Here we are, on the road: We’re in Williams, AZ

May 19, 2013 Lorraine’s Report

Hello again from down the road to the Grand Canyon. We are in Williams, AZ, a mere 50 miles from the Grand Canyon.

This week has been fun. We were with Susy for Mother’s Day, thank you Susy & Kaitlyn for the great time we had with you, I loved being there with you! We left the next day & went on into Bakersfield, where the oranges are; the oranges are the size of small olives, forgot to get a picture of them.

We then headed on into Laughlin, NV. This was where I had the mini stroke last November. I was kind of afraid of going there, but thank goodness, nothing happened. Of course, we didn’t go to the casino where I had the stroke, just didn’t want to push our luck. We were there only 3 nights, and we couldn’t do all we had done before.

It was very H O T in Laughlin, 113 degrees. We had to have the rig washed, it was too hot for Chuck to handle, thank goodness for cheap labor. They came right in and had it done in about an hour or so. Chuck had some luck there in Laughlin and we had some really good buffets. In fact, we both need to cut back on the food again, but the buffets are really good there, kind of like Las Vegas was 40 years ago. We could eat for under $10-$15 for two for dinner buffets, a very good deal. Chuck had to have both airs going to keep him cool, all night too.

I don’t know why I have been getting migraines again, but I still get them, about one a week. The new pills my new doctor gave me make them go away fast, but the pills leave me wiped out for a day or so, sometimes longer. I sure wish I knew what was causing them, I would quit doing whatever it was so I wouldn’t get them.

We left Laughlin and started on Interstate 40 East, stopping here in Williams, AZ. We hadn’t been to the south rim of the Grand Canyon for 20 plus years or more, so a stop was called for. Williams was a whole lot cooler that Laughlin. In fact, I had to put on jeans right away, and a sweat shirt. The temperatures were cold for me-it was 46 at night, and our low in Laughlin was 78-80. highs were 110-113.

What an amazing sight it is to behold when you first see the Grand Canyon. All we could say was WOW! We spent the day up there yesterday, and it hasn’t changed much since we were there 20 plus years before. Each area they have is unique unto itself.

We were up to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago with Brad, Chuck’s brother, and I am still amazed by the wonderful sight we saw and now from both sides of the canyon. It truly is one of God’s works.

As we continue our trip East to Minneapolis, we will be exploring new areas we haven’t seen before. I’m looking forward to that.

We wanted to wish Chuck’s niece a Happy Graduation, Hope it went well, Samantha.

Until next time….

Lorraine

5/19/13 Chuck’s report

We truly are on the road once again. We were in the Bay area last Sunday, left there on Monday and spend the night at Bakersfield Orange Grove RV park. We left there Tuesday and decided to head to Laughlin for a few days. Friday we headed out and drove on into Williams, our first time in this area since we’ve been on the road.

Last Sunday Susy and Katie came over to spend part of Mother’s day with Lorraine. They had a good time opening presents then Lorraine and Susy had to make a run to the store while Katie and I went to the park. We had a good BBQ dinner later after Mark came by. Katie sure didn’t want to go home as she knew we were leaving the next morning but after assuring her we would see her in late June, she was ok. Lorraine didn’t want to let go either, ha.

Monday was a good driving day, blue skies and not much wind. We did have to have the generator running so we could keep the air conditioners on, it was hot, our first 100F day this year. We got to Bakersfield, set up, washed the bugs from the windshield and front then just stayed inside until it started cooling off for the evening. We walked over to the office to go through the library to trade a few books. It was the first time in a long time that we’ve had to keep the air conditioners running all night, usually we’ve had to have the heat pump running for heat instead.

Next morning we wanted to get started a bit earlier, hoping to get stopped and setup before the max heat of the day. But it was a HOT day when we drove through Bullhead City, the highest we saw was 113F. Laughlin is just across the river from Bullhead City so it was hot too. We got registered and was assigned to the area we like, right on the bluff on level 4. We have to pull into the site for the best view but all the hookups are on the normal side so we have to pull almost up to the fence for our electrical cord and hoses to reach.

After cooling off from setting up, we headed out for a burger at In & Out before trying our luck at a casino. I only played for a short while then walked around “people watching” until Lorraine was ready to leave. We both we able to leave with a bit more money than what we started with, a good sign for our stay here we hoped.

Next morning I called the folks who wash/wax coaches here and they agreed to come by at 9:00 to wash ours, it was dirty and it was too hot for me to wash it. They bring their own soft water so it doesn’t spot, if I washed it I would have to use the hard water from the park and would have to dry it before it spotted too. They wanted to wax it but it really didn’t need that so we went with just the wash.

We had gotten a phone call from the hospital in Bullhead City as we were driving in. This is where Lorraine was after her stroke back in November. Seems we had paid our portion plus part of what the insurance was to pay too. The insurance company finally paid their portion and we were to get a refund of what we had paid. The hospital had sent a check to us but didn’t use the right address, they wanted a correct address so they could resend it. But seeing as how were were in the area anyway, we told them to just hold it and we would stop by and pick it up in person, always nice to get an unexpected refund.

So after getting the coach washed, we headed out to run some errands and to stop by the hospital to pick up the check too. But no one was at their office when we got there, lunch time I guess.

So we headed out to check out this new subdivision that was just starting out that was being built for RVers. All of the homes have a RV garage and another outside place with hookups for another rig. They only have one model home built so far and are building two more. All but five of the lots for phase one are still available too. We checked it out, asked lots of questions, toured the model home and the two being built and asked more questions. The builder has lots of good ideas here, the prices seem reasonable but they won’t sell just a lot, you have to start building a home within 6 months. We aren’t ready to start building yet and don’t think this is where we want to settle down when we get off the road but it looks like this will be a premier place for RVers. They are only working on phase one with another 4 phases to be developed later so if we want, we could probably get in on one of the later phases.

We returned to the hospital to pick up our refund check then headed to Wal-Mart before returning back to the coach. After putting the stuff away, we drove out to try another casino. We tried the buffet there, the Eldorado, then returned back to the coach, Lorraine wanted to watch the last episode of American Idol.

Thursday morning Lorraine got another migraine headache. She has been getting them more lately, we don’t know if it may be the hotter temperature, lack of humidity or what. She did get a new medicine prescribed and it seems to work better than what she has been using for years but we would rather she didn’t get them in the first place.

Later we attempted to get the check from the hospital cashed, finally had to go to the bank where it was drawn on in order to get it cashed. What’s with banks not wanting to cash checks anymore??

Afterwards we decided to try our luck at another casino, the Colorado River Bell this time. Lorraine didn’t have any luck here so we didn’t play long but returned back to feed Misty. We then headed back to Tropicana Casino where they were giving me $20 free play and a free buffet. The free play didn’t produce any winnings but the buffet was ok. But once again we had to make sure we were back at the coach for the final of American Idol, Lorraine really wanted to see who won. She was happy that the gal she had been rooting for was the winner.

Friday we got everything put away and got ready for traveling. We didn’t have a long way to go but we knew we were going to higher elevation. We drove over a couple of passes, one was over 7000’. But at least we were getting into cooler temps and there were trees here too.

We got to our campground here in Williams, got checked in and assigned to our site. But when we started setting up, we found we couldn’t get leveled without the front wheels being off the ground. I walked over to the office and got a different site but when I checked it out, it was the same. So we unhooked the car and drove around looking at all the empty sites, seeing which ones would work for us. Lorraine drove over to the office and got us a new site from our list so we finally got set up

After getting set up we drove around to check out the town and a bit of the surrounding area. We were both underwhelmed, guess we thought the town would be bigger or something. But it is a nice little town, in fact, it was the last town on Route 66 that was displaced by I-40 back in the 80s. So it still has the Route 66 flavor with lots of old buildings around.

Saturday we drove the 50 miles or so up to the Grand Canyon, the main reason we are here. We were at the North rim of the Grand Canyon two years ago but it has been 30 years or so since we were at the South rim. Boy what a spectacular hole in the ground this place is. We were able to see lots of the colors because it was a nice sunny, warm day. Later it got cloudy and we actually got a few sprinkles. Lorraine took loads of pictures which I’ll go through and select some to add here.

Most of the parking areas were full, it was almost impossible to find any open parking spots but we were able to secure a driving pass to get to areas most folks have to ride the shuttle. We were able to find parking in these areas and it wasn’t as crowded either. We could park at the overlooks as long as we didn’t park in the shuttle bus area then walk to the overlooks.

We saw an individual female elk at one of the overlooks. She wasn’t bothered at all by the people around her, just continued grazing. Later we saw five elks in a different area while we were driving and they were much more nervous around us. They hurried across the road right in front of us and got into the trees/brush on the other side just as Lorraine’s camera SD card got full so we didn’t get the best pictures of them.

We had to take Misty with us as I couldn’t find her shot record the kennel here required. It wasn’t much problem, especially with the driving pass we had. In lots of the overlooks, I could even take her with us if we wanted but mostly she just stayed in the car with the windows opened.

After we got back to the coach, we wanted to go into town to find a BBQ place for dinner. But I couldn’t find it on the GPS so we settled for KFC instead.

As I previously mentioned, we had temperatures into the 100s every day in Laughlin and it only dropped into the 70s at night. Lorraine commented that we were getting snowed on just a couple of weeks ago as we left Reno and headed back to the Bay area, what a difference. As we left Laughlin headed East the temperatures dropped as we were climbing. When we got here, the temperature was only in the high 60s. Lorraine and I both decided to put on long pants again, shoot. It was warm enough at the Grand Canyon for shorts but when we got back here it was still too chilly and windy for shorts so guess we’ll just keep wearing long pants until we leave. The wind has been blowing all the time we have been here too but at least the skies are blue with fluffy clouds.

Our plans are to stay here through Monday, heading out on Tuesday for Flagstaff. Once again, this will be new grounds for us to explore, not sure how long we will be there either. Guess it depends on what we find. I have been checking out Albuquerque for later and figure we will probably stay there for a few days at least but that’s for the next blog, ha. We don’t have any reservations anyplace yet so guess we’ll just play it by ear as we continue our travels East.

And now to add some pictures.

Mother’s Day with Susy and Katie.