November 29 to December 5, 2007

November 29 to December 5, 2007

Las Vegas, Nevada to Quartzsite, Arizona

 

Thursday ; Today was sunny and cool again. After another long, tiring day of walking around "the Strip", I have decided that I'm too tired to participate in Saturday's world record setting Las Vegas Great Santa Run. But I certainly would like to witness the start of the event before we leave.

Since the places we wanted to visit today were all around the middle of "the Strip", we decided to find a different place to park than the MGM Grand. Easier said than done, with a one ton diesel dually. We ended up parking in the oversized vehicles parking lot of The Mirage. We walked through The Mirage and caught the free tram to Treasure Island. We walked through Treasure Island, then crossed Las Vegas Blvd. to The Venetian. Through The Venetian, then through Harrah's to Imperial Palace. We spent quite awhile touring the Imperial Palace Auto Collection, a large museum of amazingly restored automobiles, from fairly current models back to the 1920's and even one or two earlier. And most of them are for sale. I particularly liked Al Jolson's 1928 Mercedes Benz, on sale for $1,450,000 !

We walked back to The Venetian, and wandered slowly through the Grand Canal Shops. The Venetian, Grand Canal Shops, and adjacent St. Mark's Square are all amazingly authentic reproductions of Venice. The only things missing were the pigeons that are in the real St. Mark's Square in Venice ( been there 3 times ). We watched some entertainers in St. Mark's Square. Musicians, singers, jugglers, stilt walkers, and very good human statues. I'm not usually impressed by human statues. We walked back across Las Vegas Blvd. to The Mirage in time to see the 6:00 P.M. volcano eruption. Viva Las Vegas ! ! ! We contemplated having supper at The Mirage, but we were getting quite tired and decided just to return to the trailer for a light supper, and to watch Survivor.

 

Friday ; Today it rained all day. First rain we've had since leaving home a month ago. This was the first day long rainfall that Las Vegas has had in over a year. And it showed ! Traffic was snarled. And the streets and hotel driveways were filled with large, deep puddles. Out here in the desert, they don't design roadways with gutters and storm sewers. There's no good way for the water to "disappear".

We were planning to leave tomorrow morning, but we've decided to stay until Sunday. If we left tomorrow morning, we would have to get up very early and prepare for departure before going to see the Las Vegas Great Santa Run, then hurry back to depart before the RV park's check out time. We've decided to stay another day, take things easy, get some chores done, and recuperate from our 4 days of walking around Las Vegas, before getting back out on the road.

We procrastinated going out this morning, hoping the rain would ease up. It didn't. We drove to the Rio, which is not right on "the Strip". We parked in their garage, and went in looking for their free show "Masquerade In The Sky". We thought we had about an hour to kill until the first of the day's performances. We played penny slots. Joanne lost $1.00. I won 50 cents. A total cost of 50 cents for an hour of entertainment for each of us. Not bad ! Turns out our guide book had the show schedule wrong, and the next show was 3 hours later. HMPH ! We took the shuttle bus from the Rio over to Caesars Palace. We walked from Caesars Palace over to Bellagio, our favourite Las Vegas place.

We found our way to Bellagio's Conservatory. The Conservatory was being set up with their Christmas season displays, so we were unable to walk through, although we could view it from the periphery. The Christmas season displays were almost complete, and not surprisingly, they were ... simply stupendous. The last time we were in Las Vegas, 2 years ago, the highlights were Bellagio's Conservatory, and Bellagio's Dancing Fountains. The same holds true on this visit. After viewing the Conservatory, we found our way outside ( easier said than done in Vegas ) to watch a performance of the Dancing Fountains. WOW ! ! ! One of the advantages of the weather was that there were very few people outdoors to view the Dancing Fountains. However, we did get severely splashed by a taxi driving by. C'est la vie !

We walked back over to Caesars Palace and walked around The Forum Shops. The only interesting store was FAO Schwartz, the New York based upscale toy store. Great stuffed animals, especially the different breeds of dogs. Too bad we don't have any really young nieces or nephews to buy Christmas gifts for. We caught a shuttle bus back to Rio, and went to see the Masquerade Show In The Sky. Well ... they certainly spent enough money on this production, but ... it just wasn't really all that good. Elaborate ... expensive ... but not all that good. C'est la vie !

We returned to Main Street Station RV Park, had a late supper, then I walked over to Main Street Station Hotel & Casino across the street to use the Wi-Fi signal there.

 

Saturday ; The Las Vegas Great Santa Run

HA HA HA HA HA ... what a great event !

Fortunately for the event, the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared by this morning. Just before we left for the Las Vegas Great Santa Run, Joanne took Bo for a bathroom walk to the dog run adjacent to the RV park, beside the hotel / casino parking lot. Bo couldn't concentrate on the business at hand because he was distracted by all the Santas walking by on their way to the event. HA HA HA ! The event's registration, start and finish lines were on Fremont Street, a couple of blocks from our RV park. We walked over ... and ... HA HA HA HA HA ! Thousands and thousands of Santas ! Santas as far as the eyes could see ! Big Santas, little Santas, canine Santas, white Santas, black Santas, Oriental Santas ... even a Santa rock band performing. HA HA HA ! I'm really glad we stayed to see this. We regret leaving Bo behind in the trailer. We should have brought him along. He would have loved it. We milled around, mingling amongst all the Santas, taking photos, watching the official start, led by Siegfried & Roy. We watched the first arrivals at the 1 mile finish line, back at the start line. We wandered a couple of blocks over to watch the first arrivals at the 5 mile finish line. HA HA HA ... cheap Santa suits don't stand up all that well over a 5 mile run by serious runners. Tomorrow is the Las Vegas marathon, and it appeared as if a fair number of today's Santa Run 5 mile early finishers were marathoners warming up for tomorrow. We treated ourselves to a couple of Krispy Kreme doughnuts on our way back to Main Street Station. Hey ... watching all those Santas run left us hungry. HA HA HA !

While Joanne did laundry I took our Wi-Fi phone over to the casino where there's a Wi-Fi signal, to do some banking by phone and phone my sister. Walking across the parking lot I found a discarded Santa hat with a press pass attached. I took it back to the trailer for Bo. He really enjoyed destroying it. HA HA HA !

 

Sunday ; Las Vegas, Nevada to Cattail Cove State Park near Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Today was sunny and mild. From Las Vegas we will be somewhat following the Colorado River all the way down to Yuma, Arizona. When I walked Bo at 7:00 A.M. this morning Las Vegas marathon runners were streaming by. We departed Main Street Station RV park and headed south on Fremont Street until it became Boulder Highway. We followed Boulder Highway through the Las Vegas suburbs of Henderson and Boulder City to run errands. First we filled up with diesel ... bio-diesel, actually. Don't often see bio-diesel. Then refilled a propane tank. Then refilled water jugs. Then found an Albertson's and stocked up on groceries. After finishing those errands, we headed over to Interstate 515, heading for Hoover Dam. I wanted to see Hoover Dam. Just before the dam, we had to stop at a Homeland Security checkpoint. Very friendly, professional and efficient Homeland Security anti-terrorist agent searched all exterior storage compartments and interior of RV before allowing RV to cross over Hoover Dam. HMPH ... maybe he can give lessons to that p**** border guard at Nighthawk crossing from B.C. to Washington.

Hoover Dam was impressive. Except for the exorbitant parking fee, and entrance fee to visitor centre. Didn't stop ... just drove over. Stopped shortly after for lunch at Willow Beach on Colorado River. WOO-HOO ... first time Bo has had lake or river to romp in since Deschutes River in Oregon almost a month ago. Joanne was annoyed at me for allowing Bo to go into the Colorado River. Thinks lake / river romping makes him stink. Hey ... he's a dog !

From Hoover Dam we followed Arizona Hwy. 93 southeast to Kingman, then turned onto Interstate 40 heading south, then west. Turned south onto Hwy. 95 to Lake Havasu City. Joanne wanted to see Christmas lights on London Bridge. Yes ... that London Bridge ! It was carefully "demolished" in London, England, brought to Lake Havasu City in Arizona, then rebuilt. Go figure !

On outskirts of Lake Havasu City, found our way to Lake Havasu State Park. Campground has just recently closed for renovations. HMPH ! Drove another 15 miles south on Hwy. 95 to Cattail Cove State Park. Nice state park, although a bit expensive. Tomorrow we'll unhitch, then go into Lake Havasu City late in the afternoon to see London Bridge Christmas lights display.

I think we may have crossed time zones when we drove across Hoover Dam over Colorado River from Nevada into Arizona. Will have to check that tomorrow morning. Today's Las Vegas newspaper reports that yesterday's Las Vegas Great Santa Run had about 8000 Santas.

 

Monday ; Lake Havasu City

Today was sunny and warm. We got a lazy, late start to the day. We went for a hike with Bo to see the campground and surrounding area on the shores of Lake Havasu. Fifteen miles south of us is the Parker Dam on the Colorado River at Parker, Arizona. The backing up of the Colorado River for 30 miles forms Lake Havasu, from Parker, 15 miles south, to Lake Havasu City, 15 miles north. The Colorado Aqueduct also starts near Parker, and travels completely across California, providing drinking water to the Los Angeles area. So don't piss in the lake, Bo ! HA HA HA ! After hiking around the campground and area we drove into Lake Havasu City and found our way to Havasu RV Resort, a local RV park with lots for sale. A few months ago I requested information from them, and what they sent me excluded pricing information. So we wanted to see the resort and get pricing information. We picked up pricing information, and took a look at the development. While we were looking at a lot, a couple from Penticton noticed our B.C. license plate and came over to chat. Nice resort, reasonable pricing, but the Lake Havasu area fails to appeal to us. But it gives us good pricing information for comparison purposes.

We drove around Lake Havasu City, sightseeing, and looking for cheap diesel. HA HA HA ... we found it ! We were killing time until dusk when we drove over to see London Bridge, and the "English Village" area adjacent to London Bridge. Lots of "poetic license" in calling the area an "English Village". Hey ... it's Arizona ! I guess one has to make allowances. HA HA HA ! We wandered around, and over London Bridge, taking photos at dusk, and more again after dark when all the Christmas lights were on. Okay ... London Bridge ... Christmas lights ... can we go eat at In-N-Out Burger now ? HA HA HA ! Can you tell I failed to be impressed ?

 

Tuesday ; Cattail Cove State Park, Arizona to Blythe, California to Quartzsite, Arizona

Eeeeeuuuuuwwwww ... rough night ! Must have got a touch of food poisoning at supper last night. Now I know why they're called In-N-Out Burgers !

Today was sunny and warm. Our plan for today was to drive to Blythe, California, to see Rancho Ventana RV Park. Three of our neighbours at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos own lots at Rancho Ventana, so we wanted to see it. We had a late start to the day, leaving Cattail Cove State Park and heading south on Arizona Hwy. 95 to Parker. We turned west on Hwy. 62 and crossed over the Colorado River into Wyatt Earp, California. Our next turn was supposed to be south on California Hwy. 95. A while after crossing into California, we had to stop at a California Agricultural Inspection Station. The agent wanted to check all our fruits and vegetables. She was particularly interested in an orange we had. Apparently California does not want any "foreign" fruits or vegetables, particularly citrus, brought into the state by road travellers. About 45 minutes after leaving the inspection station, and miles and miles of endless desert, we realized we were far beyond the turn off to California Hwy. 95. Darn ! The California Agricultural Inspection Station obscured the turn off to Hwy. 95. This is the second time in our travels that we've missed a turn off because of a California Agricultural Inspection Station. Joanne was really miffed ! Since we were "lost" we figured we might as well stop for a late lunch. We just pulled off the road into the desert.

After lunch we continued west on Hwy. 62 until we reached Hwy. 177, about 42 miles further west than Hwy. 95. We turned south on Hwy. 177, then east on Interstate 10 at Desert Center, heading to Blythe. Altogether we drove about 90 unnecessary miles because of missing the turn to Hwy. 95 ! At Blythe we found Rancho Ventana RV Park, and drove around. We expected two of our three neighbours from Riverside would already be in the park, but we only saw one of the neighbours' rigs there. We contemplated staying overnight in a Passport America park in Blythe, but decided to continue on to Quartzsite, Arizona. When Interstate 10 crossed from California back into Arizona, we stopped at Flying J to refill with diesel. Best price so far ! While at Flying J I decided to browse for a CB radio and antenna. Flying J has a large assortment of CB radios and accessories. I bought a CB radio and antenna kit. I was planning to look at the flea markets in Quartzsite and Yuma for a CB radio and antenna, but the prices at Flying J were so good I didn't think I would find anything much better at the flea markets. And I was certain of that after making the purchase. The $38 antenna kit I bought scanned into the cash register as $20. Okay by me !

We continued east on I-10 to Quartzsite. Three miles south of Quartzsite on Arizona Hwy. 95 we stopped for the night, just as it turned dark, at "Hi Jolly" campground, one of the many free BLM ( either "Bureau Of Land Management" or "Boomers with Lots of Money" ... take your pick ) campgrounds around Quartzsite.

 

Wednesday ; Quartzsite, Arizona

Well, the annual gathering of flea market vendors in Quartzsite, and congregation of RV's on the BLM campgrounds in the desert surrounding the town has begun. The BLM lands are not really campgrounds. Just ... desert ! Pull off the highway, set up your solar panels, and you're done. At the peak of the season in late January, there will be thousands of vendors, and literally hundreds of thousands of RV's around Quartzsite. At the end of January each year is what started it all ; the annual Quartzsite Gem & Mineral Show. It has evolved into far more than a rock hound show. There are RV dealers with temporary sales lots, many RV parts and supply dealers, and flea market vendors selling stuff you never even knew existed.

After unhitching, then setting up our little solar panel ( thank you, Sharon & Bud ), we headed into town for an afternoon of flea marketing. We bought a lot of stuff, none of it absolutely essential to our existence. But, hey ... that's what Quartzsite is all about. We bought some tools I needed ( well, that's subjective ), some RV stuff, and some banged up food stuff ( dented cans and crushed boxes ) from a salvage vendor. Now I know where all those dented cans of dog and cat food went that we refused to accept over the years as pet food retailers.

 

DSK

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

November 15 to 21, 2007

November 15 to 21, 2007

Pahrump, Nevada

 

Thursday ; Today was another sunny, hot day out here in the Mojave Desert. This morning we spent quite awhile chatting with our very friendly next door neighbours, then went into town to run some errands. After lunch back at the trailer, we spent most of the afternoon floating around the pool, in the hot tub, and sauna. AHHHHH ... another hard day at the office. HA HA HA ! Late in the afternoon we went to run more errands. I shopped at a CB radio shop. We are going to have to buy a CB radio for the truck, for our trip down to the tip of Baja California. The caravan company we are going with requires all their participants to be equipped with a CB radio. I will return to the CB radio shop on Saturday morning when they have a used equipment "swap meet" in their parking lot. I also went into a pawn shop to look for a CB radio. I've never been in a pawn shop before. How interesting ! I bought stamps and a sympathy card. We found out, by e-mail from a former employee, that the 9 year old son of the couple who bought PET VALU 234, our store in the Westgate Shopping Centre in Ottawa, has died. How tragic, to lose a young child ! Our deepest sympathies go out to Irena and Sergei.

 

Friday ; Oh, for crying out loud ! I've just realized that I've been spelling desert wrong for the last 2 weeks. Not only in my blog, which I can correct, but in a bunch of e-mails that I've sent. You'd think that I'd know how to spell a word that I've used so frequently in the last few years ! What an idiot !

Today was a teensy bit cooler, temperature in the low 70's, with a thin overcast sky. A bit too cool for the pool, without the intense desert sun.

This morning I went to the clubhouse for the park's weekly cinnamon bun breakfast. MMMMM ... freshly baked, home made cinnamon buns straight from the oven. I brought a cinnamon bun back to the trailer for Joanne. Aren't I a wonderfulhusband ?

We went to see Seibt RV Resort, an RV park with lots for sale. We're not at all interested in purchasing an RV lot in Pahrump, but we intend to do some browsing for RV lots in theYuma area, and we wanted to get some information on RV lots for sale here, for comparison. WOW ... what an upscale RV resort ! Facilities and landscaping reminiscent of the all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean we've been to. Developed by a man from Las Vegas, with Las Vegas grandeur. And ... to our very great surprise, the lot prices were ... reasonable.

We went for haircuts. This afternoon we worked on modifications to the wedges that we use under the edge of the living room / dinette slide to secure it when it's in the retracted position, for travel.

This evening after supper we went across the street to the Nugget Casino to see a free concert by Hotel California, an Eagles tribute band. We didn't know what to expect of a tribute band, but these guys were great ! Their music was faithful to the original Eagles. Their set opened with Life In The Fast Lane, closed with, of course, Hotel California, and in between they played all the early 70's Eagles' hits, including everything on the Hotel California album. When I closed my eyes, I was certain that I was listening to Glen Frey and Don Henley. Listening to the concert evoked memories of about 1972, in high school, on late night dates with Joanne, parked along the Red River on Lyndale Drive, listening to Hotel California play on the eight track. Sitting in the casino tonight, listening to the music, I didn't know whether to cop a feel or spark a doobee. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !

After the concert we registered to become members of the casino's player's club, just so that we could be eligible for their "2 for 1" buffet dinner special on Wednesday night. The casino issued us "player's cards" with complimentary $3 loaded on them for slot play. So ... like the big spending Canadians that we are, we found some penny slots, and each loaded $1 into a slot machine. We played for about half an hour, until my free $1 became zero, and Joanne's free $1 became $3. HMPH ! She always wins. I'm a loser ! We'll probably return tomorrow night to see another Hotel California concert, and play slots until my $2 and her $5 are gone.

 

Saturday ; I was quite ill today with a colitis flare-up, impeding my ability to function, and enjoy the day. We got up very early in order to go the electronics swap meet where there was supposed to be a fellow selling used CB radios. He wasn't there when we arrived at 9:00 A.M.. We returned home, I read and slept for awhile, then wereturned to the swap meet at 11:00 A.M.. Mr. Used CB Radio had not shown up at the electronics swap meet today. What a waste of my time ! We went to Petrack Park to attend the 9th annual Pahrump Social Powwow. We had attended the 7th annual Pahrump Social Powwow 2 years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We both enjoy attending Indian Powwows whenever possible. I only lasted about an hour at today's powwow before I felt so ill we had to return home.

We had lunch, and I slept for half the afternoon, hoping that would make me feel better. Late in the afternoon we went back to the powwow for about another hour. We returned to Preferred RV Park to attend the annual Casino Night. First was a light dinner, then a couple of hours of casino games, played with Monopoly money. Joanne lost most of her money playing "high / low" craps, and I lost most of my money playing Blackjack. We did, however, win a door prize of dinner for two at the Nugget Casino buffet. Great ... we were planning to give it a try anyway.

 

Sunday ; Today was sunny and hot. I was still pretty sick today. I made pancakes for brunch today, partially because we were planning to have a very early supper, so it made sense to have a late breakfast / early lunch. I did some minor maintenance / modification projects this afternoon. I walked around with my camera taking some photos of the RV park grounds, the casino across the street, and the surrounding mountains. We spent some time in the pool. I abandoned Joanne at the pool, to return to the trailer because I was feeling so ill. We went to the park's regular Sunday afternoon dinner and ice cream social. After dinner and ice cream, we sat in the clubhouse lounge and chatted for a couple of hours with our friendly next door neighbours, Glen and Rosi Webb, full time RV'ers for the last 6 years. We returned to the trailer in time to watch Amazing Race.

 

Monday ; Another hot, sunny day. Might be the last one for awhile. The weather is forecast to be cooler for the next few days. Today we washed the truck. What a lot of road grime it picked up during our first couple of weeks of travel. Somewhat surprising, since all our driving days were dry. I thought it only picked up a lot of grime from driving long distances on rainy days. I think a lot of the road grime was from driving across dusty desert, with hot sun baking the grime on. While washing the truck today I discovered a paint blister on the roof. HUH ? Is that what happens to black trucks sitting in the Death Valley sun ? The roof gets so hot the paint blisters ?

We spent much of the afternoon floating around the pool. As the sun set, we walked across the street to the Nugget Casino parking lot to use our Wi-Fi phone, then walked to Walgreen's Pharmacy. We haven't yet bought a U.S. cell phone. We've been getting by with our Wi-Fi phone. I don't think we're going to buy a U.S. cell phone until we get to Yuma, Arizona.

We went for supper to the Nugget Casino buffet, using the gift certificate we won at the RV park's Casino Night a couple of days ago. WOW ... are we ever bloated ! We haven't yet found a casino buffet that we didn't like. Well ... except for Joanne getting food poisoning at the buffet at Harrah's in Las Vegas a couple of years ago. But, hey ... I enjoyed it ! HA HA HA ! After supper at the Nugget's buffet, we played penny slots for about an hour and a half. My winnings / losses were zero. Joanne's winnings were $4.00 ! Doggone it ! How come she always wins and I don't ? ! < pout pout pout >

Late in the evening we went to Wal-Mart ( open 24 hours, of course, as are most Wal-Marts in the U.S. ) to buy a wiper blade to replace the one I broke while washing the truck.

 

Tuesday ; Pahrump, Nevada to Tecopa, California and return

Today was sunny and very warm. This morning Joanne went to pick up the 2 freshly baked loaves of bread she ordered from the woman in the park who bakes bread for sale. I installed the new wiper blade on the truck. You'd think replacing a wiper blade would be a relatively easy task for a reasonably intelligent man, wouldn't you ? ! ? < gritting teeth >

We invited our next door neighbours Glen and Rosi to join us on a day trip adventure to China Ranch Date Farm, about an hour southwest of Pahrump. We drove out of Pahrump heading west on Hwy. 372 which became Hwy. 178 when we crossed from Nevada into California. At Shoshone we turned south on Hwy. 127. At Tecopa we turned southeast onto Furnace Creek Road leading to China Ranch Date Farm. The last few miles to China Ranch Date Farm the road was gravel, through high walled, narrow canyons. China Ranch Date farm is built around a desert oasis. We're always surprised when we get to an oasis in the desert. Endless miles of scruffy nothingness, and then all of a sudden ... lush foliage.

We toured around the gift shop, then bought date shakes, date nut bread, and date cookies. Large date shakes for me, Joanne, Glen, and Rosi. A small date shake for Bo. WOO-HOO ... Bo looooooooooves date shakes ! ! ! What a silly dog. As much as Bo loves date shakes, he couldn't quite finish an entire one. And he seemed to have a bit of an upset tummy tonight. Maybe next time we'll just let him share some of ours. After drinking ... or more like eating ... our date shakes, we went for a hike through the date farm, taking photos and munching on dates we picked off trees. China Ranch Date Farm was a little different than other date farms we've been to. Many of the trees were pruned so that the clusters of dates were growing low enough to reach. And all the clusters of dates not yet ripened enough to be harvested were "dressed" in old articles of clothing, to prevent birds from eating the dates.

On the way back to Pahrump we stopped to look at what was at one time a cave dwelling of some sort. Kind of like what you would expect a hermit to live in. We saw an old door on the side of a canyon wall. We stopped and got out to take a look. It was a padlocked door leading into ... well ... the side of a small mountain. And nearby there were some barred window openings in the rocks that we could peek into. Inside was ... a cave dwelling. A large room in a cave. A door, a couple of windows, a hole in the top of the cave functioning as a chimney. Weird ! I also stopped to take a look at an unserviced airstrip out in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Why is there a little air strip out in the middle of nowhere in the Mojave Desert ?

We found out tonight that my sister's mother-in-law has died. Our deepest sympathies go out to my brother-in-law, Bud.

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and a bit cooler than it has been, temperature in the 60's.

How come the cheapest price I could find on a turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving was $1.79 a pound, right at the turkey farm in Keremeos, but here in Pahrump, turkeys are ... wait for it ... 39¢ a pound at Albertson's ? Gee .. that even beats last year's price of $5.00 for turkeys up to 10 pounds that we found in ... wherever we were for American Thanksgiving last year.

We went to Preferred RV Park's monthly luncheon today. Cheap, decent food, good company. This park has a nice, active social calendar. Lots of activities involving food. HA HA HA ! This afternoon I did some more minor maintenance on the trailer. I find that if I jump on minor maintenance problems as soon as I become aware of them it keeps the trailer in excellent condition. We visited with neighbours. One of our neighbours got a 14 month old Standard Poodle a few days ago from a breeder. Rex has lived his whole life so far in a kennel, so needs a lot of socializing. We went shopping ; Wal-Mart, Albertson's, water jug refills, Walgreen's. We've been stocking up this week on chocolate bars on sale at Walgreen's. Sixty-nine cent chocolate bars for twenty-five cents, limit eight. So we go every couple of days and buy 16 chocolate bars. HA HA HA ! We should be able to get enough chocolate bars to last until we can stock up on Nugs and Coconugs in Mexico. HA HA HA !

 

DSK

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November 8 to 14, 2007

 

 

 

 

November 8 to 14, 2007

Topaz Lake, Nevada to Pahrump, Nevada

 

Thursday ; Topaz Lake, Nevada to Death Valley National Park, California

As we entered Death Valley National Park about 4:30 P.M. the sun was just setting behind the mountains. The temperature was 81º . As we got set up in our campsite about 2 hours later, in the dark, the temperature was still 79º ! And this is November ! No wonder people die here in the summer !

This morning before leaving Topaz Lake Lodge, the casino where we boondocked ( dry camped ) last night, we refilled with diesel and propane. We continued heading south on Hwy. 395. We crossed from Nevada into California where we had to stop at a state inspection station. The officer asked if we had any produce . HUH ? ? ? Yeah ... we've got produce, but it was all purchased a few days ago in Yreka, California. Okay ... go ! Apparently California doesn't allow produce from other states into California ? ! ? We drove by the east side of Yosemite National Park, but did not enter. We had visited Yosemite previously. We drove by the east side of King's Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. Both of those parks can only be entered from the west side. We refilled with diesel ( again ! ) at Lone Pine. It was another long day of driving, and again we drove further than we had intended. We turned east onto Hwy. 136 heading for Death Valley National Park. It was a long, difficult climb up and over the Inyo Mountains. We began to see occasional Joshua Trees and Yucca Trees. AHHHHH ... the Mojave Desert, at last. It was a looooong descent down into Panamint Valley, then a looooong climb up and over the Panamint Mountains, and a looooong, looooong descent down into Death Valley, from over 5000 ft. ASL to below sea level. About 4 miles from Stovepipe Wells Village I shifted into neutral, and coasted the last 4 miles down, reaching about 120 km./hr. or about 75 MPH. HA HA HA !

When we arrived at Stovepipe Wells Village there were only a few sites available in the campground. The campground host told us that normally there's only about a half dozen rigs in this campground, but this week there's about 125 rigs here ! The other 3 campgrounds within Death Valley National Park are all full ! We have arrived here during the Death Valley California 49'ers Annual Encampment. HUH ? It's an annual gathering of RV'ers, ( loosely ) celebrating the crossing of Death Valley in 1849 by wannabe miners heading for the gold rush in the mountains west of here. Most died crossing Death Valley, hence the name. This annual gathering is a week long event of cowboy music, cowboy poetry, and ... who knows ? ! ? What the hell is cowboy poetry ? ? ?

Friday ; Death Valley : Stovepipe Wells to Mesquite Spring

Today was another typical Death Valley winter day. Daytime temperatures in the high 80's, night time temperatures in the mid-50's. I noticed that when the sun went down, the temperature dropped 20 degrees in 20 minutes ! The sky was overcast in the morning, which is a bit unusual for Death Valley.

This morning before leaving our campground at Stovepipe Wells I went over to the Death Valley California 49'ers Annual Encampment stage area to get some information on the organization and their events / activities. On the stage was a cowboy playing an accordion, singing cowboy songs and yodelling. Not exactly my cup of tea ! We headed a short distance northeast, then turned northwest heading for Scotty's Castle at Death Valley Ranch. Scotty's Castle is a huge, elaborate residence built by a wealthy couple, and their con man friend, in the 1920's. Now it's sort of a National Parks museum. We wandered around the buildings and the grounds for a couple of hours. During that time, about 3 drops of rain fell. I guess that's what's considered a rainfall in Death Valley, which receives about an inch and a half of rain annually.

I find it interesting that every ten or twenty miles on the roads through Death Valley, there is a large tank of water with a faucet on the bottom, a "radiator water" refill station.

We drove over to the campground at Mesquite Spring where we spent the night. It was a very nice, very remote, unserviced campground in a beautiful desert setting surrounded by mountains. I liked it ! Wehad a campfire tonight. After it had been burning for awhile, I took a "hot rock" from the ring of stones surrounding the fire and placed it on the back of Joanne's stiff neck and top of her spine. My cheap Ukrainian version of a spa treatment. HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA ! Actually, it was very pleasant. I tried it myself.

Every winter down south I'm a bit surprised by the change in the position of the constellations in the sky. Tonight the Big Dipper was sitting completely flat on top of the mountain, looking like a pot on a stove.

 

Saturday ; Death Valley National Park, California to Pahrump, Nevada

Gee, we’ve crossed the border between California and Nevada about half a dozen times in the last few days. This morning we departed Mesquite Spring campground heading southeast along the west side of the Amargosa Mountains. Near Stovepipe Wells we rejoined Hwy. 190 heading southeast, following it through Furnace Creek and out of Death Valley National Park. We continued east on Hwy. 190 crossing from California back into Nevada again. At Death Valley Junction we got onto State Line Road heading for Pahrump.

At Pahrump we checked into Pair-A-Dice, an Escapee RV Park. We were hoping to spend at least one and probably two weeks here, but today they only had one site available for 4 days. Hopefully, in four days another site will be available. If not, I guess we're moving on.

This afternoon I had a well deserved long nap followed by a long hot shower. I felt tired and grubby. When we're boondocked / dry camped without electricity or water, as we have been for a few days now, we go to sleep very early, get up very early, and have very short showers.

I remember the first time we visited Pahrump 2 years ago. It was our first time in Nevada. On the road to Pair-A-Dice RV Park, there is a spiffy looking brothel. It was odd seeing a brothel for the first time, openly advertising their "services". Welcome to Nevada !

 

Sunday ; Remembrance Day ( Canada ) / Veteran's Day ( U.S. )

This morning, as we always do at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, we observed a minute of silence to "remember". Lest we forget ! This practice is not part of the Americans' observance of Veteran's Day.

Ever since LaPine State Park in Oregon about a week ago there has been evidence of a mouse in a kitchen cupboard. I kept hoping the movement of the trailer during travel would inspire it to leave. Apparently not ! Last night I set a mouse trap under the sink. Yup ... there was a mouse ! Maybe more than one, based on how cleanly the peanut butter was licked off the trap. Like ... "oh, boy, my buddy tripped the trap, and is now dead, but at least now I can lick off all the peanut butter". I'll set the trap again tonight.

This morning we walked over to one of the two fenced dog run areas at this park. One of them has a bunch of posts and various sized tires partially embedded in the ground. Joanne wanted to show me the "Bo-gility" routines she has been working on. HA HA HA ! Good work, Bo !

This afternoon, after unhitching Harvey from Lanoire for the first time since we left home, we ran errands and replenished groceries and supplies. We found diesel for the lowest price since entering the U.S.. We had lunch at a new subway chain called Port Of Subs. We spent a long time Wal-Martin' < sigh >. I hate Wal-Martin'. We shopped at Albertson's, a grocery chain. We went to three different RV parks to check them out. We refilled all our water jugs. We were completely out of drinking water. We had difficulty finding a water refill machine in Oregon or California. But no problem finding water refill machines out here in the desert. And it still pisses me off, every time I pay 15¢ for a gallon of water, which is the price anywhere in the desert, from here down to the Mexican border, that I had to pay $4.99 for a gallon of water in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, a few years ago. Why is water more expensive than automotive fuel in a Canadian National Park ? ! ?

We have decided to stay in Pahrump until immediately after the Thanksgiving weekend. We’ll move to at least one, and maybe even two other RV parks here in Pahrump before we leave. We'll head to Las Vegas on Monday, November 26. In the meantime, we will stay in Pahrump for Thanksgiving, and the 9th annual Pahrump Social Powwow next weekend. We attended the Pahrump Social Powwow 2 years ago, and really enjoyed it. The Pahrump Social Powwow is a Navajo and Shoshone celebration of Native dancing, music, and food.

Welcome to Nevada ! Not only are there billboards advertising the brothels, but the grocery stores have slot machines !

HEY ! ! ! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE STOCK MARKET IN THE LAST 2 WEEKS ? ? ? ! ! ! I retrieved my investment data this evening for the first time in 2 weeks. I'm not pleased !

 

Monday ; Today was sunny and warm. This morning I worked on replacing the moulding on the lower front edge of the trailer that had been smashed and damaged by a rock that we drove over a week or so ago.

This afternoon we went to watch a movie at the clubhouse. Every Monday afternoon they show a movie in this RV park. Today's movie was Ratatouille. Great ... that was a movie we were interested in seeing.

After the movie we went to Social Hour, held in this park on weekdays only. And poorly attended. This is one of the less impressive Escapee parks. Social Hour only on weekdays. Poorly attended. Ice cream social only once every 2 weeks. No pot luck dinners in the month of November. Not much of a social calendar at all, actually. At Social Hour we chatted with a couple from northwest Oregon. The woman had been born in Vernon, at the north end of B.C.'s Okanagan Valley. We chatted with a travelling single woman from Portland, Oregon. And a man originally from Toronto, Ontario.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and hot. For most of today I puttered around with some minor maintenance chores, and Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi system here is really poor, and I have spent a lot of time trying to send and retrieve e-mail, retrieve phone messages, update my blog, etc.. It seems as if the poor Wi-Fi situation isn't confined to just this park. The other RV parks we went to yesterday also commented that they are experiencing Wi-Fi problems. Poor Wi-Fi seems to be a problem throughout Pahrump.

We took Bo for his daily "Bo-gility" session. He loves it. We wonder whether we can design and construct a dog agility course at Riverside RV Park next summer. We went to Social Hour. Once again ... and this is not unusual ... we were the last to leave after Social Hour. Gee ... if you're going to go to daily Social Hour ... might as well be sociable ! If you don't want to be sociable ... stay home !

 

Wednesday ; Today was sunny and hot. First time I've worn shorts in a couple of months.

This morning we prepared for departure from Pair-A-Dice SKP RV Park and moved "across town" to Preferred RV Resort. It's a larger park, with nicer amenities. Nice pool and hot tub ! After getting set up in our site, and having lunch, we took Bo for a long walk around the park, then Joanne and I headed for the pool and hot tub. AHHHHH ! ! !

This afternoon I could receive 2 Wi-Fi signals, but only intermittently. I couldn't get a good signal on either the computer or the Wi-Fi phone. One signal was the RV park's, and the other one was from the casino across the road. After supper I drove around with the computer in the truck, trying to find the best possible location to get a good Wi-Fi signal. Got a good one in the employee parking lot of the casino. So ... here goes a blog update.

 

DSK

November 1 to 7, 2007

 

 

 

 

November 1 to 7, 2007

Keremeos, B.C. to Topaz Lake, Nevada

 

Thursday ; Keremeos, B.C. to I-90 rest area near Ellensburg, Washington

Well ... we're finally back on the road again. We've all been suffering a teensy bit of "hitch itch" the last couple of weeks. It's great to be travelling, back on the road of / to adventure. It was a bright, sunny day today. A very pleasant day for travel.

This morning, in addition to regular departure preparations, I had to turn off the water main to our lot, on the street in front of our lot, and turn off the main power breaker for our lot in the hydro kiosk at the end of our street. I also had to remove the Wi-Fi and satellite dish cables, then remove the Wi-Fi transceiver / antenna from the utility pole I installed on our lot. To discontinue our Wi-Fi service for 6 months, China Creek Internet required me to return their equipment. HMPH !

We drove to Keremeos, where I dropped Joanne off at the medical clinic for a doctor's appointment to review some x-rays she had taken at Penticton Hospital last week. I went to put air in the truck and trailer tires, and run a few last minute errands in town. I picked her up at the clinic and we headed east on Hwy. 3. We stopped in Cawston to drop off the China Creek equipment. Halfway between Keremeos and Osoyoos we decided to cross the border at Nighthawk, instead of crossing at Osoyoos into Oroville, Washington, the main border crossing in the Okanagan / Similkameen region. There was a little "back road" following along the Similkameen River, to cross the border at Nighthawk. There's nothing at Nighthawk except a little border guard shack on each side of the border, each shack staffed by one border guard. Too bad the border guard on the American side was such a p***k, with attitude. The border crossing process only took 5 to 10 minutes, but he was rude and surly, with a "bully" mentality fromstart to finish. First time we've ever encountered anything like that crossing the border in either direction. In the future, we'll use the Osoyoos / Oroville crossing.

After crossing at Nighthawk, we meandered along a narrow, winding road following the Similkameen River until it flowed into the Okanagan River at Oroville, Washington. We stopped at Prince's, the large grocery store in Oroville, to buy groceries and have lunch. Prince's was accepting Canadian money at their checkouts, paying U.S.$1.03 per Canadian dollar. WOW ! ! ! I've never experienced an exchange rate like that ! WOO-HOO ! ! !

From Oroville we headed south on Hwy. 97 which follows the Okanagan / Okanogan River all the way until it flows into the Columbia River, then it follows the Columbia River. At Wenatchee we turned east on Hwy. 28. At Quincy we turned south on Hwy. 281. At Interstate 90 we turned west. We stopped for the night at a rest area on I-90 just east of Ellensburg. We're a little more than halfway through the state of Washington, north to south.

 

Friday ; Ellensburg, Washington to LaPine State Park near Bend, Oregon

The temperature this morning was 28º F., but it was a sunny, pleasant day. We drove about ten miles east on I-90 to Ellensburg where we filled up with diesel at Flying J. We headed south on Interstate 82 to Toppenish, then turned south on the resumption of Hwy. 97. At the Columbia River Gorge, the border between Washington and Oregon, we stopped at Maryhill State Park where we had lunch, then went for a long walk with Teddy and Bo beside the Columbia River through the lovely state park. Teddy likes to go for walks on sunny fall days as long as someone carries him. It was such a lovely park we considered staying overnight, but decided it was too early to stop for the day. We crossed the Columbia River onto Oregon and continued south on Hwy. 97.

We stopped to refill with diesel ( again ! ) at Madras. We stopped again at Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint, a rest area, to view the Crooked River from the old highway bridge 300 feet above the river. Quite a vista ! We continued south through Bend, and stopped for the night at LaPine State Park just as it got dark. This is a very nice state park. We've stayed in Oregon state parks before, and we continue to be very impressed with Oregon's state parks. If tomorrow is another nice, sunny day, we'll stay here, rest, hike, and have a campfire.

Whew ... two days of hard driving, over 1000 km. / 600 miles.

 

Saturday ; LaPine State Park, Oregon

BRRRRR ... the temperature this morning was 20º F., although it was sunny, and warmed up nicely throughout the day, reaching 54º F. by mid-afternoon. I was surprised by the low morning temperature, given that we are over 1000 km. / 600 mi. south of home, in the same mountain range ( the Cascades ) as at home. I suppose we're at a higher elevation here, though. Keremeos is about 1100 ft. ASL, and I think we're about 2500 ft. ASL here at LaPine State Park. Maybe all those RV's with Canadian license plates that we see on the highways heading south are creating a vortex, pulling down cold Canadian air. HA HA HA !

This afternoon we hiked around each of the three large loops of the campground, two of which are closed for the winter, then we hiked along the banks of the Deschutes River. What a great day to be outdoors. What a great day to be alive ! We spent the latter part of the afternoon sitting around a campfire. The weather was nice enough to inspire me to barbecue. Great steak !

In the evening while Joanne baked cranberry oatmeal muffins I worked on updating my investment files and setting all the clocks back an hour.

 

Sunday ; LaPine State Park to Talent, Oregon

Today was another gorgeous sunny day, with temperatures ranging from 18º F. this morning to 60º F. this afternoon.

As we were on our way out of LaPine State Park this morning, we stopped to hike to The Big Tree, Oregon's largest Ponderosa Pine. Back on Hwy. 97, heading south, we stopped to refill a propane tank in Wickiup Junction. We turned east on Hwy. 138 heading for Crater Lake National Park, even though signage indicated the national park was closed for the winter. It was a gamble that paid off. The national park main road was still open. We turned south into Crater Lake National Park.

After seeing a picture of Crater Lake this summer in the travel blog of our full time RV / Escapee friends Cathy and Jan Emrick, I wanted to visit Crater Lake. It was spectacular, on a par with Lake Louise in Banff National Park in Alberta. Joanne thinks Crater Lake was even more picturesque than Lake Louise. Perhaps she's right. Crater Lake is remote, without the crowds found around Lake Louise. And Lake Louise doesn't have an inactive volcano island in the middle of the lake.

After having lunch we continued south through Crater Lake National Park, exiting the national park onto Hwy. 62 heading west. We wanted to cut over to Interstate 5, heading for a Passport America park with cable TV, so that we could watch tonight's season premiere of Amazing Race. Hwy. 62 was a veryscenic route through thick forest, large Ponderosa Pines and Lodgepole Pines right to the edge of the road. Oregon certainly has a lot of trees ... and hillbillies / mountain folk ! From Hwy. 62 onto Hwy. 234 heading southwest, then onto I-5 heading ... WOO-HOO ... south ! Interstate 5 is the main highway heading south, on the west side of the U.S.. It starts at the Canadian border just south of Vancouver, and extends to the Mexican border just south of San Diego.

We stopped for the night at Talent, Oregon, about half an hour north of the Oregon / California border. After we set up in our site, Joanne walked over to the Wal-Mart across the street. Bo is sooooo happy tonight. Joanne bought him a new "chicken ducky" retriever toy at Wal-Mart. It's his favourite toy, available only in the U.S..

 

Monday ; Talent, Oregon to Susanville, California

This morning in Oregon the temperature was 32º F.. This afternoon in California it was 84º F.! WOO-HOO !

Shortly after departing Talent, continuing south on I-5, we stopped in Ashland, the last town in Oregon before entering California, to buy diesel. Fuel prices are lower in Oregon than in California. Well ... pretty much all prices are lower in Oregon than California. Oregon has no state sales tax. And California is generally more expensive than anywhere else, on everything. Hey ... it's California !

We stopped at the first city in California, Yreka ( pronounced "why reeka" ) to buy groceries. California may be more expensive than Oregon, but it has nicer grocery stores. Large produce departments with more variety, fresh products, natural products, sushi, etc.. Hey ... it's California ! And they understand the concept of customers using their own cloth bags to pack their groceries. Most of the United States doesn't "get" the use of cloth grocery bags.

At Redding we turned east on Hwy. 44. It was our intention to stop for the night at Shingletown, just before Lassen Volcanic National Park, and tomorrow we would visit the national park. But the RV park at Shingletown listed in the Passport America directory would not honour the Passport America rate, so we did not stay. So there ! Occasionally we encounter parks listed in the Passport America directory that have one excuse or another for not honouring the Passport America rate. We refuse to stay at parks who get listed in the directory but refuse to honour the rate.

So we continued driving east on Hwy. 44, entering Lassen Volcanic National Park about 3:00 P.M.. Since it now gets dark by 5:30 P.M., that didn't leave us much time to see the sights in the park. Well, that was okay, because there wasn't really all that much to see in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Maybe we've travelled and seen so much, we're a bit spoiled ? ! We drove leisurely through the park, stopping only once to get out and take a look at some fumaroles ( little smoking, gurgling holes in the ground ... geyser wannabes ). It was first time Bo has seen gurgling, smoking holes in the ground. Dogs are not allowed to walk around the geyser / fumarole areas of Yellowstone National Park that we visited last spring. He was quite puzzled by gurgling, smoking holes in the ground. Hey, Bo ... they didn’t have anything like that back in sweet home Alabama, did they ? HA HA HA !

We exited the national park to the south and turned east on Hwy. 36 / 89 heading towards Chester, looking for a suitable place to boondock for the night. All the national park campgrounds were closed for the season, as were the National Forest Service campgrounds along the highway outside of the national park. There was nowhere suitable to stop for the night in the little town of Chester. We continued east on Hwy. 36 to Susanville where we stopped for the night at Wal-Mart. It was after 7:00 P.M., we were tired, Joanne didn't want to make supper, so we went to Jack In The Box for supper. Their TV commercials are better than their food.

This afternoon I could not avoid running over a large rock on the road. Tonight I discovered that it had bounced up into the bottom front edge of the trailer, smashing and severely damaging the J-trim moulding along the bottom front edge. DARN !

 

Tuesday ; Susanville, California to Bordertown / Reno, Nevada

Today was another sunny, cool morning, warm afternoon day. I was tired from driving more than planned yesterday, so today we drove only a fairly short distance. We pulled out of Susanville's Wal-Mart, and filled up with diesel before leaving town. We headed southeast on Hwy. 395 towards Reno, Nevada. We crossed the border from California into Nevada, and by noon stopped for the night, at Bordertown, a northern "suburb" of Reno.

We stayed at Bordertown Casino & RV Resort. Very nice resort ... a bit expensive. Joanne did laundry. I removed the damaged moulding off the lower front edge of the trailer. I was unable to repair it. We walked with Bo all around the RV park, and then walked over to the casino. I downloaded and processed all the photos I took since leaving Keremeos six days ago. The RV park had Wi-Fi, so I was able to do e-mail, check investments, etc..

After supper we went over to the casino to use the free drink vouchers that we received when registering in the RV park. I had 2 free bourbons, played Keno and a slot machine. Joanne had a free glass of wine and played a slot machine. It took us an hour and half to lose two dollars. Big Canadian spenders, eh ? HA HA HA !

 

Wednesday ; Bordertown / Reno to and around Lake Tahoe to Topaz Lake, Nevada

Well we certainly have had superb weather for our first week of travel. Today was another sunny, warm day. This morning we drove into Reno, found Safari RV, bought a new piece of J-trim moulding, and drove through and out of Reno, heading south on Hwy. 395.

I wanted to see Lake Tahoe. We turned southwest on Hwy. 431 and drove up, and up, ... and up ! I had no idea Lake Tahoe was at such a high elevation. We drove over the Mount Rose summit at 8900 ft. ASL before reaching Lake Tahoe at Incline Village. I think that may be highest elevation we've taken the truck and trailer. We passed the Ponderosa Ranch, setting for the Bonanza television series from the 1960's. Lake Tahoe is at about 7000 ft. ASL and the roads around it range from 7000 ft. to almost 9000 ft.. We drove along the east shore of Lake Tahoe along Hwy. 28, then Hwy. 50, stopping frequently to sightsee and take photos. It was so lovely, we decided to drive completely around Lake Tahoe. With all the stops we made, it took most of the day.

At the south end of Lake Tahoe, at the small resort city of South Lake Tahoe ( summer and winter playground of the rich and famous ) we turned northwest on Hwy. 89 to cross from Nevada into California and follow along the west and north sides of Lake Tahoe. Beautiful lake and forest scenery, very upscale homes in little villages. I thought the areas around Lake Tahoe would be more developed. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the development of homes, resorts, and villages was done without destroying the beautiful natural surroundings. Bravo, Nevada and California. Maybe the Wisconsin Dells or Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, just outside Great Smoky Mountains National Park could learn some lessons from Nevada and California !

After circling Lake Tahoe completely, back around to the Nevada side, we headed east on Hwy. 50 back to Hwy. 395 at Carson City. I stopped at Home Depot in Carson City to buy some hardware I need to install the new moulding on the trailer. Seeing Carson City on the map evokes memories for me of the opening scene of the TV series Bonanza, where the map of the Ponderosa Ranch and surrounding areas ( Virginia City, Carson City ) goes up in flames as Ben Cartwright and his sons ride up on horses behind the flaming map.

We stopped for the night at Topaz Lake where we boondocked in the parking lot of a casino.

 

DSK

October 20 update

October 20 update

 

Tonight we attended Taste Of Our Valley at Victory Hall in Keremeos with our new neighbours Terry and Marlene. Taste Of Our Valley is the annual fall harvest celebration in our region. All around the perimeter of Victory Hall were tables set up for the local wineries, restaurants, and fruit stands / orchards. In the centre of the hall were tables and chairs. We spent the evening wandering around, visiting each merchant's table, "grazing" on samples of the local restaurants' specialties, sipping wines and hot apple ciders, munching on many varieties of locally grown apples, and eating baking, while chatting with Terry and Marlene. There was a silent auction table set up with goods and services provided by local merchants. There was an astounding fall display of produce and flowers set up at the back of the hall. Fall displays of local produce and flowers are a bit of a specialty of all the fruit stands around Keremeos.

This was the last local event of the fall season. Time for us "Snowbirds" to head south soon. Joanne and I will be leaving here November 1. I'll probably resume a ( "more or less" ) daily journal once we start travelling.

DSK

October 12 update

October 12 blog update

 

October 8 ; Happy ( Canadian )Thanksgiving

A few years ago we celebrated ( American ) Thanksgiving while we were WorkCamping at Trout Lodge in the Ozark Mountains in Missouri. Around the dinner table I commented how privileged we felt, as Canadian "Snowbirds" / RV'ers, to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving twice a year ; in Canada in October and again in the United States in November. An American did not know that Canada and the United States celebrate Thanksgiving on different dates. He asked if Canada celebrates Christmas on the same date as the United States ? I’ll pause for a moment to let the impact of that sink in ... HA HA HA ! My very sarcastic response was ; “No ... Canadian Jesus Christ was born on a different day than American Jesus Christ”. SHEESH ... some of those “mountain folk” need to get out of the house more !

Tonight we had Thanksgiving dinner 3 of 3 with neighbours Dorothy, Mike, and Stu, at Dorothy's and Mike's home. We contributed dessert. Joanne contributed a freshly baked apple pie. I contributed a bottle of Inniskillin Okanagan Vidal Icewine, along with Blue Cheese and crackers. Joanne made an apple pie for tonight's Thanksgiving dinner 3 of 3, and she also made one for Thanksgiving dinner 1 of 3 with Dwight and Jennifer a couple of days ago. Neither pie turned out very well, which is surprising. Joanne usually makes excellent apple pie, a talent she must have inherited from her mother, who made the best apple pies I've ever tasted.

The "thanks" that I "give" on Thanksgiving is to be grateful that Joanne has survived cancer. Well, most of her survived. A few parts had to be removed. HA HA HA !

 

October 9 ; Today I flew over Riverside RV Park Resort, to see it from the air. I took off from Penticton and flew south to Kaleden, climbing to 6500 feet. At Kaleden I turned southwest into the Keremeos Creek Valley, following Hwy. 3A. EUUUWWW ... too low ! I climbed to 9000 feet. At Keremeos, I turned west into the Similkameen River Valley, following Hwy. 3 and the Similkameen River. Halfway from Keremeos to Riverside RV Park Resort, I passed the Ashnola River Valley, where the Ashnola River meets the Similkameen River. EUUUWWW ... too low ! The mountains got even higher, and the Similkameen Valley got even narrower. I climbed to 10,000 feet. At 10,000 feet and above, a pilot can only fly for 30 minutes without supplementary oxygen. When I saw the bridge where Hwy. 3 crosses from the north side of the Similkameen River to the south side, at Hedley, I realized that I had missed seeing Riverside RV Park Resort and had flown too far. Darn ! I had been occupied with trying not to fly myself into a mountain ! I turned around and started flying back. I saw Riverside RV Park Resort on the way back. When I got to Keremeos, and turned north towards Penticton, I encountered quite a bit of turbulence. EUUUWWW ... too low ! I climbed to 10,500 feet. Halfway back to Penticton, I realized I would have to take a shortcut, or be in violation of the supplementary oxygen regulation. I turned east to fly over the mountains, expecting to find the Okanagan Valley on the other side of the mountains, somewhere between Oliver and Okanagan Falls. Sure enough, when I crossed over the mountains, I was near Okanagan Falls, and could even see the Penticton airport runway from that altitude. I began to descend over Skaha Lake towards Penticton. Darn ... by the time I reached Penticton, I was still too high to make a landing. I had to fly across Penticton, from Skaha Lake on the south side to Okanagan Lake on the north side, to descend to "circuit height" for landing.

I was surprised to see that all the mountains north of Keremeos and the Similkameen River, all the way to Penticton, are still free of snow, but south of Keremeos and the Similkameen River, all the way as far as I could see into the state of Washington, the mountain tops are covered in a lot of snow already.

 

October 10 ; Happy 53rd Birthday to me

After we ran some errands in Keremeos, I took a back roads drive to Princeton, along Old Hedley Road, just to explore, reflect upon life, etc..

 

October 11 ; HMPH ... found 2 dead Gopher Snakes today on the roads in the park. Squished by vehicles. Maybe they shouldn't sun themselves on the warm asphalt.

 

October 12 ; Happy 33rd Anniversary to us

This afternoon I wrote an article on dog training, and submitted it for publication in our RV park's monthly newsletter. I've decided to write a monthly article on dogs, and dog training issues. In addition to our park's newsletter, maybe I'll submit them to the Escapees magazine.

Tonight we went for dinner to the Branding Iron Steak House in Keremeos, a local restaurant owned by a German immigrant family. Despite being called a "steak house", their specialty is Schnitzel. Joanne had a Pork Schnitzel, and I had a Wiener ( Veal ) Schnitzel. It was a very nice dinner, although a little expensive.

DSK