A ride to Parker, AZ and a visit with Andy.

Friday Nov. 15, 2013

So what’s been going on.  Well I spent Wednesday morning doing the blog about our ride to Kingman and the rest of the day doing a bunch of mundane chores.

Thursday was a little shopping trip up to the Wal-Mart for a few groceries and then home for lunch.  After lunch a quick trip trip over to the outlet mall right here in Laughlin where I had scoped out some new flip flops for Eric. He actually went over to try some on and got a pair that fit.  Shopping is darn hard work if you are really looking for something.  Generally things don’t jump out and say “ I fit, buy me!” or at least not in my experience.  Shopping is not Eric’s thing!

Today we decided to ride up to Parker for lunch and say a quick hello to Andy and wife Carol who winter in the River’s Edge RV park on the California side of the river.  We travelled as follows….just over 200 miles so a pretty good ride. 

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We’d eaten at a Mexican restaurant called Ruperto’s the last time we were in Parker and it was so good we decided to go back.  Two huge lunches and a drink for $17.  Again good food fast.  Eric had carnitas (deep fried tender pork pieces) with beans, rice and tortillas and I had chili relleno’s with beans, rice etc. 

We then road back down the California side of the river to see Andy in the River’s Edge park.  It took a bit of time to find him as he was out in his golf cart getting propane.  We had a quick visit with Andy (Carol was in Havasu shopping with a neighbor) and then it was time to head home.  We’d had quite a bit of wind on the trip to Parker but it eased up on the way back.  Over the dam at Parker, up 95 through Havasu, back through Needles and home for happy hour by 5pm.  A good day. 

Saturday Nov. 16, 2013

Today we will start to pack up for our move to Quartzite tomorrow.  One night there dry camping and then into Yuma on Monday morning to the shop where we will have the axles aligned.  We’ll park in the Arizona Sands RV park and then get our Mexican paperwork done in San Luis Rio Colorado while we are there and that will save us time when we cross the border.  We have a few other chores to do while we are in Yuma and then should be ready to head south by next weekend. 

A ride to Kingman

Tuesday April 16, 2013

I did this blog on Thursday afternoon and spent quite a long time on it and now I am getting to do it again.  Why, you might ask, well the problem was the blue screen of death and an unexpected Crash Dump.   I hadn’t saved the draft and I had flipped onto Google to look at the weather and then it happened….. the dreaded Blue Screen.  When I returned to Live Writer the draft was gone.  This has happened periodically and mostly when I have the Yagi hooked up.  Highly irritating.  So, here I go again. 

On Tuesday morning Eric and I took a ride up to Kingman as ……..

Tuesday Nov. 12, 2013

The above blog was never published as we left Laughlin last spring before I got it finished again!  So today we took another ride up to Kingman and this time it was much more pleasant.  Last spring we just about froze to death on our way up the hill.  Kingman is at about 3200 ft. and we hadn’t worn our heated jackets…..big mistake!  Today I wore mine and Eric had his heavy armored jacket on but….it was hot and we didn’t need either one!  At least if you’re too hot you can take it off. 

We started our trip in April with a good look at the huge steam locomotives …http://kingmanhistoricdistrict.com/points-of-interest/locomotive-park/index.htm this link will tell you about them if you are interested. 

 

Little tiny me next the huge locomotive.

Much larger than the ones we saw in Ely, Nevada. 

Heading into the historic district of Kingman on Route 66 and Andy Devine Drive.

We toured the Powerhouse Visitor Centre. http://kingmanhistoricdistrict.com/points-of-interest/powerhouse/index.htm 

Kingman train depot….still in use?

 

It was then on to the train museum but it wasn’t exactly what Eric had expected.  Model trains….not real ones.  Still very interesting. 

 

 

Now it was time for lunch.  We were craving Mexican food so we thought we’d give this place a try ….El Palacio.  Very quiet outside but just hopping inside.  Brightly colored decor and great food.  The waitresses are fast, the food is excellent (lunch entrees are around $7 including chips, two salsas, refried beans and a small desert) the plates are hot and the food comes fast.  We ate there in April and again yesterday and it was very good.    

This was lunch last spring and it was larger than today because we must have ordered off the dinner menu.  Too much food but today it was just right.

Andy Devine Drive and old hotels.

 

Dee’s diner where we didn’t eat.

I did look up why the main street is called Andy Devine Drive and it is because he was born in Flagstaff, AZ and grew up in Kingman. 

After lunch we continued on old Route 66 back through Cool Springs and on to Oatman.  Eric has never let me stop there (not a problem) as it really is just a tourist trap and burro poop! place.  Last spring we were held up while they closed the road with a gun fight but today we just had to dodge burros. 

Cool Springs.

Coming into Oatman.

Wild!!! Burro. 

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The day’s ride.

Back through Golden Shores (just another dusty desert town, Needles, CA and then along the old Needles highway and home.  It was a good day and not too hot because it was a bit cloudy and windy.   Happy hour and a  quick homemade soup for dinner and bed.

A good day!

Laughlin at night.

Still in Laughlin

I haven’t had much to say over the past couple of days (I know not like me at all!) but not too much has been going on.  Neither Eric or I have been feeling all that great since we got here.  Not sure if it is just left over fatigue from getting ready to go at home, driving, alternating high and low altitudes and now heat and wind or all of the above.  We also must remind ourselves to drink lots of water which we have not been doing.  Dehydration, even in a small way doesn’t do one any good.  Note to self…..drink water! 

We were both up early this morning 6:20 am PSTime as I was going for my walk and Eric decided to wash the other side of the rig before it got too hot.  It is windy and cloudy today but still warm.  I think we are both feeling a bit perkier today.  Eric has been struggling with plantar fasciitis in one foot and it is a misery.  He has been doing exercises for it and hopefully it will settle down at some point.  He really can’t walk anywhere right now because it just hurts too much.  It’s a good thing he likes to ride the bicycle and can get some exercise that way.  I am in agony for a few days when I start walking every day (no where to walk at home) but eventually it works itself out.  Use it, or lose it!  My joints are really sore as well…especially my shoulders so hopefully that is just the weather.  Okay….enough about health. 

I got over to the outlet mall yesterday and picked up a new bathing suit.  The sun and salt air destroys them so I like to buy a new one every year if I can find one.  I also found a lime press (we like lime in our Pacifico beer.)  I’d been using my garlic press but the acid from the lime ate the chrome finish off it. 

We will stay in Laughlin until Sunday morning and then spend the night in the desert in Quartzite.  Eric has made an appointment to have our axles aligned on Monday morning on our way into Yuma.

Hopefully we can take a ride up to Kingman today weather permitting. 

Laughlin, Nev. and it’s sunny and warm.

Friday Nov. 8, 2013

We didn’t get on the road early today as we didn’t have far to go.  We left Ash Springs  about 9:15 and there was just a slight breeze.

Pretty morning in Ash Springs.

Pahranagat Wild Life reserve and you can camp along the edges.  Very pretty.

 

Huge power lines as you drive along  highway 93 south and they are building more and more. 

Yes…I see the spot on the camera lens.  This camera seems to have an ongoing problem with dirt inside the lens.  I keep it in a bag or case and the lens is automatically covered.  I guess it’s back to the camera repair guy in Mazatlan.

We stopped for fuel at the huge new station just before you turn right onto I 15 and head into Las Vegas.  The trip through Vegas was as nerve wracking as usual but not terrifying like it was the first few years so I guess that’s an improvement! 

Lunch rest stop just before you leave highway 93 and head down 163 to Laughlin.  This is a big new beautiful “artsy” rest area. 

Coming down 163 towards Laughlin.

We were into the park by about 2pm and set up in the gravel where we usually stay.  Easier to get the bike out and not so crowded.  There is another rig behind us from Vernon, B.C.  Seems like the whole province is migrating south. 

Just before dinner a motor home pulled in right behind us and snug up to the people from Vernon.  What’s up with that?  You could shoot a cannon through the park and not hit any one and they put someone right next to the people behind us.  They weren’t happy and Eric was worried he couldn’t lower the tail gate and get the bike out.  Turns out they were only here for one night but it makes you wonder what the people in the office are thinking when they do that as it just irritates people when the park isn’t full.  On the upper levels (which cost the same) you have a concrete pad to park on and a space next to it to park your vehicle.  It is not busy in the park and it’s Veteran's Day long weekend and there is a lot going on in town.

It is a nice and warm 27C  but it will cool off and be quiet to sleep tonight.  Life is good!

Jackpot to Ash Springs, Nevada

Thursday Nov. 7, 2013

We were up at a reasonable 6:30 am this morning so we could be on the road by 8:00 am.  I had not posted the blog last night as I wasn’t feeling well after my big buffet dinner so I wanted to do that this morning before we left.  We paid $18 for our RV spot and the good news was that there is was really fast internet which is always a bonus.  I hadn’t had the best sleep last night as the motor home next to us had his furnace running all night.  Eric said it was a boiler and it ran for a minute or two and then shut off for a minute or two all night which was odd as it wasn’t even very cold.  Didn’t freeze and we had our electric heater on which kept the temp at 20c. 

On the road at 5C with no wind, rain or snow.  Bonus! 

Coming into Wells on the Great Basin Highway.

Wells, Nevada was our first fuel stop and it is at 6280 ft. so it is quite high.  The station we usually stop at had no diesel.  So on to the Flying J where they put the diesel pump on an inside island….not great when you are hauling a rig.  Got fuel and on the road which is always a challenge in Wells. 

The Ruby Mountains.

No twists, no turns, straight as an arrow.

Just as we were coming into Currie we hit road construction.  A 20 minute wait ….improving the shoulders….hard to tell what they were doing.   

At this point we had wind on the nose but nothing serious. 

Lots of interesting vegetation at the edge of the road.

The next town was McGill (6193 feet) which is just north of Ely and it is interesting to drive through as the main street is on a huge slant.  Going south it’s high on the left and slants to the right and not just a little, a lot.  I think if it was icy you’d just slide into the buildings on the low side.  Odd and I wonder why it’s that way. McGill is or was the smelter town for the copper mine in Ely.

Coming into McGill.

Much more slanted than the camera shows.

“McGILL

In 1906, the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company built a mill and smelter north of Ely in the Steptoe Valley to accommodate the large amounts of copper ore being produced in Ely mines. Two years later, the company built a town to house mill employees, and McGill was born. The Nevada Northern Railway extended a line to the town to carry ore to the mill and smelter. McGill prospered until the 1970s when the mines, mill, smelter, and railroad closed.

The town has survived the substantial blow of losing its primary industry, and today about 1,000 people call it home. The McGill Drugstore Museum—which opened the same year the town was founded—was a working drugstore until it closed in 1979 and remains today as a time capsule with many products from the time it closed and earlier still on the shelves.

The McGill Swimming Pool is a popular summer hangout, with a sandy beach, slides, and diving board.

CONTACT

McGill Drugstore Museum.”  from McGill Website

Next stop Ely, Nevada and more fuel.  Ely is high at 6480 feet in town and even higher when you go through the pass south of town.  We like Ely and try to stop there when the weather permits.

Lunch stop just out of town looking back down on Ely.     Lots of dry land vegetation.

Going through the pass at Ely.

Coming down the mountain.

  

Next town Lund at 5280 ft. and it has warmed up to 16C…Eric might have to remove that Stanfield’s wool yet!

The above rock formations are through the White Water Narrows and they amaze us every time we drive through….so ever year I take a few more pictures! 

Coming into Hiko and they have just cut hay and it’s now 19C ….whew it’s getting warm!  Yahoo!!!

We are now entering the Pahrangat Valley and our over night stop at Ash Springs.  We’ve never actually seen the springs but they are there somewhere.  We have travelled about 380 miles today and that is long enough.  Ash Springs has an RV park of sorts attached to the very busy gas station and food stop.  It is hugely busy all night and you don’t get much sleep but what can you do…you have to stop somewhere and since we are still at 3280 ft. it can still freeze it’s nice to be plugged in. 

Coming into Ash Springs and it’s nice and green. 

You just never know who you’ll meet on the road.  This is Ed and Marilyn from Masset on the Queen Charlotte Islands in B.C.  They left home about the same time we left Kelowna and haven’t had a very good trip.  Horrible snow through the Caribou and then when they were in Osoyoos ready to cross the border their dog had a medical emergency.  He went crazy in the middle of the night and bit them both.  Off to the hospital for them and then to the vet for the dog.  Unfortunately they had to have him put down and at this point just felt like going home.  They missed last year in Yuma because Ed had a heart attack the year before so this wasn’t much of a beginning for their winter.  However, they are carrying on.  Marilyn used to work for B.C. Hydro in Masset so she knew people Eric knew as he worked for Telus.  Our daughter Erika might know her as well as she worked for Hydro and Telus as well.  Small world. 

We spoke to the guy from the rig on the right the next morning and he is from Midway, B.C.  Nice fellow and he had a motorcycle in his pick-up with a really slick lift (Rampage- power lift) to get it in there.  He said it worked great and was really easy.  Good idea if your towed is a truck and you have a bike too.  They are off to Palm Springs, California and then Yuma. 

So it was a relaxing evening and a really noisy night which is just what we expected.  Tomorrow Laughlin and only about 200 miles to travel. 

No internet here so I’ll publish when I get to Laughlin.