Here we go again...

We have a week before our actual reservation in the Phoenix area... so, we're off to Laughlin, NV, for a week.  We have a soft spot in our hearts for Laughlin: it was one of the first RV areas back in the early 90s where we felt welcome.  We got turned away from several RV resorts in the Phoenix area back then because we weren't old enough.  ;-)  No issue with that now.

But Laughlin was very RV friendly, with all the casinos allowing RVers to overnight in their parking lots.  Of course, over the years, many people took advantage of that, and now most of the casinos either don't allow overnight RV parking, or they charge for it.  For us, we have always enjoyed staying at the RV park that is part of the Riverside Casino (the one owned by Don Laughlin).  It has grown and expanded.  When I first called to get reservations there, I was told they only had side-by-side sites, and we would not fit in those with our over-all length.  I checked back a couple times to see if there had been any cancellations... and we were able to get a site.

We left the RV park in Goodyear, driving separate to Sam's Club, where we stopped to gas up.  Then, hooked up the "circus train" to head for Laughlin.

Highway 60 runs at kind of a diagonal between Phoenix and Wickenburg.  Decent 4 lane highway(ish), out of Wickenburg, it is 2 lane.  I kept us at the 65 mph speed limit so we weren't holding up traffic.  Fortunately, for those who don't believe in speed limits, there are plenty of passing zones where an extra lane is added.

We passed through areas of Joshua trees and Saguaro cactus...

Desert driving...

And then 4-lane again...

They weren't kidding with these signs...

Three miles before getting on I-40, we got the red and blue rollers flashing behind us.  Yep, getting pulled over again...

This officer was absolutely sure that our towing rig wasn't legal.  I explained to him what I had told the previous officer, even gave him that officer's name... "I don't recognize that name."  He told me he wasn't going to give me a ticket, but was pretty sure that we'd have to unhook and drive separate.

"No problem for us, officer."  He didn't want to be the one deciding that, so he took photos of our whole rig and the connections to send to his sergeant.  That may have answered the situation, but he couldn't get a decent internet connection (being out in the middle of the desert may play some part in that)... he and I stood by the side of the road while he moved his phone around to try to get a good signal.  Finally, after nearly a half hour of that, he just called the sergeant... and was told, "No, that isn't legal."  Without seeing the photos of our tow rig.  All told, we lost about an hour with that stop.  The guy wasn't unpleasant, he had just never seen anything like our rig, and even though he and I both looked at the applicable rules, and we met them, he was just sure it couldn't be right.  I got a written warning, we disconnected, and were finally on our way again.

We drove separate the rest of the way.  Leaving Kingman, it is a climb to get over the mountains, and some interesting mountain "figures"...

Rufus was my navigator on this stretch...

(sitting in Joan's chair)

Downshifting for the long grade into the Laughin/Bullhead City area; it is almost 3,000' descent from the pass, down to the Colorado River.  We stopped for fuel at the Sam's in Bullhead City before going to the RV park in Laughlin... gas is a dollar per gallon cheaper in Bullhead compared to Laughlin.

We checked in at the RV park and got set up in our site.  The lady that checked us in said, "This is a nice site - you won't have neighbors right next to you."  Come to find out that we are right next to a pull-through site, and the back of their pull-through is our patio.  (?!?)  There is someone coming into that site tomorrow, and may be someone pulling into it tonight... we decided to park our cargo trailer in the additional car parking that is just behind and to the side of us so we wouldn't block the "pull through" part of that site.  We'll put the cargo trailer back next to us when the neighbors get here tomorrow... just trying to be good neighbors, since the check-in lady told me that "the space next to you will be your parking - that other site is 109' long and they won't need all of that."  She didn't count on the neighbor needing to "pull through" I guess.  No matter - we are settled in, got a bite to eat, and will just chill around the coach this evening.

Rufus needs his rest...