road in front
of the truck just to keep me alert. We stopped to have lunch and a
nap for me at an elk viewing area.
When we reached our planned
destination for today at 4 PM, the Schellbourne rest area, we decided
it was too early to stop for the night. And I wanted to alter our
planned route slightly. I was getting really bored ! So … instead
of continuing north on Hwy. 93 to Wells, we diverted on Alt. Hwy 93
to the town of West Wendover, in northeast Nevada right at the Utah
border. We knew that there was a casino there, and we thought that
might be a good place to stop for the night.
When we arrived in West
Wendover at 6 PM we realized that casinos were all that West Wendover
had. Casinos were its reason for existence. The town and its
casinos must exist to service the desires of the population of Utah,
all the way to Salt Lake City, not too far away. We drove around
some of the large casinos’ large truck & RV parking lots before
deciding to park for the night at Pilot, a “truck stop” travel
center.
First
thing we did after getting parked beside some long haul delivery
trucks from Indiana with new fifth wheel trailers being shipped from
Indiana RV manufacturers to dealers was take a long exercise walk
with Ozzie down the main street of town. The
one ton diesel dually trucks delivering trailers were all new Dodge
Rams, costing about US$75,000 / CDN$100,000
! I wonder how hard one has to work at delivering trailers to
justify the expense of those trucks ? ! My
understanding of the trailer delivery industry is ... about 5000
km. / 3000
miles per week !
After
eating supper I went into the Arby’s attached to Pilot and used
their free
Wi-Fi to check e-mail.
Saturday
; West Wendover to Jackpot, Nevada
Very changeable weather today.
Sunny and mild in West Wendover this morning. When we stopped for
lunch near Wells, it was cold, extremely windy, and raining lightly.
After we arrived in Jackpot around 5 PM it varied from sunny and
cool, to cloudy and cold with light rain. It rained heavily late in the evening and overnight.
This morning around 11 AM we
pulled out of the RV parking area of Pilot and drove a short distance
down the street to Smiths, a large supermarket. There we refilled
with diesel and freshwater at their fuel bar. We left there about
11:30 AM heading west on Interstate 80. At Wells we turned north on
Hwy. 93. We parked in a roadside pullout to have lunch and a nap for
me. I was tired after being awakened at 6:30 AM by the jackass
trailer hauler from Indiana who fired up his diesel engine and pumped
our camper full of diesel exhaust fumes. I had to stomp outside in
my pyjamas to tell the asshole to move or turn his truck off until he
was ready to pull out ! I expect better behaviour and more awareness
of where your diesel exhaust is from a “professional driver” !
We arrived at Cactus Pete’s
Casino around 5 PM. We parked and set up in a site in one of their
two RV parks, then walked ( too far ! ) with a large load of laundry
to their laundromat. I returned to the camper while Joanne did
laundry. Before the laundry was finished the weather turned ugly. I
unhooked our water, electricity, and sewer connections and drove to
the laundromat to wait for Joanne. The walk from the campsite to the
laundromat was a long one.
While Joanne did laundry I
finished our income taxes. Good boy, Daniel ! All that is left is
to electronically file them after we return home. By the time the
laundry was finished it was dark outside. We decided to just go park
in the casino’s boondocking parking lot instead of returning to the
serviced RV park. Twenty-four bucks saved ! One of tomorrow’s two
Easter buffet dinners paid for !
DSK
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