Wednesday February 6

I'm writing this on Feb 7th, in case anyone's confused, and I hope to get it posted sometime on Feb 8th if all goes well.

My apologies to anyone who's been checking in over the past couple of days, as there haven't been any posts. If in fact anyone HAS been checking in. But if no one has, then this is all moot anyway and I'm just talking to myself. Nothing new there, really.

Wireless at the casino seems to be a bit hit and miss. Mostly miss. We parked along the back edge of the lot and had no major problems picking up the casino's WiFi, until other units started to arrive and park between us and the building. Whenever someone takes the spot right between, we lose the signal. As you know, Wilie Nelson wa here for a couple nights and graciously lent us his signal, but he pulled out yesterday (Wednesday) just as I was uploading the day's pictures, so that update crashed. Right now there are about 50-60 RVs in the lot, two of which are pretty much diectly between us and the building. Of course I could move, but I kinda like this edge spot.

Anyway, if you're reading this then I must have got a signal at least temporarily. On to the Wednesday post:

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Whew! A busy day today - we didn't get in all the tourist attractions we wanted to, and we still never got back for happy hour until about 5 PM.

For starters, we had more frost this morning. I'll not include a picture since the last one didn't elicit the degree of sympathy for which I'd hoped. Suffice to say that it was a tad chilly walking Gab first thing this morning in my thongs (the feet ones).

We had planned to do the Mission Mine tour, the San Xavier Mission, the Old Tucson Studios, and the Desert Museum. We had to pas on the Desert Museum, but we did manage to get caught up in a 10 mile line traffic jam between Old Tucson and the mine.

I'm just going to throw a bunch of pictures into today and let them speak for themselves. The only thing to add I think is that Don was pretty happy we both got the senior discount at the mine tour... I was somewhat less happy, but hey, 2 bucks saved is another 1/2 hour in the casino tonight.

Tuesday February 5th

Woke up this morning to FROST on the car, if you can believe it. Thermometer says it got down to 29.6F last night (OK, everyone together please: "Awe, poor poor Vic & Don".) OK, I feel better now.

As advertised, we crossed the border into Nogales Mexico today and partook of one of the largest yard sales I've EVER seen. I made so many friends among the vendors... they were all calling me their "best" friend. We got out of there relatively unscathed; just a few trinkets and we each got a great $6 haircut. Here's a picture of Don's, but you'll have to wait a bit to see mine (I tried to get him down to $4, since there weren't many hairs to cut, but it didn't work). A side benefit of the haircut was that we got to watch some Mexican girls shaving other Mexican girls while we got trimmed. (-:

Back in good ol' US of A, we had lunch (told you we didn't stay in Mexico long) at the IHOP, and I got my fix for country fried steak out of the way. Then we took Highways 82/83 back again for the scenic tour of the mountains (I didn't take any pictures, but just imagine Kamloops/Barriere country with a few prickly pear cactusses thrown in). Just one roadblock along the way where the US Border Patrol had a look in the car, and back home again to the Casino.

Gab was pretty happy to see us when we got back - she was on motorhome guard duty with Mojo today. She did a pretty thorough inspection of the car (moreso than the border patrol) to see if we'd brought anyone back with us and was quite disappointed that we hadn't (in a dog's world being gone 6 hours is equivalent to being gone a week). Mojo on the other hand didn't even know we'd left.

Willie Nelson's playing the casino tonight, but we didn't get tickets. Only one song I'd want to hear anyway. I do have to say thank you to him though - the WiFi I'm on right now has an SSID "Me and Paul", and is much stronger than the casino signal. Since Willie's busses are about 500 yards away right now, I'm just guessing...

Monday February 4th

It's a dreary day today in the desert. There was a winter storm warning last night for the area, and this morning it's wet and chilly (dropped down to about 55F. brrr). Don's liking this weather as it reminds him of the coast, but I'm for staying inside today. If we do anything interesting I'll let you know.

(later)

We got off our asses finally and took a tour into Tucson, drove around the circle route to the west (partially intentionally). Sometimes the best spots are the ones you just happen across... like the sign to "Sentinal Mountain" - took the turn and got a great view of downtown Tucson (pic).

After that we took a drive 'round the backside of the mountain through Saguaro National Park. I'd have had more pictures, but Don forgot his camera and my batteries died (darn Kandie and her cat pic - I turned the flash on and forgot to turn it off).

Finally back to the campsite. And just for those folks who didn't take my "storm warning" seriously here's a pic to prove that it really does snow down here. Still a safe distance away yet, though.

Tomorrow the weather's supposed to be clear, so I think we're Mexico bound. TTFN

Sunday February 3rd

Got up nice and early so as to be out of the HD parking lot soon after they opened (8:00 AM according to the sign). We took on about 1/2 a load of fuel at the ARCO station, probably more because it was confusing to fuel and pay than anything else. In case you're wondering, gas was about $US 2.72/gallon ($US 0.72/litre).

So we headed down the road a whopping 80 miles or so to the Desert Diamond Casino, about 12 miles souh of Tucson. Free boondocking for up to 7 days here (plus free WiFi), so looks like this is a nice base for exploring the area. We're kinda thinking about doing the caves, Tombstone, hop the border into Mexico (and hopefully back again), and whatever else looks interesting in the area.

But for now, we're settled in with our parking pass, we have the Super Bowl pregame show on the TV (it's about 12:30), and we're enjoying our first cocktail of the day. The only immediate decision facing us is whether we should go back in and watch the game on the big screen in the lounge or stay out in the MH where the drinks are much cheaper. Tough dilemma, right?

I do have one public service request: Anyone reading this who knows Kim's phone number please call her and tell her to send Don an email. He's feeling a little lonely and unloved. And if anyone else wants to send him an email (as long as it's not about Viagra or penis enlargement [leave those for Kim]) his new on-the-road email address is dgphillips1952@gmail.com. For mercy sake, someone PLEASE talk to him.

(later)
OK, I'm back - It's coming onto 4:00, the games about to start. We went into the casino a little before 3, and all the tables in the lounge were already staked out. Since then I proceeded to contribute my daily quota to the needy casino owners, so now I'm back where I can get a cheap drink and a comfy seat to watch the game & lick my wounds. To further irritate matters, our WiFi connection has dried up & disappeared for now.

(next day)
Well, the Super Bowl was kind of like watching a typical CFL game, right? Nothing much for the first 50 minutes and then a frenzy in the last 10. Except in the CFL they normally wait til the last 5. Got apicture of Gab watching the game with me... Don wached from the tables inside.

I took a picture of the details on that motorhome at the Quartzsite RV show - yes, Marvin, it was at the show (although the owners still do live in it) and not parked beside us. There were a few interesting units out there, too, though.

Saturday February 2nd

Headed towards southeast Arizona today, but we'll have a quick look at the car show before we take off. Probably go down through Gila Bend/Casa Grande direction (if you happen to have an Arizona map in front of you) - probably a good idea to avoid the Phoenix area this weekend.

Currently (~2PM Saturday) we're in the parking lot at Holt's Shell in Gila Bend... where there's free WiFi, and we just dumped off at the free dumpstation and filled up with free drinking water. Propane's a little under half, if you're wondering (haven't filled up yet this trip), and we have a little over half a tank of gas (filled up at Bullhead City on Wednesday).

(Time passes)

Finally got out of Gila Bend about 5:00, after geting all caught up on the emails. Got as far as Casa Grande & stopped for the night. There were "No Overnight Parking" signs all over the place at Wally World, so after restocking up with groceries we drifted back up the main drag. K-Mart was supposed to be OK for overnight, but before we got back there the Home Depot lot was just too tempting.

Friday February 1st

We decided that there was no rush to move on down the road so we might as well stay an extra day in Quartzsite. Treated ourselves to a showere this morning (still working off the tank of water we took on Sunday), made an extra pot of coffee, and caught up on the 'puter work a bit.
Since we'd decided to hang around Quartzsite for another day we asked around to see if anything interesting was happening in the area. Turns out there was going to be a black powder rendezvous over in Boise, about 25 miles. Seizing the opportunity to both go for a tour and see something neither of us had before, away we went.
Took a little driving to find the rendezvous, and it was somewhat less that we expected. The club members dressed up in the 1800's costumes & whatnot, but we really couldn't get very close to the shooting. Coming back we stopped in at a few more tents in Quartzsite and then back home for cocktails and a dinner of steaks, baked potatoes, and corn (you're thinking: didn't they eat the exact same thing yesterday? NO! This time we had corn instead of brown beans. Totally different.)
There's been a lot of demand to replace the picture I took off the blog last week, and since I'm getting short of interesting photos right now I'm putting it back in - shhhh! Don't tell Don.

Thursday January 31

We decided to spend the day touring around Quartzsite, so puttered a bit then unhitched the car for the first time. The first pic is our actual campsite, actually taken Wednesday night with the sunset in the background. There are a half dozen other units in the same general area, most of them have bigger dogs so Gabby's pretty happy. The closest neighbours are from northern Nevada and have a pup about Gab's size named Paco. They've been exercising each other out in the desert.

We wandered the vendors in Quartzsite for a bit - not too much happening, lots of empty tents. They're in between the RV show and the car show, and I think a lot have packed up for the winter. Same stuff you see at all the shows forthe most part (miracle glue, never go dull knives, harbour-freight type hardware, etc.). Took a drive up into the mountains a bit, and finished the day off with a nice barbeque (steaks, baked potatoes, brown beans).

Wednesday January 30

Been without internet for a couple days, so I got behind. Honest, we're still out here. Currently it's about 2 PM on Saturday and we're at the Holt's Shell parking lot in Gila Bend, where they have an excellent free Wifi service (plus free drinking water and free dumpstation, so we're set to boondock again!). So here we go:

On Wednesday we went back into the Riverside to the (free) classic car show, before heading south to Lake Havasu and Quartzsite. I really liked the "Solarwind" (see pic). Also very neat was the chance to take an aerial photo of our campsite (the car show was on the third floor). I've circled our unit for you, so you can get the flavour. Not a bad site overall, despite the guy next door (to the left in the photo) having the desire to run his generator past midnight and also having a bit of a leaky sewer pipe right outside our front door.

Don actually wanted to stay over until Friday, since there was a contest happening Thursday night, until I reminded him of the average age of the patrons here. We both agreed then that discretion being the better part of valour it might be a good idea to miss this one.

Stopped off in Lake Havasu to see the famous London Bridge. We were halfway across before we realized we were on it... duh.

Finally finished off the day arriving in Quartzsite about 5:00 PM and found a spot a few miles south of town.

Tuesday January 29

At the Riverside in Laughlin. Using another RVer's signal I think, so won't talk long. The only way I can even pu the signal is laptop on the dash & reach over the steering wheel.

Tried to stay at the Colorado Belle, which was supposed to be RV-friendly... but the security guys came by with a note about "In compliance with Clark County Ordinance 24.03.110..." etc. So we moved down a couple blocks to the Riverside and hunkered in with about 60-70 other rigs (I'm guessing at least 3-4 units each from BC, AB, and SK). So naturally we went inside and donated some cash to the Riverside folks and NOT the Colorado Belle.

Forgot to mention... I think Don and my arrival here brought the average age down quite a bit. In the buffet line tonight were about 100 people besides us... there MIGHT have been 2 under 50. Good buffet, though, for $11.85 (including tax).

Wendy: We bought NOTHING at Camping World, although there was this new Bounder for $83,000 that was kinda tempting... but we knew you wouldn't like it.

PS - the mirror pic is another Bounder that followed us to Searchlight, but we lost him there.

Monday January 28

Slept in this morning, then decided to do the bacon & egg breakfast thing since we had water. So did that, showered, washed up the dishes & cleaned up a little bit (up to our standards, anyway). Right now it's 1:00 PM and we've moved down to the Travel Info Centre in Mesquite... free WiFi @ 54mbps so it doesn't get much better.

Very windy here all night and today, coming from the west (so it'll be a headwind when we leave for Vegas). Temp is supposed to get to 50F today so went with the shorts. I'm sure everyone will recognize me as Canadian.

Got into Vegas about 4:15; parked behind Bally's. Met up with Miles & Mark, did a little gambling, had dinner (treated ourselves to restaurant), did a little gambling, and in bed by 11:00. Pretty boring, eh?

Sunday, January 27

It was cold this morning in Blackfoot (-7C). Not as cold as Alberta is, though, so I'm just very very greatful we left when we did and I wish we could have taken everyone up there with us.

We were up early this morning, for a Sunday. Correction: I was up early, and Don didn't have much choice after that. Took Gabby out for a stroll and she was quite appreciative after 2 days "cooped up" with only 5-10 minute breaks. Wendy will know what I mean by "appreciative". We stumbled across open WiFi at a Radio Shack as we were leaving the parking lot, as some of you who caught the hastily-written blog yesterday already know.

We touched four states today (Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and Nevada), although we kind of cheated on three of them. Mapquest up the route from Blackfoot ID to Mesquite NV and you'll see what I mean. Still, Don says it's the first time he's been in 4 states in a day so that's a milestone. I've driven through the northeastern US, so I think my record is about 12 states in a day (not difficult as they have a lot of states the size of PEI there). Enroute we also touched a whole bunch of weather patterns, from cold to snow to rain to sun to cloud to snow to rain to snow to rain to sun to rain... all with nice gusty headwinds and crosswinds to make life interesting.

Right now however I'm writing this while sitting at the dining table, with the window open to a fresh breeze ruffling the leaves on the Palm trees at the Virgin River casino (nope, haven't seen any, in case you were wondering). We're parked with 3 other RVs in the back of the casino lot under the big sign... hell, just look at the picture. I went in and spent my requisite $1 after supper (hot dogs), but I was quickly bored and came out to take Gab for a walk and have some desert with her. Don's still inside representing our interests, so I have a whole bunch of time to write up these postings & enjoy the quiet.

We're now officially in holiday mode, not only because we've left the snow behind but also because we got the water lines dewinterized and the tank filled in Utah (mile 78, about 16 miles north of Cedar City, at the TA Travel Centre, for future reference). The last couple of days we've been living out of a 5 gallon water jug, which must have been plenty because it's still half full. But sometime in the next 3-4 days one of us might have wanted to wash, so it's just as well we have the water now I guess. I think tomorrow will be a short run into Vegas, dry camp at one of the casinos, wash up the vehicles, and try to meet up with one of Don's buds for a buffet or something.

Saturday January 26

First, let me just say that I've got all the sympathy (empathy?) in the world for those stuck in Alberta. Normally I'd be gloating over the temperature difference but this is just too much to be amusing. For everyone going through that cold snap, please please please don't do anything dumb and risk your heart or frostbite. Stay indoors and stay warm until at least the weekend when it looks like it'll warm up a bit. I promise to not gloat about the temperature until it's at least not dangerous up there anymore.

Now, the picture of Don I put in the original post wasn't very nice. In all honesty, I let Don drive a bit on Friday (see pic) but after that I relegated him to Navigator/GPS Operator. And since I-15 goes all the way from Sweetgrass to Vegas, well, there's really not much for a Navigator to do.

So, to recap: Saturday morning started out in the rest area north of Great Falls, and ended up in Blackfoot Idaho at the Super Wal*Mart. In between we stopped off in Great Falls to stock up the pantry, stopped off at a pullout between Great Falls and Helena for lunch, and stopped a couple times for gas. All was routine except for a lot of wind and blowing snow and a little detour through the Idaho countryside when the GPS lady decided we wanted to go back to the Wal*Mart in Idaho Falls instead of ahead to the one in Blackfoot. She and I had words (OK, it was mostly my words) after that one, but of course she then proceeded as if nothing had happened. Witch.

The last picture's for Wendy - Bob & Linda eat your hearts out.

Friday Jan 25

Headed out at about 10:15 by the time I got everything hooked up.

Notice how clean they look.

One day to go

Hey, I'm not one to gloat, but after looking at the weather forecast this morning I can only say one thing to those of you staying behind: NEENER NEENER NEENER!

OK, that's over with - sorry about that. For all your sakes I hope that the long range forecast is no more accurate than usual.

Mostly packed up, ready to head out in the morning. More as it happens.

Gettin' ready

Pretty sad looking RV, eh? About -18C here today (about 0F), started getting serious about loading up.

One of the tasks was to clear out a path with the snowblower to back the MH out on Friday (hope it doesn't snow/blow too much before then). It occurred to me that I've never used the snowblower for an RV trip before.

It occurs to me that there's no block heater on the engine, either. Hopefully that won't be an issue Friday morning as the temp Thursday night's only supposed to be down to -13C (9F).

Before anyone asks, the cardboard over the grill isn't a winterfront - it's to keep the blowing snow from building up on the batteries right behind the grill.