Chapter five

On December 18th we set up in the KOA at Avi Casino/Hotel in Laughlin Nevada late in the afternoon,  and enjoyed the buffet across the street in the Casino/Hotel.  This will be our last "full service" campground before spending the next month dry camping with John and Marie in the desert.  So we will do laundry, have our last long shower, dump the tanks, and take on water here, but not before we do some 'splorin!

The next day we drove into Bullhead, Arizona (just down the street) to the Arizona Tourist Information Office and loaded up on maps and information.  Another "to do thing" on my list is to drive Route 66, and guess what?  It's so close, we must go!  Destination for this afternoon a small stretch of Route 66 to Historic Oatman, Arizona, an authentic western ghost town and mining camp.  This part of what's left of Route 66 is narrow and twisty, so don't take your motor home or trailer (there are road restrictions), but at the end of the road you'll feel like you've stepped back in time.  Before you head down the road though, find out when the gunfight is, we didn't know about it and missed out.  As you're walking down the street, in and out of the shops, saloons, and eateries, watch out for the burrows!  They wonder around like they own the place and will check out your shopping bags and pockets sniffing for food.  Don't feed one-you'll be surrounded in no time- and they aren't shy, either, and they bite, too.  Another must see on our list.

It was cold and rained most of the night, so I got a chance to look at the maps we got and discovered what Tri-State means.  Here we are surrounded by Arizona, Nevada, and California, the Tri-State, DUH!  I've never been to California, Larry has, but he says he loves me, we've got time, and this is a holiday, so, road trip.  I'm soo excited, I'm going to California.  We jump in the car and 10 minutes later we're in California.  STOP LAUGHING AT ME.  After Larry bought some locally made beef jerky and I some dried cranberries we head back to Nevada for an early night, for tomorrow we head out to find John and Marie.

chapter four

We arrive in Las Vegas and manage to get a pull through site at Sam's Town that's long enough that we don't have to unhook, bonus. There's even enough room to park the car and sit in our lawn chairs.  The only other time we were here was in 1997, and only for a couple of days, so, there are a few things we want to see and do that we missed the first time.

Early the next afternoon we head into Vegas to find Gold & Silver Pawn Shop that is the  home of "Pawn Stars", a TV show Larry likes to watch.  After checking that out and getting himself a T-Shirt (OK I bought it for him, because he never buys himself anything) we're off to the strip.  When we were on the strip before it was at night and now it's 2:30 in the afternoon and we are very disappointed, it's very boring.  We did manage to get tickets for the Thursday night Terry Fator concert, sweet!  And we can see the strip at night.

I did some reading on what to do and see while in Las Vegas, and discovered Red Rock Canyon.  Sounds interesting, so Wednesday we set out to find it, and we were not disappointed.  It's around a 30 min. drive to get there and the first stop was the visitors centre.  Hey Mar, I finally got my first "coin".  We probably spent an hour looking around there, learning all about the desert  and the area of the Red Rock Canyon.  Then we got back into the car and started the 13 mile drive.  It's all a one way loop that takes you back to the visitors centre with all kinds of pull outs and hiking paths.  I think the speed limit is around 30 mph and with all the stopping and picture taking it probably took us a couple of hours to do the loop.  We would highly recommend taking a drive out to Red Rock Canyon, take a lunch even.  And for those of you who like walking, hiking, or climbing, take your boots!

Thursday night is Terry Fator, so we went out for an early supper and then drove to the strip and parked at the hotel.  We discovered a tram that goes every 5 minutes to Treasure Island and back, so we went there first to see the outdoor show. No show, shut down for repairs, as we discovered was most of the "outside shows" on the strip.  We got to the Terry Fator Theatre and into our awesome seats, 3rd row, with plenty of time to spare.  Absolutely awesome show, Larry even laughed out loud so many times I lost track.  At the beginning of the show Terry said we could take pictures or videos, and boy did Larry do a good job with that!  After the show we went out and walked the strip taking pictures of all the sights, Las Vegas is WAY better at night.

Saturday we decided to take a trip out to Hoover Dam and check it out, 13 years later, what a difference.    There's like a new bridge, new parking, I don't remember it being that way.  We parked and started walking around, again very interesting and another two thumbs up from us.  Back home we have an early supper and early to bed, 'cause we're off to Laughlin tomorrow.

chapter three

After stopping at the visitors centre in Mesquite we head over to the Casa Blanca Casino/Hotel and check into their RV Park.  Of course we're too long and are sent to their "over flow" parking, the now closed Oasis Casino/Hotel.  It's actually very nice here, quiet and hardly anyone here.  We are able to de-winterize and load up with water, but not the jugs we brought with us, they are frozen solid, and actually don't thaw out for another 4 days.  With water and electricity we are able to crawl into our own bed for the first time in over a week.  The next day we go for groceries, unpack, and get settled in, only to find frost in the front cupboards-who'da'thunk!

We have no Internet, so head to the local library (thanks Maureen, for that tip) to check e-mails and download all the papers Larry has missed since being away from home.  We also discovered the interweb at McDonald's, and they have ice cream, too.  Basically, we are just chillaxing, after all we are retired now, even went out and bought a calendar so we know what day it is, we're so relaxed! On December 13th we figure we're warmed up enough, and have all the necessary supplies on board to move along.  After paying the bill, we load up the car, hook up to the trailer, and are off.  We are takingthe scenic route through the Valley of Fire onto our next stop, Las Vegas!

chapter two

And now for the rest of the Story...

My first day of retirement was on November 1st and I relaxed for the first week, hanging out with friends and family, doing all the things I don't normally have time for.  Then I got down to work, organizing and getting everything packed and ready to hit the road.  But, this is Saskatchewan, and it is now mid November and the Semi has the wrong kind of fuel and the temperature is now hovering around -25, so unpack we must!  I didn't know (did you?) that there is summer diesel and winter diesel, and we have summer fuel and it has jelled, so we will wait awhile for the temperature to warm up.  After a week, or so, the temperatures turned around and warmed up enough that Larry jumped in and went for winter fuel.  Needless to say, as soon as I heard that truck start I was reloading (with Collin's help, he wanted us gone as much as we wanted to be gone!) the trailer.  When he returned he backed onto the lawn to hook up to the trailer and pull it onto the street.  Now, here's another reason to leave before snow, he got stuck!  Between the snow and the curb, the wheels started spinning and turned the "path" into ice.  We shoveled and put down side walk salt, but it was me giving a push that got us out.
The next day, November 29th, we left home for Blaine and Linda's farm in Southern Saskatchewan.  We had an awesome visit, playing cards, Larry doing farm stuff with Blaine, and checking out maps, making plans to meet up sometime in the States.  After leaving the farm, we spent the first 3 nights in hotels because the trailer is still winterized with no water and it's darn cold out still.  We travelled through   snow, freezing fog, freezing rain, and finally the sun came out around Salt Lake City.  We arrived at our first destination, Mesquite Nevada, on December 7th.

YIPPEE!

We've arrived!

Let the holiday begin!

chapter one

So, a little back ground about how we ended up here...

We had always talked about travelling after Larry retired from CN Rail, I was thinking Europe or an Alaskan cruise, Larry, not so much.  When our friends Ken and Marg sold all and moved into their motor home and told us of their travels south of the border he thought that sounded much better.  Then John and Marie did the same thing the year Larry retired (2009) and spent the winter dry camping in the desert outside of Wickenburg Arizona, sharing stories and pictures.  That same winter, I went out to start my school bus at -45 and at least 2 feet of snow at 2:30 in the afternoon while Larry sat in recliner, under his favorite blanket (with the dog!) and his lap top watching Kung-Fu Panda, I too was OH SO READY to pack up and head south!

Collin packed up Picard (his bearded dragon lizard) and his belongings and moved back to take care of Tequila (our mini daschound) and the house.  In July we set out for a month (travelling around 10,000 kms.) for the "shake down trip", to see how all would work.  For those of you who don't know what we're living in, we have a 42 foot 5th wheel we haul with a Volvo Semi.  Now, before you get excited, the back of the trailer is 22 feet of garage space we haul our car in, and the front, 20 feet of living space making us 70 feet in length-not so easy to find camping spots!  We learned a lot during this trip, the most important being, we can actually live together in a very small space and get up every morning still loving each other!  So, we decided that we too should spend the winter south of the border, I gave my notice at Hertz Northern Bus and we started planning.

Getting caught up!

Trying to keep up with friends and family through e-mail and face book isn't really working so well!  So we've been told to start a blog so we can keep in touch with all of you at one time.  Kind of lazy ass if you ask me, but, hey, I'm a slow typer (as Steven tells me-A LOT), so maybe this will work out for the best.
Anyways, Steven says to get something posted to get you interested (is it working for you?) and tonight I'll sit down and really get into what we've been doing.  Really, I will!