The lottery...

We didn't win the lottery. But, almost as good: we got 11.7 mpg today while heading west through New Mexico and into west Texas (we had a tailwind the whole way!!). I almost dread saying this, since we are still smack in the middle of west Texas tonight (Fort Stockton), but there has been minimal blowing dirt! Maybe because we are traveling with it, or perhaps all the topsoil has finally blown away? We're down for the night in a Passport park... read the reviews on this place; one of them said, "Yikes!..."

Oh, come on, how bad can it be? I'm guessing it was a decent place 30 years ago... but they haven't done much to the place since then. However, it was 90 degrees when we pulled in, and I've got an electrical hook-up, cable TV, water and sewer. Wouldn't want to spend a season here, but it ain't bad for a night.

At one point while in the vast nothing of west Texas, Joan said to me, "I have no cheese."



She was looking at her phone at the time, not considering getting snacks, so I said, "Huh?"

She had no data coverage on her phone... not 4G, not 3G, but... NO Gs.

We have 3G where we are for the night, and the air conditioning feels great! We saw a few RVs as we passed the local Wal-Mart... unless they are running their generators, I'm guessing they aren't near as comfortable as we are.

Better than the trifecta!

We have often joked about RV parks being located near the freeway and/or railroad tracks. Seems that they are frequently close to airports or prisons, as well... maybe that land is cheaper? We are rolling for home and hit the "quad-fecta": yes, we are a couple hundred yards off the Interstate, with railroad tracks also running along there, an airport is nearby, AND there is some sort of detention facility (we saw the barbed wire and prison bus) on the other side of Interstate. In the words of the famous philosopher, Charlie Sheen, "Winning!" Well, technically that is only one word.

We did buy a couple lottery tickets for the big Mega-Millions (over $600 million) drawing tonight.

For those keeping score, diesel prices ranged from $4.08 to $4.29 along our route so far, and the weather has been decent: sunny sky, high around 80º, occasional breeze from the southwest... and an 85% chance of blowing dirt. (And more of the same for the next 600 miles).

We didn't hear a peep out of Isabella all day. Most of the time, she rode in her carrier; unless Joan pulled her out so we could adore her.


Settling in for the evening in this Escapees park... oh, listen: yep, that train is pretty darn close!

And again...

We spent the last three days visiting with our daughter and son-in-law again... well, we had evenings together, since they are both teachers. Seems we spend our days here poking around in the big city, and we did more of that again today. And tonight after supper and good conversation, it was time to say good-bye... again. I'm not a fan of that part, but getting to see them again makes it worth it.

Tomorrow, we hit the road. Really.

----------------------

Oh, and I got a hand-me-down last night. My poor ol' iPod is getting long in the tooth (never understood that saying); the battery doesn't last as long as it used to, and it doesn't have the "zip" it used to have (as in: it takes forever to move from one podcast to another). It's also old enough that most of the current apps don't work with it. Since Dan got an iPhone, his iPod has been going unused... so I got the "hand-me-down." I spent some time this morning doing a full reset and updating the iOS. Ohhhhh - it's shiny... and it has a camera... and it will run my nav apps. Thanks, Dan and Steph!

Deja vu (all over again)...

Is that a Yogie Berra quote? A few days ago, the plan was to head back towards Texas via northern Arizona, diagonal across New Mexico, then the long trek from west Texas to the Tropical Tip. After thinking about it, I thought we should bless our kid for another day or two with our presence before we head back... hey, it might be 6 months or so before we see them again.

A beautiful morning, cool and no wind, lots of sunshine. We got the Love Shack ready to roll and left Laughlin, waving good-bye to our "investments." Nevada... Arizona... California... and back to Arizona again. Lots of RVs heading west on I-10, with the Good Sam Rally over (March 22nd - 25th). The fuel computer showed us getting double digits... barely (10.1 mpg). Check out the whoop-de-doos...


We are settling into the same site we were in for a couple months before going to Laughlin... and plans for a nice Mexican meal out tonight, with Steph and Dan.

Snug...

At the RV resort where we stayed in Phoenix, the site we were in was rather large - room for the coach, the truck, and the little gray car all side by side, with room left over. Here at the Riverside, the sites vary - some don't have the option for left/right parking, so you get room for your RV and the tow vehicle along side. Yeah, that's not the type of site we have... we are fortunate that the RVs on either side of us don't have slideouts; as it is, we are so close that we cannot put out our awning (really haven't needed it). We have to park the truck at a slight diagonal in front of and just under the 5th wheel in order for it to fit on the site. Apparently, that is what we get since we requested a site with an over-looking view.

See if you can find the HitchHiker in this photo...


The wind died off in the middle of the night, making for a beautiful day today: mid-70s, lots of sunshine, almost no wind. We walked through the RV park, down "the strip" through an RV dealer's lot (went inside a couple, just to check 'em out), then another couple blocks to the outlet mall. Once around there, then down to the river and the Aquarius for lunch. Then down-river for some dessert at the next casino, then back up-river and up the hill to the coach.

Little Izzy got to go for a longer walk, too. Well, more like a carry... Joan carried her most of the way to a grassy area. Seems that the little girl is more skittish now than she was when she was little. She got carried most of the way back to the RV, and we all sat outside, enjoying the lovely weather.

Heading out tomorrow.

If the coach is a rockin', don't...

Our RV site is on top of hill... nice view, but pretty exposed when the wind howls. And yesterday, it howled - gusts up to 50 mph! We didn't do any river walking, and little Izzy didn't get to go outside (I was concerned that the wind would blow her skinny little body away!). The previous 5 days here have been delightful. Some days are "out and about", others are good for watching movies. ;-)

Set your watch back about 80 years...

The parking lot of the Riverside Casino frequently hosts different gatherings on weekends. Today, it was a group of Model A fans. We passed a bunch of these on the way to Vegas yesterday. I saw plates from California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Oregon. While I've never had a desire to restore one of these, it's fun to see what people have done with them...

Before...

And after...

Front...

And rear...

Coupes and sedans...

And pickup trucks...

There were a few cars from the 50s and 60s, but this was all about the Model As (even though a bunch of Edsel owners were there, too)...

Vegas, baby...

A day trip north. It's always interesting to see "the other side", Vegas vs Laughlin. Laughlin is pretty laid back, with lots of retired folks... certainly not the glitz of the Vegas strip. Laughlin is just more our style; we used to spend time in the winter in both places, but Vegas is another BIG city (population of Clark County, which takes in Las Vegas, Henderson, N. Las Vegas, and other surrounding communities is roughly 1.9 million people - and I think we saw most of them on the road today).

We drove down The Strip, ooohhing and aaahhing. You read about the decline of tourism in Las Vegas due to the economy, but there were plenty of people walking up and down The Strip. We drove north to the old downtown area and the Fremont Experience. We paid to park in a ramp and hoofed it... big crowds here, too. With some sort of off road race gathering going on, there were people pushing off-road vehicles through the pedestrian walk.


Hey, this place looks good for lunch...

No? OK, then I'm sure you aren't going to go for this one...

From there, it was back south on the Strip. The GPS (OK, all three of 'em) took us on a wild goose chase for a Guitar Center. We pulled into the Town Center shopping area - it felt like driving into a downtown area again... it would be a great place to stroll around if you had a lot of time to kill. We found the Guitar Center in that maze, went in and did some ooohhing and aaahhing again - it is a lot bigger than the one I like to shop at in Phoenix. We looked around, I played a few guitars, couldn't find anything we couldn't live without, then drove out to where we used to stay frequently with our motorhomes... used to be called BoomTown, then Silverton... the RV park is gone. Not replaced by anything, just gone. Well, there is a Bass Pro Shop right next to the casino.

Back to the Strip; parked at New York, New York (still our favorite place on the Strip) and walked around a bit...


Street performing has found its way to the Strip... various "statues", costumed characters, palm readers, magicians... the effect was pretty messed up with one guy who had on a big red furry Elmo costume, when he took the head off. It was near 80º and he was sweating like a farm animal - I can't imagine what it must be like when it's really hot! And again, for Stephanie, here's one you'll like...


By late afternoon, we were ready to head back. Good timing, because the way the traffic looked, everyone else was heading IN to Vegas for Friday night!

Rolling on the river...

Left a good job in the city... workin' for the man every night and day... nahhh.

There is a saying here: what happens in Laughlin, usually happens at a buffet. Or something like that. We walked from the RV park to the Riverside Casino for our free breakfast buffets. I'd like to say its because we are high rollers and we were comped, but we got them free with the weekly special we got on our stay here. Another $18 that we didn't have to spend. Very nice food, including an omelette bar. And a nice view of the river. After that, we needed to walk off some calories.

Before leaving the Riverside, we took a walk through the car museum there...


An interesting collection of cars and motorcycles, all pristine. Some are for sale, so the display has something different every time we visit. One of two Avantis on display...


A view of the river from the car display area...


The car display is on the 3rd floor of the south tower at the Riverside; all glass on this side.

From there, it was out to the river walk...


We put in a couple miles, with an occasional stop to try to improve my gaming investment; stayed too long at the Colorado Belle and wiped out my gain. Then back to the Edgewater for a riverboat ride...


I visited with Captain Art before departure, exchanging "captain talk." ;-) It's a narrated tour, telling about the climate, the effect of the different dams on the Colorado River, the history of the casino development, and some familiar 70s music. It's a perspective you don't see from the river walk...


Plenty of activity on the river, with boats and jet skis, water taxis and river excursion boats. I think these kayakers had the right idea, floating downstream...


It was a perfect day, with highs in the mid-80s and a very light breeze. Not a full passenger load, everyone was sitting on the upper deck, under a bimini...


We spent some time on the bow, checking out the beautiful views and the clear water...


When the boat ride was over, we continued our walk to the end of the paved river walk... and then the long walk back to the Riverside.

Settling in for the evening; here's the view out the back window of the 5th wheel...

Let it ride...

That's a bit of a joke in our family, since none of us are big gamblers... well, I don't know that for sure, because one of us, and I won't mention her name, doesn't disclose gambling loses, only wins.

Today in Laughlin, we did my favorite activity here: a walk along the river. An absolutely beautiful day, with a high around 80º, clear blue sky, and a light breeze.


After a nice lunch out and more walking, Joan wanted to try a little gaming. No idea how much she put in, but she didn't get any of it back. One of us, and I won't mention my name, put a whole dollar into a poker machine and came out with $10. Yeah, I'm up 900%. Of course, my huge windfall won't buy 2 gallons of diesel. Speaking of which, we fueled up this morning at Sam's in Bullhead City... I never thought I would be happy to buy diesel for only $4.04 (93 cents per gallon less than we saw in Needles yesterday).

This photo is for our daughter: see the machine behind your Mother? Yep, it's called Kitty Glitter. As the reels spin around, different cute kitty faces come up...


And speaking of kitties, little Izzy likes this place. We sat out behind the HitchHiker for a bit this afternoon to get a little sun and let Izzy be outside. She found a rock by the coach that must have some particularly interesting smells (probably dog urine) and rubbed her face all over it. Yes, she got brushed and washed down before she could come back inside. ;-)

We're heading to the Prime Rib room tonight for some fine dining along the river.

The baby needs new shoes...

Yes, we left the Phoenix area, heading to Laughlin, Nevada. No, the title of this has nothing to do with gambling... although I have no doubt that we'll work some of that into our totally free schedule here.

We had an appointment at Discount Tires to have them check and rotate our tires; we are having uneven wear on a couple of them. It's a good thing we did that: the guy who looked our tires over said, "You have one tire that has separated. It needs to be replaced." Of course, I considered that he was going for the up-sale, until he pointed out where the tread was raised. We wound up replacing two tires. It looked like an NASCAR pit crew - they literally did the entire job (replaced two tires, rotated two others) in 20 minutes!


The best part of that whole experience: when the crew (there were 4 guys working on our tires - I guess our timing was good, since they weren't full at every bay) was done, the supervisor brought out our paperwork, shook my hand, thanked me for doing business with them, and we were on our way. Yep, no waiting for the paperwork after the job was done - a first. Truly, it was one of the best service experiences we've had.

That was two good things that happened today - the first: when I pressed the button to raise the landing gear jacks, they ran like crazy. I had no idea that this is how the landing gear jacks should run, since ours have always been much slower.

There is a national Good Sam Rally in the Phoenix area, at the Phoenix International Raceway, this week... we passed hundreds of motorhomes, 5th wheels, and travel trailers heading towards Phoenix as we drove west. As much as I enjoy RV shows, I guess I wasn't aware of this one until we had already made our plans for going to Laughlin.

With the nasty weather northern Arizona has been getting (27+ inches of snow in the Flagstaff area!!), we took the western route to Laughlin, making it a three-state day: Arizona, California, Arizona, and Nevada. The routing took us through Needles, CA... it's been about 15 years since we've been through there... that should hold me for another 15 or 30 years. Bleak. To add to the fun of passing through Needles, we did see diesel for $4.99 per gallon there. Who knew that $4.09 for diesel in Phoenix was a hot deal??

When we arrived at the Riverside Casino RV Park, it was apparent that not all the RVers had gone to the Good Sam Rally - the place is packed. I had requested a site with a view of the casinos, but wound up with a "partial" view... still better than being back-to-back or a dumpster view. When the place isn't full, they fill every other site (as in: 247 left or right), but they are nearly all full right now. It makes me appreciate the size of the site we had in Phoenix. On the other hand, the people at the front desk here couldn't be nicer. ;-)

Never gets easier...

We said our good-byes tonight to Steph and Dan; we will be pulling out early tomorrow. I do my "crotchity old guy" routine, grumbling about spending time in the desert, but it is a true joy to get to see our little girl and the great guy she married on a regular basis. I wish we lived closer together, but with our wandering lifestyle, we probably see more of her this way.

I kinda thought that after sending her off to college a couple decades ago, these good-byes would get easier... but, they don't. They are both just good people, and we are very proud of them. We drove away from their house just a bit ago, and my heart aches... I miss them already.

Nope, it never gets easier.

Really done...

Joan finished sewing the last of the living room "make over" for the kids today. She and Steph arranged and hung photos. Yesterday, Steph painted a shelf and baskets so it all matches. It is a whole different looking room - sleek and modern.

We'll be heading out on Tuesday, packing up and getting ready for the road tomorrow, so this was the last opportunity to put the finishing touches on it all.

The nasty weather hit last night, as predicted - winds gusting over 40 mph and rain, glorious rain. It has been over 3 months since they've had precip here. When we got up this morning, the side of our RV away from the wind was covered with dirt... with the rain coming at us nearly horizontal, it didn't get to that side of the coach. In spite of the "no washing of RVs" rule here, I went out and hosed down the side of the coach and then used a waterless cleaner on it.

It's a big weather system, one that is going to affect big portions of the country as it moves east. Just north of us in Flagstaff, they have received over a foot of snow, with more to come. The temps in the Phoenix area were 30º cooler than yesterday, with highs in the 50s. (It's been in the 80s for most of the past week.)

Steph made supper tonight, topped off with a fine Oreo pie dessert. She has made several interesting and tasty desserts during our time here... I need to get some time on the kayaks when we get home to knock a few pounds off.

More?

Shopping, that is. Our daughter and son-in-law got home last night. I thought we were done with their living room make-over... I was wrong. Today, we spent an hour and a half at Hobby Lobby, picking out "accessories." Dan and I slow-walked around behind them, carrying stuff... until the armload got to the point where we needed a cart. Then, more fabric - more for Joan to sew. On the bright side: it wasn't my money, and it was nice to spend the time with the kids.

A big lunch out, then off to the mall... on a Saturday during spring break. On St. Paddy's Day... and right after the launch of the New iPad. I had to laugh as we walked by the Apple Store - a line out the door with people waiting to pick up their new iPads, and a security guard at the door. If you just wanted to go in and look around, there was no line, but the store was packed. While Steph and Joan did some other shopping, Dan and I went into the Apple Store for a look. The New iPad is impressive; the screen has remarkable resolution. Seems a lot faster than my old 1st gen iPad. Not fast enough to make me want to part with my bucks, though.

Steph did get a new iPhone4S, giving up her Droid... seems that I am the last Droid hold-out in the family. It was faster to get the phone at a Verizon kiosk, rather than waiting in line at the Apple Store. Well, faster is relative - it took over an hour to load the info/photos from her Droid to the new iPhone. She has been wanting an iPhone for a couple years, and settled for a Droid... which I do kinda recall her saying, "I love this Droid"... until everyone around her (Dan included) got an iPhone. Peer pressure? Or, maybe iPhone envy?

We'll be pulling out of here in a few days, but we packed up most of our "outside stuff" today - there is a storm front coming in this evening, that is supposed to bring us a lot of wind and rain. It has now been 91 days since they've had any measurable precip in the Phoenix area; they could use the moisture. I'm not so keen on putting stuff away in the rain, so we are ahead of the game.

Glad to be off the roads by late afternoon... the media is saying there will likely be as many drunk drivers on the road tonight as New Years Eve - happy St. Patrick's Day. ;-)

Takin' to the streets...

Anyone remember that old Doobie Brothers song? I've been looking for a small guitar amp for traveling... it's only been a couple decades since I've shopped for something like that, and (surprise) the technology has changed. The old Pignose isn't the only battery powered option...


Only a place to plug in a guitar, though. I was looking for a bit more, but still wanted to keep it small and have a battery option. A few days of searching the internet, checking reviews, then going to Guitar Center, led me to the Roland products. They have a bunch of options, but the Cube Street seemed to be what I was looking for...


It has inputs for guitar and mic, and can be used with a keyboard. It's certainly not going to fill a stadium with sound, but for funnin' around and being able to run it anywhere (since you don't have to have an electrical outlet), this seems like it will work. I brought one home after trying it in the store... sounds good. I plugged in a mic for some vocals... not bad. Plugged in the vocal harmonizer and tweaked the sounds with both the guitar and vocal... better than not bad.

Now, if Joan finds some rich guy and leaves me homeless, I can play on a street corner for tips. Old musicians don't have to go hungry. ;-)

Since getting the new Taylor guitar, I've had a renewed interest in playing - that thing just sounds and plays sweet. Instead of picking up a guitar once a week or less, I'm playing a bit 'most every day. Even built up some calluses on my fingers again. Get your lighters ready, we may be coming to a town near you. ;-)

When the going gets tough...

... the tough go shopping. Yesterday was a shopping day for us. Oh, we didn't buy a bunch, but we did get our exercise while on the hunt. My poor old hiking sandals have seen better days - I've worn the tread right off of them. I saw some that I really liked at Bass Pro Shop (one of my favorite places to shop), but they didn't have my size. Pull out the trusty Droid and do a search... there are plenty of options.

We did some "great circle routing" to check out REI, Sports Authority, Sports Chalet, a few more "sports" stores, Dick's Sporting Goods, and then finally Nordstroms. Yep, the big department store had them, and real service to boot... um, to sandal. Along the way, we made other important stops at Fry's Electronics (just 'cause it's fun to wander around) and Famous Dave's (just 'cause they have good BBQ).

Then last night, we saw on local TV that LaMesa RV had a bunch of RVs in the University of Phoenix Stadium. For clarification, that stadium is the home of the Arizona Cardinals NFL team. We decided to take that in today.

When we arrived there this morning, there weren't a lot of cars in the parking lot. We found a very close parking spot and headed in. There were a dozen or so toy haulers outside (where they had more room to open them up), including this "blast from the past"...


We had one like that (same model even); functional, certainly not fancy.

Once inside, we went down two levels to get to the "field level". Nice stadium, and lots of RVs, stacked end to end...


I was particularly impressed with the way they were laid out: openings in the floor with access to 50 amp electrical; arrange the RVs so that the port side faces in towards those openings, and no one has to be concerned about tripping over power cords. Smart.


It was an impressive number of motorhomes, 5th wheels and travel trailers. Mostly new, but a few "previously loved" coaches on display, too. Of course, "Hot Deals" on every unit... pretty much the same deal that you could make if you went onto their sales lot. But, as we all know, if you move all your inventory, rent some expensive space in a big stadium, and pay all your sales help overtime, it really helps keep the cost down so they can "blow 'em out!" ;-)

Still not planning any big lifestyle changes, but it's fun to see what the manufacturers are offering that is the newest and greatest. We were impressed by some of the offerings of Winnebago. We had a couple of those early in our RVing that left us a bit less than impressed... they've obviously stepped their game up. Even the smaller units seemed to be well constructed. I was amazed at how much livability they were able to get in units less than 30 feet.


We spent about 3 hours wandering through the different units, letting sales people know that we were just entertaining ourselves, and getting a few miles in. Even though we didn't bring our checkbook, we always get some ideas on "the next" unit. I was impressed with this pull out counter - something that allows more kitchen counter space, but slides in for travel...


I'm not one to go to a dealer just to look around, I don't want to take a salesperson's time. When they bring their wares to a stadium and advertise a "free RV show," I figure that's different. An enjoyable way to pass the time. Nice stadium, too.