With the weather still being nice and having a feeling of accomplishment at getting the roof done, we treated ourselves to a fall weekend out at Whitney Lakes.
It was a beautiful weekend and we had the place almost to ourselves.
1 week ago
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Roof renew
As you can see, the Bounder was due for some TLC to the rubber roof. Counting on some nice sunny dry fall days in September I ordered the Dicor kit and waited.
Not too much muscle work involved, if you're thinking about it. The most work involved was in cleaning off the black streaks that worked their way under the plastic during the cleaning process (the kit said to keep the cleaner off paint, hence the plastic. If I do it again though I might take my chances and skip the masking as that was the most time consuming part).
et viola! A nice white roof again! Wear your sunglasses if you go up there on a bright day!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Stats from Feb holiday
As promised, a little retrospective on the trip numbers for those who are interested (I guess if you weren't interested you wouldn't be reading this, right?)
Distance and Fuel
Of course, fuel is the biggie. Numbers aren't exact because both the Bounder and the Cavalier started and ended the trip with less than full tanks, but I think the quantities are large enough, at least in the case of the Bounder, that that doesn't make a lot of difference. On the Bounder numbers I extracted the estimated generator use at 2.25 litres per hour (generator manual gives the consumption at 1.75 - 2.8 litres per hour depending on load).
This is total fuel, including the amounts Don paid for (he was quite generous - thanks). So my actual out of pocket is somewhat less than this.
The distance is right off the vehicle odometers, which I've checked and are fairly accurate. The Cavalier odometer only accrues when the engine is on, so no towed distance is included. To make life easier I've converted all the distance to kilometers and the fuel to litres. The consumption rates are in miles per imperial gallon, though, because that's what makes the most sense to me. I didn't apply a conversion factor to the dollars - my bank statement shows a conversion of a couple percent either way at various points in the trip.
Service and Repairs
Unfortunately the Cavalier fuel pump died outside of Phoenix, so that took a significant bite of the maintenance budget. But it is what it is: the fuel pump's not a factor of the trip and would likely have gone anyway even if the car stayed home. Other than the $$s it was not a significant inconvenience as it didn't leave us stranded anywhere or require a tow truck to get it to the dealer (we pulled it there with the Bounder). We were without it for about 2 days, and navigating Phoenix traffic in the motorhome made us really appreciate having it back.
I did some water line repairs on the Bounder and did an oil change/lube and a re-winterization on the way home - costs of all supplies are included. The Cavalier didn't require a service on the trip, but it did get a tune up and new plugs while it was getting its fuel pump replaced. I bought a small air compressor ($75) and a mini grease gun ($15) as permanent additions to the Bounder, but I didn't include these costs.
Camping
Here's a summary of the locations/costs. Costs look pretty good here, because we didn't pay for camping anywhere except Las Vegas. Helps to offset those fuel costs a bit.
Water and dump stations
So you're thinking: OK, smartie pants, you did all this "free" camping so you must have gone for days on end without washing dishes or showering. I admit we didn't wash a lot of dishes since we were ALL in holiday mode, but no personal cleanliness suffered. The Bounder has a 62 imperial gallon fresh water tank and enough grey and black capacity to store the used water. Once I got the hang of RV showering (I didn't even bother trying when we had the trailer, as I couldn't fit in the shower anyway) I think showers used about 2 or 3 gallons at most.
The only time we had any concern at all in this area was at Phoenix waiting for Wendy's arrival, and this was my own fault. I hadn't bothered to dump when we left Tucson (although there was probably a dump station at Flying J where we filled the propane) on the rationale that we'd look for an RV park for Wendy's arrival. Losing the fuel pump in the Cavalier cut into our RV park search time, and we were still boondocking when Wendy arrived. Meantime we filled the grey tank (although we still had about 1/4 tank of fresh), so I moved about 5 gallons over to the black and we went on ration for a day or so. Lesson learned, for me: Don't ever bypass a chance to dump the waste tanks - you never know what will happen.
Anyway, finding places to dump & fill wasn't that difficult overall as I had printed some pages from the internet (Google RV dumpstations). If you travel and intend to dry camp a lot, I'd suggest you do the same.
While the Bounder was winterized (Jan 25-27 and Feb 27-29), a 5-gallon water cooler bottle with a hand pump provided lots of water for basic needs. Disposable dishes and cutlery and heat-and-serve meals (like yummy Swanson TV dinners) made this part of the trip a lot simpler, too. On the way south we put the waste water into the tanks and used the facilities with no concern since we were headed to warmer climes, but on the way back I tried to minimize the amount of liquid going into the tanks and dumped in lots of RV antifreeze to try to make sure the tank plumbing didn't freeze. We'll find out how well that worked in the spring.
Here's where we filled/dumped:
Internet
If you followed the blog you noticed that updates were hit and miss. Both Don and I simply had laptops with built in WiFi - no external antennas or anything. We found spots with great reception, some with so-so, and some with none. Some businesses (like the Shell in Gila Bend, the Desert Diamond in Tucson, and Staples in Phoenix) knowingly provided a free signal for their customers. Sometimes we piggybacked on the signals of other RVers, with their specific permission or on an unsecured network. We made use of unsecured signals from unknown sources - probably businesses or homes - as well. Whenever we used any unsecured signal we of course assumed that the owner had set it up that way intentionally, thereby granting permission for anyone to use.
We paid for internet at Sam's Town - $19.99 for the week. At that point we'd been a few days without, so it was a worthwhile expense.
Internet access was probably the biggest area of annoyance, and when I do this trip again I hope to have a more reliable method. Aircard (cell phone)? WiFi range extender? Satellite uplink? (Yeah, right).
Other stuff
We put a total of 26 hours on the generator, which is a lot less than I thought we would. At an estimated consumption of 2.25 litres per hour and an average fuel cost of about $.81 per litre, that's about $1.82 per hour and $47 altogether. But for the convenience, it was well worth it. The generator ran mainly in the mornings and evenings in the locations where we were stopped for several days, to recharge the batteries from overnight and top them up again, and whenever we wanted to make coffee or use the microwave. Although we didn't watch TV much, when we did it ran mainly from the inverter, with the generator fired up on occasion to recharge. On travel days we didn't run the generator to recharge the batteries as much as they were kept up from the alternator.
The inverter (1500W) was very convenient - we used it to run the TV (see above) and we used it extensively to recharge laptops and cell phones. When the batteries were fully charged we also made coffee off the inverter, but we avoided doing that if the batteries were down much (eg if the furnace had cycled much overnight) as it drew the levels down quite a bit.
The solar panel unfortunately couldn't keep up with keeping the house batteries charged - being only a 100 watt panel and being flat mounted with no way to tilt towards the sun. It should be fine in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky, and I'll look at changing the mounts so that it's tiltable. I'm not sure if adding more panels is a good investment at this point as we'll probably have fairly mobile holidays and the batteries will charge from the alternator. We'll see.
We filled just once with propane: 13.1 gallons for $43.10. We started on pretty much a full tank and currently have about two thirds, so I would put the total consumption at about 16 gallons (US) and cost at about $53. Since we were sans hookups except for Sam's Town, the fridge ran mostly on propane (and worked great), plus we had consumption for cooking and heating. Except for a few nights at Tucson, nights were down near or below freezing so the furnace was turned on overnight (although I did have the thermostat set down to 55). Even on nights where the furnace kicked on several times the batteries were at 65-75% the next morning, so they held in there fairly well. The furnace did a great job of keeping the Bounder warm - although I brought along a catalytic heater to supplement if necessary we didn't use it at all.
I can't think of anything else that's of interest. If I've missed anything that you're curious about, let me know. I'll be here, quietly plotting the next escape (winter of 2009-10?).
Distance and Fuel
Of course, fuel is the biggie. Numbers aren't exact because both the Bounder and the Cavalier started and ended the trip with less than full tanks, but I think the quantities are large enough, at least in the case of the Bounder, that that doesn't make a lot of difference. On the Bounder numbers I extracted the estimated generator use at 2.25 litres per hour (generator manual gives the consumption at 1.75 - 2.8 litres per hour depending on load).
This is total fuel, including the amounts Don paid for (he was quite generous - thanks). So my actual out of pocket is somewhat less than this.
The distance is right off the vehicle odometers, which I've checked and are fairly accurate. The Cavalier odometer only accrues when the engine is on, so no towed distance is included. To make life easier I've converted all the distance to kilometers and the fuel to litres. The consumption rates are in miles per imperial gallon, though, because that's what makes the most sense to me. I didn't apply a conversion factor to the dollars - my bank statement shows a conversion of a couple percent either way at various points in the trip.
| Unit | KM Travelled | Litres | MPG | Fuel Cost |
| Bounder | 6,900 | 2,742 | 7.2 | $2,230 |
| Cavalier | 2,864 | 245 | 33.2 | $187 |
| Combined | 9,764 | 2,987 | 9.3 | $2,417 |
Service and Repairs
Unfortunately the Cavalier fuel pump died outside of Phoenix, so that took a significant bite of the maintenance budget. But it is what it is: the fuel pump's not a factor of the trip and would likely have gone anyway even if the car stayed home. Other than the $$s it was not a significant inconvenience as it didn't leave us stranded anywhere or require a tow truck to get it to the dealer (we pulled it there with the Bounder). We were without it for about 2 days, and navigating Phoenix traffic in the motorhome made us really appreciate having it back.
I did some water line repairs on the Bounder and did an oil change/lube and a re-winterization on the way home - costs of all supplies are included. The Cavalier didn't require a service on the trip, but it did get a tune up and new plugs while it was getting its fuel pump replaced. I bought a small air compressor ($75) and a mini grease gun ($15) as permanent additions to the Bounder, but I didn't include these costs.
| Unit | Service and Repair cost |
| Bounder | $ 75 |
| Cavalier | $1,135 |
| Total | $1,210 |
Camping
Here's a summary of the locations/costs. Costs look pretty good here, because we didn't pay for camping anywhere except Las Vegas. Helps to offset those fuel costs a bit.
| Date | Location | # of nights | Cost |
| Jan 25 | Rest area north of Great Falls | 1 | - |
| Jan 26 | Wal*Mart Blackfoot ID | 1 | - |
| Jan 27 | Virgin River Casino, Mesquite NV | 1 | - |
| Jan 28 | Bally's Casino, Las Vegas NV | 1 | - |
| Jan 29 | Riverside Casino Laughlin NV | 1 | - |
| Jan 30 - Feb 1 | BLM Quartzsite AZ La Paz | 3 | - |
| Feb 2 | Home Depot Casa Grande AZ | 1 | - |
| Feb 3 - 8 | Desert Diamond Casino Tucson AZ | 6 | - |
| Feb 9 - 11 | Harrah's Ak-Chee Casino Maricopa AZ | 3 | - |
| Feb 12 - 13 | Wild Horse Pass Casino Phoenix AZ | 2 | - |
| Feb 14 - 16 | BLM Quartzsite AZ La Paz | 3 | - |
| Feb 17 | BLM Lake Havesu AZ | 1 | - |
| Feb 18 | Riverside Casino Laughlin NV | 1 | - |
| Feb 19 - 25 | Sam's Town Las Vegas NV | 7 | $194 |
| Feb 26 | Wal*Mart Cedar City UT | 1 | - |
| Feb 27 | Wal*Mart Payson UT | 1 | - |
| Feb 28 | Wal*Mart Helena MT | 1 | - |
| Total nights / average cost per night | 35 | $5.54 |
Water and dump stations
So you're thinking: OK, smartie pants, you did all this "free" camping so you must have gone for days on end without washing dishes or showering. I admit we didn't wash a lot of dishes since we were ALL in holiday mode, but no personal cleanliness suffered. The Bounder has a 62 imperial gallon fresh water tank and enough grey and black capacity to store the used water. Once I got the hang of RV showering (I didn't even bother trying when we had the trailer, as I couldn't fit in the shower anyway) I think showers used about 2 or 3 gallons at most.
The only time we had any concern at all in this area was at Phoenix waiting for Wendy's arrival, and this was my own fault. I hadn't bothered to dump when we left Tucson (although there was probably a dump station at Flying J where we filled the propane) on the rationale that we'd look for an RV park for Wendy's arrival. Losing the fuel pump in the Cavalier cut into our RV park search time, and we were still boondocking when Wendy arrived. Meantime we filled the grey tank (although we still had about 1/4 tank of fresh), so I moved about 5 gallons over to the black and we went on ration for a day or so. Lesson learned, for me: Don't ever bypass a chance to dump the waste tanks - you never know what will happen.
Anyway, finding places to dump & fill wasn't that difficult overall as I had printed some pages from the internet (Google RV dumpstations). If you travel and intend to dry camp a lot, I'd suggest you do the same.
While the Bounder was winterized (Jan 25-27 and Feb 27-29), a 5-gallon water cooler bottle with a hand pump provided lots of water for basic needs. Disposable dishes and cutlery and heat-and-serve meals (like yummy Swanson TV dinners) made this part of the trip a lot simpler, too. On the way south we put the waste water into the tanks and used the facilities with no concern since we were headed to warmer climes, but on the way back I tried to minimize the amount of liquid going into the tanks and dumped in lots of RV antifreeze to try to make sure the tank plumbing didn't freeze. We'll find out how well that worked in the spring.
Here's where we filled/dumped:
| Date | Location | Comments |
| Jan 27 | TA Travel Centre Cedar City UT | Free dump and water |
| Feb 2 | Gila River AZ Shell Station | Free dump, water, and WiFi |
| Feb 14 | Flying J Phoenix AZ | Free dump and water |
| Feb 19 - 26 | Sam's Town (Full hookup) | |
| Feb 27 | Flying J Nephi UT | Free dump (didn't take on water) |
Internet
If you followed the blog you noticed that updates were hit and miss. Both Don and I simply had laptops with built in WiFi - no external antennas or anything. We found spots with great reception, some with so-so, and some with none. Some businesses (like the Shell in Gila Bend, the Desert Diamond in Tucson, and Staples in Phoenix) knowingly provided a free signal for their customers. Sometimes we piggybacked on the signals of other RVers, with their specific permission or on an unsecured network. We made use of unsecured signals from unknown sources - probably businesses or homes - as well. Whenever we used any unsecured signal we of course assumed that the owner had set it up that way intentionally, thereby granting permission for anyone to use.
We paid for internet at Sam's Town - $19.99 for the week. At that point we'd been a few days without, so it was a worthwhile expense.
Internet access was probably the biggest area of annoyance, and when I do this trip again I hope to have a more reliable method. Aircard (cell phone)? WiFi range extender? Satellite uplink? (Yeah, right).
Other stuff
We put a total of 26 hours on the generator, which is a lot less than I thought we would. At an estimated consumption of 2.25 litres per hour and an average fuel cost of about $.81 per litre, that's about $1.82 per hour and $47 altogether. But for the convenience, it was well worth it. The generator ran mainly in the mornings and evenings in the locations where we were stopped for several days, to recharge the batteries from overnight and top them up again, and whenever we wanted to make coffee or use the microwave. Although we didn't watch TV much, when we did it ran mainly from the inverter, with the generator fired up on occasion to recharge. On travel days we didn't run the generator to recharge the batteries as much as they were kept up from the alternator.
The inverter (1500W) was very convenient - we used it to run the TV (see above) and we used it extensively to recharge laptops and cell phones. When the batteries were fully charged we also made coffee off the inverter, but we avoided doing that if the batteries were down much (eg if the furnace had cycled much overnight) as it drew the levels down quite a bit.
The solar panel unfortunately couldn't keep up with keeping the house batteries charged - being only a 100 watt panel and being flat mounted with no way to tilt towards the sun. It should be fine in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky, and I'll look at changing the mounts so that it's tiltable. I'm not sure if adding more panels is a good investment at this point as we'll probably have fairly mobile holidays and the batteries will charge from the alternator. We'll see.
We filled just once with propane: 13.1 gallons for $43.10. We started on pretty much a full tank and currently have about two thirds, so I would put the total consumption at about 16 gallons (US) and cost at about $53. Since we were sans hookups except for Sam's Town, the fridge ran mostly on propane (and worked great), plus we had consumption for cooking and heating. Except for a few nights at Tucson, nights were down near or below freezing so the furnace was turned on overnight (although I did have the thermostat set down to 55). Even on nights where the furnace kicked on several times the batteries were at 65-75% the next morning, so they held in there fairly well. The furnace did a great job of keeping the Bounder warm - although I brought along a catalytic heater to supplement if necessary we didn't use it at all.
I can't think of anything else that's of interest. If I've missed anything that you're curious about, let me know. I'll be here, quietly plotting the next escape (winter of 2009-10?).
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Saturday March 1st - part 2
Seems like SOME of the team are happy to be home, or at least on a surface that's not bouncing around.
Saturday March 1st
There's a rule that all good things must come to an end. If I ever find the person who made that rule, I'm gonna have a few words with the SOB. I mean, why not make all BAD things come to an end, and let the good ones last forever? Wouldn't that be a more reasonable rule?
We (Gab, Mojo, and I) arrived safe and relatively sound back in Lamont about 9:00 last night. Rather than go the usual route from Coutts home, we took highway 36 pretty much due north from Warner all the way to Viking, then cut over to Tofield on highway 14, up to Chipman on 834, and then across to Lamont on 15. Streets and Trips showed this as the shortest route home, and I have no doubt that it was. It failed to take into account the miles and miles of bad frost heaves, however, or the thousands (OK, dozens) of stock haulers insistent on travelling at 130k+. Most seemed rather surly at my 100-105k speed - at least there were no thank-you flashes of the backup lights or 4-ways when I signalled over to the shoulder and slowed to let them get by as quickly as possible. The only thank you flash I got was from a regular trucker pulling a box trailer.
On the bright side, the number of stock trucks on the road must mean that the price of cows is good, right? So the ranchers'll be happy. Hah hah.
So anyway, an uneventful trip from Helena home. Even the border guard had a good sense of humour when I pulled up with a cheat sheet of receipt totals, licence plate numbers, quantities and types of meat, dairy, and produce items in the unit... then had to dig for a minute or so when he asked to see my ID. OK, so I was ALMOST well prepared.
Highway 36 is flat flat flat, except for the occasional precipitous plunge in and out of a river valley and the mini mountainous terrain of frost heaves. If you go I recommend new shocks beforehand and, if cow prices are good, fill up with premium as you'll need the extra octane to keep ahead of the truckers.
The weather co-operated nicely today, and we (Wendy and I) were able to get the motorhome unloaded in nice +6C temperatures today. There's a little more snow here than when I left - Wendy says there was lots and a lot of it melted, but she has no pictures or other proof so the jury's out on that one - and it looks like what's here might be gone within the next couple months. So Alberta is EXACTLY like Utah. Except for the forecast of -17C or some
foolish thing tonight.
So now I'm enjoying the last remnants of the trip: a glass or two of duty-free rum ($11 for a 40 pounder, if you can believe it, and REAL rum too - not that prettied-up stuff that passes for rum below the 49th) mixed with some Sam's cola from Vegas and ice cubes made with good water from Phoenix, munching some potato chips from Montana. That's about it for this particular journey, except that over the next few days I want to pull a little stats table together & post it. If you're interested, check back in a week or so, and if I don't have anything posted yet email
me a reminder. I get forgetful sometimes.
I've heard that everyone else has made it home safe and sound (or at least, I haven't heard that they haven't), so that's definitely something for which we should all be thankful.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Thursday February 28th
Tonight finds me in Helena Montana, without a whole lot to report. Today was a long driving day, with the roadside scenery going from patches of rotten snow to 2 foot high snowbanks and back to patches again. Good thing, or I might have been looking for a turn-around spot. Nothing much else to do, so I took a whole card full of thu-the-windshield scenery shots. I won't inflict you with ALL of them, though.
If you notice any little black spots in the pictures, those are bugs on the windshield believe it or not. I have no idea when they hit, but there they are. There was also a housefly flying around inside the windshield for a while, but he keeled over and died all on his own. My theory is that he looked outside.
Tonight I'm doing my best to try to finish off Tina's beer, so it doesn't infringe on my alcohol entitlement at the border. It's a tough job, but one that has to be done... Other than that, I guess it'll be add up the receipts & head for bed. Supposed to get down to 27F here tonight, so
I'll try to stay cozy (funny story: last night in Payson the furnace kicked on a few more times than I thought it should... when I got up this morning I noticed I'd left a window open after it was so nice out in Nephi. So if spring comes a little early you'll have me to thank).
In the last picture, both the other motorhomes in view have Alberta plates, by the way. In case you're keeping track.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday February 27th
In case you haven't noticed yet, I seem to be struggling with what day it is. I like when holidays go like that; soon I'll have no choice but to know.
Anyway, I just checked the calendar and Wednesday is indeed the 27th, so I must be in Utah. Actually, I only made it as far as Payson today - a whopping 192 miles. Believe it or not, it was still a full day. Since the weather was forecast in the 50's and no rain or snow, it was a good day to do the scheduled oil & lube on the Bounder. I'd serviced it last fall before I put it away, but the odo was ticking over 3,000 miles since then & there was no way I wanted to put another 1,400 miles on & do it at home. I had picked up the oil and filter and one of those mini cartridge grease guns (assuming I'd just leave that in the MH for anyone who needs, um, greased), so I had the supplies and the Flying J in Nephi was the perfect place.
While I was there, I also did the winterization on the water lines - I hear it's still cold way up north. Given a choice I think I'd have preferred to just wait until the weather warmed rather than waste more good antifreeze... but unfortunately nobody's given me a choice. In any event I pulled into Nephi around noon and I left around 5:30 having accomplished pretty much everything I needed to do (a couple things I wound up not being able to do because I was short parts, but they're not critical). Good timing to be gone then, as the lot was filling up with trucks for the night.
Leaving Nephi the choice was to either stop early or get past Salt Lake City (another 80 miles or so), as I DON'T want to be navigating it in morning rush hour tomorrow. The Payson Wal*Mart is right beside the Interstate, so convenience wins out. It's only supposed to be in the high 20's or low 30's tonight (about the same as last night in Cedar City), although there's a lot of snow on the mountains and patches on the ground here.
The first couple pictures are from Cedar City this morning - last night's pictures in the dark turned out like crap. Notice what's hiding behind the Wildwood trailer, thinking he can't be seen. Hey, I'm just saying...
BTW, the Dutch Star is from Alberta and headed back. The brown MH in the first pic also had Alberta plates, but I'm not sure which direction they're headed. Probably saw another 8 or 10 Alberta MHs, trailers, and horse trailers headed north today, so the spring migration must be starting.
I didn't take any pictures at the Flying J - thought about that as I was leaving. Would have made good pictures with all the crap unloaded, compressor running, etc. The last pic is from Payson.
I'm showing an unsecured WiFi connection available, so I'm gonna try to jump on it and get this posted. TTFN
PS - I just finished the last of the rum, so I'm gonna try to tough it out and finish off Tina's beer before Great Falls...
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday February 26th
Guess I haven't done an update for a few days - sorry about that. You know how it is.
As I'm writing this I'm in the Wal*Mart parking lot in Cedar City, UT. I don't have a WiFi connection right now, but I may later so I'm prepping this just in case.
Not much has happened since Thursday - the wedding, visiting, sighseeing, etc. If you want to know more about the wedding, check Cliff's website. I won't bore you with the other stuff.
Got the kids to the airport Monday night, and Wendy there at noon on Tuesday. As I write this she's probably touching down, and Steven's already been back to work for a day. Ah, the advantages of air travel! Me, I have to work myself back gradually.
Got the kids to the airport Monday night, and Wendy there at noon on Tuesday. As I write this she's probably touching down, and Steven's already been back to work for a day. Ah, the advantages of air travel! Me, I have to work myself back gradually.
As I said, I'm in Cedar City tonight. Temp is supposed to drop into the high 20s overnight and only into the low 50's tomorrow. There's a pile of dirty snow at the edge of the parking lot. Guess I'll sart to acclimatize. Sigh.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday February 21st
Looks like the 'peace and solitude' part of the holiday is over: all the clan are arriving for the wedding, and Steven, Tina, and Fuzzy came in Thursday night. Believe it or not we managed to get everyone and everything (including two car seats) into the car at the airport and get everyone safely back to Sams Town.
Wednesday we did a couple touristy things - Ethel M chocolate factory and the scenic drive out to Red Rock Canyon. We hadn't done either of those on the last trip. Funny the things you see along the side of the road here, like a wireless tower disguised to look like a tree (not sure if that'll fool the Russians) or a homemade tow truck made from a Lincoln Town Car. Wednesday nght was out to dinner with the gang (Sean and Alicia, Brent and Carmen, Claire, Diane, and Cliff and Kathy). The day started out cloudy, and we got some rain in the afternoon (still beats the heck out of snow, though).
Thursday we spent the morning cleaning the MH and doing the last of the laundry (told you the holiday was over). In the afternoon we spent a couple hours in the casino, checked out a K-Mart, and did a dry run through the airport to make sure we could find the right terminal later. Then it was back to the park, a little more casino for me and a rest for Wendy, a bite to eat, and back to the airport to pick up the kids.
For anyone not sure of where Sams Town is, it's NOT near the strip (a bonus for me). It's out on Boulder Highway in Henderson, about 1/2 hour from the airport and 20 minutes from the strip. In the picture with the sign you can see the strip and judge the distance for yourself. The last picture I took just to show that we're not the oldest unit in the park anymore. Also, check out the lot sizes - we usually have more room that this at Wal*Mart!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Tuesday February 19th
You probably figured it out already... we have internet! Yaaayyy!
We pulled into Sam's Town in Vegas this morning, and have now done two things that I haven't done since I left:
1. Paid for a campsite - we're on full hookups for the next week.
2. Paid for internet - after not having it for the past few days, we both decided it's worth it. 20 bucks for the week, but what the heck.
The last post I had prepped was for Saturday, and now that that's uploaded here's an update on Sunday & Monday.
Sunday morning we bid farewell to Quartzsite and moved up the river to Lake Havasu. This is a long weekend in the states (President's Day), and the weather was sunny and warm, so of course all the local sun bunnies were out. Imagine Kelowna on the May long weekend. Unless there's a big chunk of Lake Havasu that's out of sight of the town, I think if all the speedboats pulled up on shore went out on the lake at once you could probably walk from one side to the other.
We stopped at the BLM dispersed campsite "Craggy Wash", which is just on the north side of the local airport which is in turn on the north side of town. Don, if you ever stop here the road goes right up the canyon about 5-6 miles and there are camping spots al the way along. We didn't know this so wound up setting up at the bottom, and only found out after we unhooked the car and went for a cruise. Had we been staying longer than 1 night it would have been worthwhile to move.
So anyway we took the car & went back into Lake Havasu, did London Bridge & some shopping. The last pic is the view of Lake Havasu out our back (bedroom) window in the campsite, by the way. Sorry, I guess I should have cleaned the window first.
Monday we moved on up to Laughlin,and overnighted at the Riverside again (same spot as the trip down). This time we actully checked in and got a permit, though. It was still free, just had to fill out some forms. Wendy did well, but I contributed my usual amount to the greater good.
This morning we made the move up to Vegas - a long drive for us after the past few days. I think we covered about 80 miles in the MH today.
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