Quick visit by friends.....

Our friends Linda and Larry were on their way to San Diego and decided to stop by for a quick visit.  We had a mini-gathering in the afternoon so they could reconnect with other friends living here locally.  We had a great reunion and look forward to a return visit before the Winter is over.



Happy "lot" Anniversary!!!

November 6 will be our 5 year anniversary of the purchase of our lot.  Time really flys!!!  Pictured helping us celebrate this milestone are Nita, Ken, Andy, Linda, MJ, John, Lew and Dottie.  May we have many more wonderful years here with wonderful friends!



Home Sweet "Winter" Home!!!!

Landed safely at our Winter Home.  We had a great Summer of travels and are now looking forward to relaxing and enjoying our little piece of paradise here in the desert Southwest.  Lots of work ahead and some travel in our future, but for now we will just kick back and enjoy this wonderful weather and warm sunshine!

Leaving Las Vegas - Arriving Lake Havasu City!!!

Almost to the California border heading South from Las Vegas, there is a brand new beautiful rest area.  Didn't see any signs that you couldn't park overnight and this might be a great spot to use as a "get-away" destination when leaving for our Summer travels in the future.



Our campsite at Campbell Cove RV Park in Lake Havasu City Arizona.  We have a good view of the lake out our windshield.  The park is not full and we have lots of room to relax.

Lake Havasu is awesome .... especially when it is almost empty of drunken boaters.  Great day with our Hosts Shirley & Willie, and friends Flor & Ron.  The weather was wonderful!

The next day we were joined by friends Dottie & Lew and spent another great day on the lake.  Well, it was great for us, but our hosts had problems with their boat - so it wasn't so great for them.  Long story short, insurance is a wonderful thing and all was well once again.

This is our friendly "tow boat" Captain.  He is our savior this day as we were almost dead ducks in the middle of a very large lake. 

All hooked up and ready for the "slow tow" back to the marina.  We are far enough South on the lake that it will take about 1 1/2 hours for the tow!

At approximately 7.5 MPH, it is truly a "slow tow"!  Actually we were in great shape, plenty of cold beer and nothing else to do by enjoy the ride!

This guy was having a ball!  We enjoyed the show.

Here he goes!

Dinner with good friends at the local steak house.

Our last day in this paradise, we have a "Pool Party" at our campground.  The weather was wonderful and we enjoyed lots of snacks and dips in the pool and of course some adult beverages!  Can't wait to visit again....

Viva Las Vegas!!!!

Safely parked at the Thousand Trails Preserve in Las Vegas Nevada.  Here for 16 nights to visit with family and friends - and staying off the road for the Labor Day Holiday!



Andy's Son, AJ, flew in from Atlanta for a weekend visit with us.

This is the main pool at the "M" Hotel & Casino.  Andy's Cousin Monjure works here and we all joined up one afternoon for a mini-family reunion of sorts.

Spent most of the afternoon at the "Party Pool".  Lots of hot young bodies getting drunk and maybe a little wild.  The music was loud and not what we usually like to listen to, but the beer was cold and lots of good stuff to look at - not to mention spending time with Cousin Lema who lives in Vegas.

Mystic Falls at Sam's Town.  This is the day-time show - nice, but not as good as at night.

Not the best picture, but it sure was a great variety show!  Once a week, Sam's Town puts on a show made up of performers that are currently performing in town.  This week we saw several singing acts and a lady magician that was absolutely wonderful.  It is a free show with drawings for some prizes - neither of us won this year, but Andy did last year.  A nice way to spend an afternoon in Vegas for sure.

A weird storm brewing - the Monsoons are hitting Vegas more this year than in the past.  All we got was maybe a "spit" of rain at the TTN, but other areas of the valley got a lot more.

Just a small sample of the wonderful Seafood/Prime Rib buffet we enjoyed at Sam's Town.  It is safe to say we will be full for days!

Surprise visit from Linda's Brother Lawrence!  He was returning to San Diego after a visit to Idaho and stopped for the night with us in Vegas.  We had a good time catching up.

Sam's Town at night.  After dark, the lasers really show up and the colors are wonderful. 

Senior Day!  Our favorite day at Sam's Town.  We play a little slots, get a two-for-one Buffet, watch a first run movie for $3.00 each and watch an entertaining laser light show.  Little did we know that the rain was falling outside!  It looked pretty wet, but we didn't think it could be too bad......

Well..... after leaving the parking garage, we discovered we couldn't go where we wanted because of all the rushing water!  After a few turns in the opposite direction we wanted to go, we managed to get back on Boulder Highway heading North towards our "home" the Thousand Trails Park.  This was pretty bad, but to our right from this picture it was much worse.  We know about flash flooding in the desert - this was just a little of a surprise as it all happened.  We made it back safely to our campgound and once there it didn't even look like it rained!  The desert can be so weird sometimes.......

Pahrump Nevada

Another travel day and one more step closer to our "home base".  This is a very beautiful RV park in Pahrump - Wine Ridge RV.  This used to be a Western Horizon's park called Charleston Peak RV.  Don't know everything that has been done since the park changed hands, all we know is that it is a great place to visit.  It was quite empty in August, but still a great time to be here.

This Winery is on the same location.  We were here in Pahrump about 15 years ago and visited this Winery.  There was no RV park and no Restaurant and not even any houses on this hill.  The Winery was the first one in Nevada and at that time there weren't even any Grape vines - all the grape juice to make the wine was imported from California.  It was a very old fashioned production which was very interesting.  We didn't have time to visit the Winery this time, but they do give tours and we were told that their wines are very good - something for next time!

We took a walk around the area and discovered beautiful vineyards and fragrant rose gardens.

This is the restaurant attached to the winery.  We didn't go inside - and we were told that dinner can be a little pricy (special occasion type), but that lunch was fairly reasonable and the food was excellent.  Something else to return for!

This is the main pool.  There is a smaller one closer to the Rec Room.  The building in the background with the blue tile roof is the shower house and laundry center.  Each of those doors you see and more on the other side are individual private bathrooms!  A large shower, toilet and sink are totally private and very nice.

 

This is the very convienent self-serve RV wash!  It is part of the RV park and very easy to access.

This is the Hot Tub at the main pool.  The other pool has it's own Hot Tub.  This one was very large and very nice!

A beautiful sunset this evening.  It has been trying to storm since we have been here, but all we got was clouds and a little wind.  Mt. Charleston is between us and Las Vegas - they have got lots and lots of rain on Mt Charleston - most of which drained down the East side and into Northwest Las Vegas.  Lots of flooding in that area - hope the Southeast section is ok, cause that is where we are headed tomorrow.  Pahrump was wonderful and we will be returning again to be sure.  This beautiful RV RESORT cost us the whopping total of $12.00 a night - that includes all taxes!!!  Unbelievable...... we like those types of finds!

Hawthorne Nevada overnight...

Moving day!  Landed safely in "Smokey" Hawthorne Nevada.  The air has been smokey most of the day on our trip South from Oregon.

Coming down into Reno, it was becoming evident that there was lots of smoke in the air.

The road between Fallon and Hawthorne was awful!  It was like traveling in a thick brown fog.

This shot is looking out the window of the Coach towards the West.  There are big beautiful mountains in the background, but you would never know it by this shot.  Most all of California is on fire, but this smoke is from the Rim Fire - the one that is near Yosemite National Park about 130 miles to the West.  We walked about a block to our favorite Pizza place and had a rough time with all the smoke and ash in the air.  Had to keep all the windows closed to be able to breathe - not a fun stop at all!