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Reno, NV

We left Las Vegas this morning in a round-about fashion because I-15 northbound was closed due to a fatality accident caused by a car going the wrong way on I-15 and he hit an Amazon tractor trailer - guess who won that encounter! After our normal stop at Costco in North Las Vegas for gas and breakfast stop at Einstein's Bagels, we were on our way.  One stop at Beatty - when we drove through Beatty several years ago, we planted an avocado pit in an open area just south of Beatty - so far there has been no sign that it took root, but we always check just to make sure :-). Uneventful trip north with beautiful weather - didn't cloud up until we got closer to Reno.  There was a drop in temperature from 61 in Las Vegas to below 40 when we arrived in Reno; however, it was just cloudy with no rain or snow as we arrived home.  Stopped to pick up our mail and then we arrived home safe and sound to find the house still standing - always a good thing Good to be home even if th...
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Las Vegas, NV

Back in Nevada again after an uneventful trip from Phoenix.  Traveled north on 60 up to Wickenberg, AZ.  Took a little while to get through the sprawling metropolis of Phoenix, but we finally made it into the desert country northwest of Phoenix.  After leaving Wickenberg, we got on US 93 up to I-40 where we had no choice but to travel on I-40 for ten miles to west to Kingman and then back on 93 to Hoover Dam.  Somewhere along the way, the route changed to I-11 which is eventually going to go all the way from Phoenix to Las Vegas and then north to the Canadian border - don't think we'll see the completion of that project! North of Kingman going to Hoover Dam, we paralleled the Colorado River far below us.  Pretty sight when you catch sight of it - it's a green slash among the rocky (not The Rocky) mountains.  When you cross the Colorado into Nevada, it's impossible to see the river and there are no scenic pull-outs, so it was on to Las Vegas.  We're...
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Phoenix, AZ

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Had a great trip up from Tucson today.  Beautiful weather and not much traffic.  My driver doesn't like interstates, so we found some US highways which went north from Tucson up through Florence and then over to Apache Junction, ending up in northwest Phoenix.  On Hwy 79, we stopped at a rest area which had a Tom Mix Monument (how good is your memory of Western heroes?)    Interesting to see the different types of cacti in the desert.  The saguaro reigns supreme because of its size, but the others are just as interesting. It's nice because we got an early start on the trip up to Las Vegas, so we only have about 230 miles tomorrow. It also gave us an opportunity to look around at some of the real estate in Sun City which we had been curious about.  Sun City is a 55+ community, most of which is a Del Webb community.  Looked at two open houses, but we're not sure we're ready for that kind of living - too close-knit.  I always rememb...
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Tucson, AZ

Well, maybe I should say Davis-Monthan AFB, which is just south of Tucson.  Vi had a full day of driving, but it was mostly sunshine and no sign of the storm which was forecast.  Good thing we weren't travelling on I-40 because it was closed from Kingman to Winslow (remember that song?), a distance of over 200 miles. We went south mostly along the Colorado River from AZ to CA, back to AZ and then down through Lake Havazu.  Lots of RV'ers dry camped out in the desert and Lake Havazu was beautiful - obviously it's caused by a dam on the Colorado and has become quite a touristy spot.  You may recall that they moved the original London Bridge from London to the middle of the desert there and then rebuilt it brick by brick!  Quite a feat. You could tell that they had quite a bit of rain because whenever we hit a low spot, we had to slow down and splash through the water.  The Red Baron now has a very clean undercarriage :-).  One small town we passed th...
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Davis Dam - Lake Mohave

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This morning after breakfast at the Tropicana (a subsidiary of Eldorado Resorts), we headed over to Davis Dam just north of Laughlin.  Have to take kind of a roundabout way to get to the Nevada side and then you end up at the bottom of the dam with no way up or across.  So we decided to backtrack and head over to the Arizona side.  Much more friendly and a part of the Lake Mead National Park Service. Once again we were able to use our US passport for free entry - boy, has that card more than paid for itself over the past decades (yep, that's right - decades).  Kind of an interesting area with lots of really neat campsites and a huge boat launch area.  Marina was full, but it didn't look like anyone was out on Lake Mohave.  They also have some motel-type rooms which did not look exciting.  If we did spend some time down here this winter, it'll be fun to explore the lake. There was another campground/launch area about eight miles away, so we drov...
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Oatman, AZ

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Today we decided to have breakfast at the Avi Casino near the southernmost part of Nevada. It's one of the few Indian casinos in Nevada.  Afterwards, we drove south to Oatman, AZ.  You may remember the town from previous blogs.  It's on the historic Route 66 and is an old mining town at about 2700 feet elevation.  On previous trips, we have driven all the way up to Kingman on the old Route 66, but today we were satisfied with just visiting the town.  They make a tradition of decorating the mesquite bushes on the road into town with Christmas decorations. While were driving up the road, there were a couple of women decorating more of the bushes alongside the road.  Another thing Oatman is famous for are its' wild burros - a leftover from the old mining days when they were used to haul supplies.  Calling them wild is a stretch because they unashamedly beg for food and don't move when cars try to drive through.  They're cute and could be a nu...
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Laughlin, NV

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Tuesday morning we cancelled our tee time at Mountain Falls Golf Course - too windy and cool.  After some shopping at the exclusive, yet ubiquitious, local Walmart, we had breakfast at Mom's Restaurant.  A local establishment back in a strip mall which we had found years ago.  One of the few places you can go back to and enjoy a great meal.  . Headed south from Pahrump through the desert to Shoshone, and then over to Baker, CA.  Travelling through all desert with not a lot of traffic (OK, there was no one else on the road). There are a few off-road destinations areas and it looked like people were camped out in the desert for the Thanksgiving weekend.  According to one sign, it was the Kingston Range Wilderness. Interesting countryside, probably the north end of the Mojave Desert.  It's a far cry from what people think of when they envision California - it's certainly not LA, San Francisco or San Diego.  Just like the northern part of Cal...
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