End of the Journey

We are still in Pahrump and the weather continues to be quite warm.  We were planning on staying until Wednesday, but the weather forecast has heat warnings as they are predicting temperatures in the 40c range.  Now that is definitely too hot.  Based on the forecast further north, there should be decent travelling weather, so Monday morning we head out.  Day one was a short one.  There is a beautiful campground north of Las Vegas that we like to stay at so that was where we stayed.  Here are some photos around this campground.

Next morning was a fairly early start but the ever ready bunny knew where he wanted to spend the night and it was about 700 miles away - Twin Bridges, MT  - we made it.

All we need to do now is another day - same distance - and we are home.  Well we did it - tired but home.   Here are a couple of photos on the trip home.

Our border crossing was interesting.    We pull up to the border and there are pylons across the road.  We stop and wait for a few minutes and no one comes out so we decide to have lunch.  As luck would have it, we just start to eat and out someone comes.  This lady comes out, gets our passports, and asks us a few normal questions (ie: cannabis, guns or ammunition, over $5000 cash, etc).  Then she tells us to follow her into the building (this is the U.S. customs).  As we  go around the corner, she tells us to go inside as someone will meet us there and she is going to inspect the motorhome.  Now anyone who knows our motorhome knows that you have to hold your mouth right to be able to open the door so I say quietly to Gerry "I want to see her open it".  A couple of minutes later, she comes in and asks if there is a trick to opening the door?  Gerry says "I will come out and open it".  She says "no, you can't do that" (I guess against protocol).  Gerry replies "then you  won't get it open".  She says "OK, I will meet you out there".  At the end of the inspection, they were all very nice and quite friendly.  The purpose of this inspection - apparently it is to secure the border.  This is done on the US side next to the Canadian border, by US customs officers so......  Then we go through the Canadian border with Canadian officers.

We finished another 700 mile day, tired, but home.  The next day we unloaded, refueled, and put the motorhome away until our next trip.  Fortunately, the travelling weather was terrific.  Other than short stretches of some side winds, we had either no wind, or a tail wind, which is always a travelling dream.

It's been a great winter, the weather had been most pleasant, and it was terrific to meet up with some old friends again, as well as meet some new friends.  Thanks for joining us on our winter get away so until next trip, keep healthy, and keep safe.

This Week - Not Like The Others

 We started the week still near Oatman, AZ so we decided to take a drive along the old Route 66 to Kingman, AZ which at one time was the only road through this area and many parts are very narrow and winding (there are 191 curves in 9 miles).  In some areas, the flowers were blooming although we did not see the hillside filled with California poppies as we have in the past. 

Along the side of the road is a place called Shaffer Spring.  It is a natural bowl  up a short and steep path and has been stocked with goldfish.  The colour of this water - hmmm - how do the goldfish survive? 

And of course, the burros along the highway waiting for someone to stop and feed them.

Monday morning it's time to pack up and move.  One of the jacks did not want to totally retract, so this is fix one.  Along the way, we stop at a service station at a Casino as it has been advertised to have cheaper fuel.  We get there and the advertised price is still pretty reasonable, but the diesel pumps are covered.  Oh well, we will carry on as we really don't need fuel yet, but we go by another station and yup, the diesel pump is also covered.  Perhaps it might be of concern that this is what we could expect, but we carry on.

We cross over into Nevada near Laughlin and head towards Las Vegas.  The road is very good, except it is a rather steep climb.  As we head up, we are going slower and slower and the engine starts getting hotter and hotter so we pull over to the side of the road to let it cool off.  As the engine was running to cool off it got HOT!  We get out and check and there is antifreeze everywhere.  We call roadside assistance, a mobile mechanic comes out and determines that a hose clamp let go, he replaces it and we are on our way.  

At the top of the hill there is a rest area where we decided to reconnect the Jeep.  All is good, we stop to reconnect, and oops, not so good - it's leaking again.  I give the mechanic a call and he comes to us and determines that he did not tighten the clamp tight enough as there didn't seem to be a problem anywhere else.  By now it is 5 pm so we spend the night in the rest area.

Next morning, the step would not retract so again, another repair job.  Actually it wasn't a repair but make it not a problem and away we go.

We go to Pahrump, NV to revisit a place we visited every winter in years past.  We are planning on staying a week so we stay at a campground and get some final chores done, and to replace the step motor.  The motor is ordered, received, but not installed.  The motor that is supposed to fit does not so that will be a fix down the road.

We took a tour of Death Valley which is really pretty amazing.  The scenery is every changing and spectacular.  There is a super bloom; however it is not as we remember in the past.  There are a lot of flowers but the  variety is limited. 

It is beautiful to see the landscape covered in colour.  We drove along the Badwater Basin which is the lowest level in North America. 

Due to the big rains at the start of the year, there is still a bit of water in the basin and you can walk out on the salt flats right to the water. 

We drove and we stopped and we drove and we stopped.  The weather has been hot but being in Death Valley, and the low elevation, I found the heat a bit tough to tolerate.  All in all it was a super day.  There are so many photos so I created a video - just click (or double click) on the video.

This morning we went to a flea market at the Legion.  There were a lot of vendors - some with produce, some with jewelry, some with crafts, but a lot with junk!  Here was the cutest vendor of all - each chick was $5.

Of course the price of fuel is over the top.  If this continues, here goes the kid's inheritance!

The weather this week is again supposed to be unusually hot but the good news is that it extends a long way north.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Oh, The Winds

 The week past brought record high temperatures, this week brought us winds.  The first couple of days were most pleasant but that was about to change.  The temperatures dropped and the north wind blew - for the past several days.  Everything was rattling and banging so we finally brought in our slides and gosh, how much quieter it was.  I know, real first world problems.

We spent the week just a few miles from Oatman, AZ which is an old gold mining town situated on the original Route 66.  It has retained it's old wild west character complete with staged gunfights, wooden sidewalks, original old buildings, plus various tourist attractions. 

Wonder if it will ever be sold

He caught some lunch - a gecko

We took a drive into town one day as it's always fun to walk around.  In past years, burros roamed the streets but there was only one the day we went.  Many places sell food but folks are discouraged from feeding them in town because the are still wild animals and folks have been injured by them.  However, they are on the road on the outskirts of the town.

We are also relatively close to Laughlin, NV so of course, we took a run into town.  Often, if you sign up for a player's card, the casino will offer some free play.  That we did in one casino - they offered $5 in free play.  Of course, you have to play at least $1, and then there are a set of instructions to activate your free play.  With that, my free play only cost me $0.70 but Gerry's cost him $2 - I wonder who follows instructions better!!  And, there are always some interesting things to see. 

There are a lot of fifth wheels for RV's and many are toy haulers.  I'm not sure this toy would fit into anywhere.

A drive through the parkade - how, and why, would there be so many footprints on the overhead concrete beams.

In the parking lot was a travel trailer totally self sufficient for his power needs - not only several solar panels but a windmill - a type that required just a bit of wind and was quiet.

As well, in the casinos - the prices have sure increased since we had been in one.

Today we went for a short off-road trail.  The scenery off the highways is always to be enjoyed.

There are many beautiful sunsets but here was an unusual type of sunset.

The other night at about three in the morning, I woke up to some type of snorting and then there was some braying.  As I had mentioned, there are quite a few burros in the area and they often hang around in the middle of the road hoping someone will give them a treat.  Well, they also come around the RV's looking for a handout.  Not too bright - wrong time of day if they were looking for something good.

Baby, It's Hot Out There

 This past week has been unusually  hot and not a lot of wind.  The past number of days it has been +30C weather.  Occasionally, there was a whisper of rain but that was all it was - a whisper of 10 drops or so.  Mind you, this is why we consider ourselves so fortunate to enjoy these temps as many are not able to do so.

One day we were out for  walk and came across a group of seniors (55+) playing slow pitch and heard there was their championship game in a couple of days so we went to watch.   They played some really good ball and I had to marvel at their athleticism.  It sure was an enjoyable morning.

Back at our camp, one of the fellows was having a mural painted on the side of his travel trailer.  His theme for the project was Spam.  I am sure that many may have either not heard of Spam or had forgot all about it.   Spam is a brand of canned luncheon meat and has been sold since 1937.  There are numerous flavours of Spam products.  Why Spam - the owner of the trailer apparently loves this product and eats tons of it.  This photo show the progress of this mural.  This gal has been painting all week, in the hot sun, all day most days!!

In addition, he has created little flower pots from empty cans and hangs them on the side of his trailer with magnets.

Today we moved a bit further north again.  We found a spot, near a highway that hasn't a lot of traffic and particularly at night, and a fair bit of space.   It was nice while it lasted until 5 fifth wheel trailers pulled in.  They did make a circle, but the circle can not be very small when a couple of them are over 40 feet and the other three, slightly shorter, and all are towed by either a big truck, or bigger truck. 

They are very pleasant and unfortunately, one of them had a real stroke of bad luck.  They are all tow haulers, and when one of them went to remove his toy, the ramp malfunctioned. 

 Even if we no longer have a lot of space, we do have a great view.

I will close off this week with a spectacular sunset that was on display last night.

Until next week, take care everyone!!

If you would like to view any of these photos a bit better, just click on them and they will enlarge.

We are still at Lake Havasu City and looking forward to some nice warm weather.  This past week was rather cool, windy, cloudy, and even a bit of rain.  I know, I need not complain about cold weather because many of you would love to have been able to enjoy these temperatures.  But remember, that the weather is the one thing we all can complain about - too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too windy, and so on.  This week looks very promising for us.

The fireworks festival is over and once again there was quite a show.  We were able to just drive up one of the hills near us and we had a terrific view.  I will share a few photos that I took - the better ones I hope.  It is quite challenging to get a good photo at night with a phone camera - particularly if the phone is neither new nor has a great camera.

We took a drive over the Parker Dam (it is the deepest dam in the world) and along the west side of the Colorado river.  It's a pretty drive

and we were fortunate to see some wildlife.

As I have mentioned in the past, we often see interesting, and sometimes odd things.  On a recent walk, we came across a bowling ball hanging on a pin on a large concrete block. 

Down from us is a fellow with an old converted highway bus.  I did say it was old, and converted, but I did not way it was pretty!   One day he was up on the roof cleaning his solar panels.  Gerry casually wondered how he got up there as he did not see a ladder anywhere.  Well, he didn't need a ladder.

There are thousands of trails in the hills and mountains behind us.  With that, the area is teeming with 4x4 and/or off-road vehicles of all sizes, and shapes, and kinds.  Many are licensed and are used as transportation.  As we were driving down the highway, a couple of them passed us.

Whenever there is an ad for free food, Gerry likes to go and see what the business has to offer (plus free lunch).  Today our friend sent us a note that the local Jeep dealer was having a promotion.  Off we go although I am a bit apprehensive because the last time we went to one at an auto dealership, we came home with a Jeep.     Today was not such a day but Gerry did have an amazing hot dog - Chicago style.

This week SpaceX shot another rocket up, and since we don't follow it's schedule, it is always quite a surprise when it comes over the mountains.

We had a great week and I hope each and every one of you also had a great week.  Until next week, take care!!!