Blowin' in the Wind

Our stay in Cottonwood ended with winds blowing up to 60 mph. 

We hunkered down and departed early in the a.m., hoping to get some miles under our belt before the wind came up. It didn’t. We arrived in Kingman, AZ after a brief lunch stop in Seligman, AZ where Route 66 supposedly began (such is their claim to fame). This one-street town is saturated with Route 66 souvenir shops. Keeping with the spirit of the occasion, we detoured onto old 66 for the remaining 60 miles into Kingman. 

Arriving in Kingman, we gassed up before pulling into the Ft. Beale RV Park, conveniently located near the intersection of !-95 and I-40. This park was spotless. A very convenient stopping place. We had a pull-through and didn’t even bother to unhook the Honda, as we wanted to get an early start to snag a nice site at Valley of Fire SP, NE of Las Vegas.

Proceeding up 95, we crossed the Hoover Dam and marvelled at the progress of the new bridge construction (this will be a tourist attraction itself) and also gawked at the ever-depleting Lake Mead, Las Vegas’ source of water.  Took the 60 mile road along Lake Mead to avoid the LV traffic, and we followed another MH who absolutely would not allow us to pass, despite numerous turnouts. He, too was headed for Valley of Fire and apparently wanted to beat us there in hopes of getting a spot.  As it turned out, we passed him going though the pay station.  There were several spots available, and after a lengthy attempt to level our rig on a sloped site, we moved to another as it became available.

The satellite dish bug bit again and our controller froze up, forcing me to drive 8 miles to get a phone signal in order to call the techies in Salt Lake City.  Final verdict: download some instructions and perform a tune up. The ‘download’ occurred the next day when we went to Mesquite, NV. (Bottom line: all is well now, but it ultimately required us to move again, as a nearby rock formation was partially blocking our signal.)

The visit to Mesquite was a recon trip to check out their Del Webb community. We took the complete tour and were very impressed. Liked a particular lot on the golf course (which will open this fall), and also picked out our favorite model. Still a lot of decisions left, though, and we will continue our Del Webb explorations, perhaps closer to Sacto. Hey, it’s time to move as we’ve been in our current house 12 years, our longest stay anywhere. .  

With the winds once again shrieking (stinging sand pelting us on a walk), we left camp and headed to Las Vegas to meet with Julie and see a show (Jersey Boys at the Palazzo). Dinner was great—portions very large at the Palazzo Café. Highly recommend the seafood salad –best I’ve ever had.  The Jersey Boys show was fabulous—great vocals tracing the history of the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli. (e.g. Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk Like a Man, Cherie and dozens of others).  We returned to Julie’s where Annika met us with wagging tail. After spending the night there, we are now back at camp.  The wind is still blowing strong, but expected to abate later, when Julie will join us this afternoon for the weekend. 

Valley of Fire is one of our favorite parks.  The views are like having a ‘private Sedona’ with red rock vistas around. Since our last stay, they have added about a dozen new water/electric hookup sites for $24 a night. Very nice place, although some of the dry camping sites are really postcard spectacular.