Davis Camp, Bullhead City,Az to Pickett’s RV park, Alamo, Nv

Today we were on the road at about 8:45am with 193 miles to go.  In earlier years we used to go from Laughlin, NVto Ely, NV but recently we’ve been stopping in Alamo, NV and then moving onto Jackpot, NV.  Why…well we really like Ely but it’s usually too cold at 6500 ft. and besides we aren’t in a hurry and shorter days are much better.  Alamo is at 3300ft. and usually sunny.

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Distance to #2 Alamo, 193 miles….to #3 Ely, 340 miles and to #4 Jackpot, 546 miles.  So…193 miles to Alamo one day and 353 miles to Jackpot on Tuesday.  Six of one and a half dozen of another! Lund would be half way but it’s higher and we aren’t sure if they have hook-ups.  No boondocking when it’s cold!

Heading down to the bridge over the Colorado River where we’ll turn right (west) and head up the long, long hill.

Bye, bye Davis Camp. 

Heading up and then down before going up again.  It’s only about 20C, cloudy and no wind so it’s a perfect travel day.  It is 19 miles from the Laughlin Bridge where you start to climb on Hwy 163 until you reach the junction with 95 N.  A long steep climb.

Coming up to the intersection of 163 and 95 north where we’ll head…north towards Vegas.  

What do we have here?  Cones, cones and more cones and all traffic on the east side of the highway. 

Cones as far as the eye can see.  Where would they even get these many huge cones and where would they store them when they weren’t in use? 

We are coming into Searchlight and the construction (repaving of the southbound lanes) is ending.  30 miles of ….cones!

Heading down from Searchlight towards Las Vegas. 

The Joshua trees have new green growth and they are dotted everwhere here.

Here we are coming into the main part of Vegas.  Never our favorite thing but today the traffic is light because it’s Sunday and there is no wind.  From the very south end of Vegas (by Boulder City) to the very north end where the traffic finally dies down on 93N the distance is about 35 miles.  Really busy the whole way but hugely busy in the middle section.  They are building a huge new interchange just before Boulder City and we wonder what next year has in store for us as we come south through Las Vegas. 

Exit right and turn left to head north on 93 and get fuel.

We stopped for fuel at the Flying J truck stop at the intersection of 95N /15 and 93N and there was huge road construction.  There is a giant area to the right (new) filled with solar panels so maybe it has something to do with that.  We know they aren’t creating four lanes all the way to Ely so construction will likely end up the road aways.    We pulled into the big diesel pumps with the big trucks and motorhomes even though we don’t need a huge amount of fuel.  The turns are too tight and too hard on the tires and axles if we get fuel at the regular pumps.  I have to go inside to pay but…no problem. 

Lots and lots of solar panels. 

All very odd, and new since we came south back in September. 

No more construction now and just wide open highway.  Still cool with no wind! Bueno!

The mountains are beautiful here.

Such different geology.

Coming into the Pahranagat Wildlife reserve where we’ll stop for lunch in a rest area.   It’s only 12:30 and we don’t have far to go but it’s a nice place for lunch.   

More rock!

It’s barely spring here around Pahranagat Lake.

Pulling into the rest stop.

A bit windy now but we’re only a short distance from Alamo where we’ll spend two nights. 

Just us. 

Coming into Alamo.  We like it here and it will be the first area since leaving Mazatlan where we’ll see real trees and grass growing where it should be.  In Arizona grass only grows if it’s heavily watered so it always looks a bit out of place.  Here in the valley it’s all green. 

Pickett’s RV park.  I’d reserved two nights before we came as I wasn’t sure how busy they’d be.  I don’t usually bother but there are still a lot of people waiting down south for the weather up north to improve.   I was checked in and the owner’s wife said they’d once again sold the park.  The new owners were chatting to her as I came in and they seemed very nice.  The park was originally built by the owner’s father.  It was sold a number of years ago but the payments weren’t kept up and they had to take it back and run it themselves.  Now…sold again to local people so I guess they’ll see what happens.  Not a prosperous area but there is a large Morman church here and perhaps that’s who’s involved. 

A decent stop with showers, laundry, cable TV, internet and full hook-ups.  The only downside is the store which is behind the trees to the right.  It has some sort of cooling system which turns off and on continuously and makes a huge roar when it does so. 

Just after we parked Eric noticed one of our rubber wipers around the bedroom slide wasn’t out.  He crawled up on the roof to check it and noticed that it was all deteriorated and gummy.  Some of the other seals are in the same condition but you can’t see that unless you get up on the roof.  So…he spent the rest of the afternoon on the net researching replacement seals and costs.  Hugely expensive for what you get but it won’t be as high as having a shop replace them as he’ll do it himself.  He replaced some of the D seals a couple of years ago and they are rotten already.  Nice!  I should mention that our 5th wheel is 10 years old now.  We bought it in 2008 and have spent one year in Mesa, AZ , eight years in Mazatlan and one year at home.  When the RV is at home it is stored under cover in one of Eric’s large out buildings where it is not subjected to rain or sun. 

So here we are and we’ll stay tomorrow night as well.  There is a wind advisory out for tomorrow from 8am Monday until 1am Tuesday morning.  We’ll sit tight. 

Later in the evening they parked a big motorhome in front of us which wrecked our view.  The park is almost empty so it did seem a little strange.   Eric had to move the truck so they could get out in the morning. 

Lots of room!

So….a nice quiet evening with a few beers, dinner, TV and bed.

P.S.  - Monday morning and the wind is howling and air is full of dust.  The other three rigs that were here left…and good luck with that as the wind is supposed to gust to 50mph.  Not for us!