Sunday, November 8, 2009 Lorraine’s report
We’re here in sunny, hot Laughlin, NV. The temperature has been around 85 to 90 degrees daily, getting down to the 60’s at night; a big change from the Oregon coast and most definitely a change from our summer in Alaska. We love it here. We’re in a nice park, Don Laughlin’s RV Park, we have a great site, 50 amp, sewer and water. We over look the town/ and Chuck pulled in head first so we can see the whole area.
We left the bay area on Tuesday morning, sadly, leaving behind our Grand daughter, Kaitlyn, Susy and Mark. Chuck showed Kaitlyn our return date on our calendar for several days before we left, so she would know when we would come back to be with her.
We stayed at the Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield the first night out. The trees were loaded with oranges, but they aren’t ripe yet the gal said. Chuck was able to find a few that did not have any green on them, so he picked a handful. They are so sweet and juicy. They should be ripe by the time we leave the bay area in January.
By late Wednesday afternoon, we were out of the trees and into the desert, with cactus and Joshua Trees, quite a change. We arrived here around dinner time on Wednesday, set up, and drove down the strip. We found an In & Out burger place for dinner, then came home. We were both tired.
Thursday was laundry and clean the coach day. We finished that and went into Bullhead City to the Super Walmart to stock up. That Walmart was sure big and so busy. We got home and both of us hadn’t slept well the night before, so we took a nap. We stayed home for dinner.
Friday we took the rugs into a Laundromat since they are so large, too large to fit into my washer/dryer. Chuck suggested we go on down to the River Walk. We did that, then had the Seafood buffet at the Aquarius Casino. We played a while, both coming out ahead.
Saturday we got up and went into the Riverside Casino, the RV Park here gave us two free breakfast buffet tickets for staying here. Next week we get two more tickets, such a great deal, since the food was very good.
This week we still need to shampoo the carpets from our Alaska trip. That is the last thing left to do on the coach from that trip; and even though it is a lot of work to clean up, I would go again, since it was such a great trip. I will also start my Christmas wrapping, while I have the chance.
Please continue to pray for our friends, Bill and Jeanette, Thank You.
Until next time……Lorraine
Sunday November 8th, 2009 Chuck’s report
Monday was the last day Lorraine could be with Kaitlyn all day so we took full advantage of it. I picked her up at their house in the morning, Lorraine and she played, watched movies and did art work together all day. We then headed over to Susy’s house. After Susy and Mark got off work, we went to Black Angus for dinner. Thanks Susy and Mark for sharing your time and daughter with us for a week. As your governor has said “We will be back”.
We left the Bay area and headed East on Tuesday. Lorraine was able to call some of our family and friends while we were on the road and get caught up on their happenings. We pulled into Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield in the afternoon. This park was built in an old orange grove, each site has at least one tree, most have more. They allow you to pick the oranges from the tree(s) in your site. The oranges are just starting to get ripe, most of them are still in the process. We were able to find an few that were ripe and picked them, Lorraine really likes them, they are so sweet, being tree ripened.
We left Bakersfield Wednesday morning and drove further East, through the Mohave desert, lots of nothing but straight roads and small hills. The freeway was in pretty good shape with mild traffic. I asked Lorraine if she wanted to drive; she surprised me when she said yes. I’ve asked her many time if she wanted to drive and she has always said no, until now. I pulled over to the side, we changed seats and she took off driving. She drove for about 15 minutes, did a good job too. She even passed a slow moving semi although she was nervous doing that. The only other time she’s driven the rig was when we picked it up at the dealer in Alabama back in April, ‘07. I’ve told her she needs get more comfortable driving so I could have my heart attack and know she could get us somewhere safely, ha.
And I even have pictures to prove she was driving. Of course, I can’t take good pictures but you can tell it was her behind the wheel. She told me later that she wasn’t even aware I was taking her picture, she was concentrating so much on driving!
After her driving time, we once again exchanged chairs and I continue driving until we got to our planned stop at Don Laughlin’s RV park in Laughlin, Nevada. I had found a coupon in one of the RV magazines that gave us two weeks for $109, normally it costs $145/week. They also threw in four free breakfast buffets in the Casino, worth $7.99 each. And, we were given one of the premium sites, on the upper level, on the bluff overlooking the town. It’s really a nice spot and at night the lights from the casinos are nice. We pulled into our site rather than back in so we could look out the front windshield and see the town, nice. I’ve talked to a few folks who spend the whole winter here, nice weather and a quiet area.
After getting set up, we headed into town for a bit of sightseeing and ate at In n Out burgers. This a good place for a burger, not sure how they can afford to give such good burgers at that price.
Next morning, Thursday, we took the bedspread and big rugs to a local laundry mat. We haven’t been able to wash the rug since before our trip to Alaska, it looks good once again. We spent the rest of day just lounging around, didn’t even head back into town to any of the casinos.
On Friday, we wanted to walk the river walk in town so we drove down and parked. We walked the river for an hour or so, I had forgotten how fast the river current was and how clean the water is. Boy what a different Colorado River here compared to Yuma! Of course, while we were down town, we had to try a couple of casinos. This was one of the times we both came out ahead, Lorraine more than me as usual but I did win a couple.
Later we went to a seafood buffet where we both ate more than we should have but it was good. Lorraine got to eat some crab, it’s been awhile since she’s had any crab and she likes it so much. I don’t do seafood but made a pretty healthy dent in the prime rib at the carving station. After dinner, we called it a night and headed back to our coach where we just relaxed.
Saturday we decided to use two of our free buffet coupons so we once again headed down the hill. The breakfast was good but of course, while we were there we had to try the casino. I came out ahead (by a nickel (that’s $0.05) but Lorraine didn’t win this time. Later we headed back to the rig for more of the relaxing time we came here for. The weather has been just fantastic, in the high 80s during the day, down to the high 50s at night. Definitely shorts and tee shirt time while here. Both of us like the warm, dry weather, our joints don’t hurt as much. Of course, we are glad we have air conditioners in the coach.
We plan on staying here until the 18th, then head back to the Bay area to spend Thanksgiving at our daughter’s house. Our son is on vacation in Florida and he will stop by on his way back home to Alaska. So once again, we will all be together at our daughter’s for Thanksgiving, first time we’ve all been together in two years. Looking forward to that. We will then head for Palm Springs, California for two weeks after Thanksgiving, once again warm, dry weather, we hope.
So that was our week, here are some pictures.
Our coach at Bakersfield Orange Grove RV park.
Some of the drive from the Bay area to Laughlin, Nevada.
Once again, they have erected lots of wind generators along the way. I think this is the third place we’ve seen these windmill “forests” here in California.
The military has a big presence here in the desert. This guy was flying low.
That’s Joshua Trees on the right, a kind of cactus that only grow at a certain elevation and temperature. They look fluffy from a distance but they sure have big stickers on them.
Bullhead City, Arizona, right across the river from Laughlin, Nevada. This is where California, Nevada and Arizona borders meet.
Here we are at the Colorado River in Laughlin.
Some pictures from our site, the sunset was spectacular our first night here.
So that’s our week in review and with pictures once again. Hope to do the same thing next week.
Thanks Chuck
