Avi Casino, Laughlin, NV - November 20 to November 27, 2015

We are just finishing the last week at the Avi Casino, located at the very southern tip of Nevada. We have been boondocking here.

Later today, we will be moving a couple of miles east, back into Arizona, to the Riverside Adventure Trails (The RAT) in Fort Mohave, AZ.

This last week, we were out and about and doing something pretty much everyday. We went out with Gene and friends Nell & JP. We went to happy hour at the Laughlin Lodge Casino.

Donna says they have good Coconut Shrimp.

We went to church again with "RV Dreamers" Ruth & Dale. They are winding down their unscheduled stop here in the area. Their 5th wheel is finally getting repaired. They are flying to Texas for Thanksgiving and we are watching their furry family member, Tazzy.

We had Thanksgiving at Gene's house. Nell & JP were there and another friend, Tom.

We had way too much food. We have much to be thankful for. A great life.

We also went out along Route 66 and did some geocaching.

We returned a Traveling Bug, that we found at Midway on Route 66 last year, It's back on the 'Mother Road'. Just 600 miles further along.

It is hidden up in the black rocks.

We love the desert.

Tomorrow, we go on our mini vacation. Actually a fast trip to Livingston, TX for Doctor checkups. But it is going to be like a vacation. Looking forward to the drive.

Ridgeview Resort, Bullhead City, AZ - November 14 to November 19, 2015

An easy drive south to the Bullhead City/Ft Mohave/Laughlin area. We checked into the Ridgeview Resort. This is an RPI park that we were at 2 years ago when Donna broke her foot.

It was good to get back to this area. It kinda seems like our 'second home' area because we have spent so much time here. Our spot has a good view out our front window of the colorful Laughlin casinos at night.

It is a bit windy here, but that is quite common.

We visited with Donna's brother, Gene. He was having another yard sale.

Our RV Dreams friends, Ruth & Dale are here getting some major RV repairs. We all went to church Sunday and then had brunch at IHOP.

It is always good to meet up with friends on the road.

This week, our Jeep got some new shoes. And a much needed alignment.  We chose Toyo Open Country All Terrain II tires. $$$  These should last awhile.

More RV Dreamers are in the area and we had a meet-up at Pints Brewery. Located in the Colorado Belle Casino in Laughlin, NV.

From left to right .. Me, Donna, Anna, Guy, Sue, Ruth, and Dale.  Good times.

Laughlin is all lit up at night.

I think I'll be getting a Reverse Osmosis system for the RV next week. Our old one went with the 5th wheel. I'm looking at these two.

Good prices. We should recoup the cost before long. RO water is good and it will be good to stop buying bottled water and filling jugs at the Glacier water vending machines.

And, I fixed a problem we have been having with our Norcold refrigerator. After having some cooling problems this summer, I used our hair dryer to get the door seals back in shape. This worked great. I also discovered that the hair dryer made de-frosting the fridge a snap. The problem we have been having for some time, is that it has been getting too cold. Our food has been freezing no matter what setting the thermostat has been set on. In doing some Internet research, it seemed it would be the thermister or electronic control board. I found and downloaded a service manual for our Norcold 1210 IM refrigerator and discovered how to put it in diagnostic mode. The display showed all kinds of good info. It showed that the thermister was reading a temperature of 75 degrees right on the cooling fans. That wasn't right. It was covered in ice and frost. No wonder the fridge was running wide open and freezing everything. Then I found an item on the Net that says you shouldn't heat up the thermister with a hair dryer too much. Since it usually measures temps from 25 degrees to 50 or so, I guess it goes crazy when it is blasted with 200 degrees! So I bought a new thermister for 25 bucks, and it fixed the problem. Yay!

I will be careful with the hair dryer heat around it from now on.

Later....

Lake Mead and Hoover Dam - November 10 to November 13, 2015

Our last day in Death Valley, our Christian Fellowship group got together and served breakfast to the Escapee Solos. The Solo BoF group is a fun group and we got to serve 47 of them pancakes, sausage, eggs, and OJ.

Just before the big feed, it rained in Death Valley!

Crazy!

But it stopped right away and we all had a good time together.

Then we hit the dump station and drove up and out of the valley. 144 miles later, and cruising through Las Vegas, we arrived at the Boulder Beach campground at the Lake Mead Recreation Area.
Not a lot of people here and we picked a good spot.

Three more days of boondocking. I forgot to look up and now our solar panels are pretty shaded most of the day. Oh well. It is nice and quiet here.

Right after we got set up, we went into Boulder City. It is a neat little town. The next day, we went to Hoover Dam.

Here is a shot of Lake Mead, the marina, and way off, our campground. The water sure is low.

Hoover Dam

I love this shot. I photo-bombed a group selfie!

We walked all over and across the dam. Now what irked me, was that they wanted $10.00 to park in their parking lot. We drove a mile away and parked for free. Then they wanted $10.00 per person to get inside the visitor center. ??? We passed. And if we wanted to do a Hoover Dam tour, it was $30.00 per person. I quess we are too cheap. We saw everything (above ground) and saved 90 bucks.

There are some nice walking/biking trails here. There is the Historic Railroad Trail that goes right by our campground.

Here is mile marker 22.5. There are 5 tunnels between here and Hoover Dam just 5 miles away.

The trail also connects to the River Mountains Loop Trail that goes into Boulder City. This is a good place to bike.

We also had a call from our grandson, Chase. He is a Marine stationed in Camp Pendleton. He just happened to be in Las Vegas for the Marine Corp Ball.

So we drove into Vegas and met up at Johnny Rockets in the Excalliber Resort & Casino.

It was good to see him again.

Good times!

Next stop, Bullhead City, AZ.

Our Week At Death Valley National Park - November 3 to November 10, 2015

Stand-by ... for lots of pictures!!

We convoyed with 3 other rigs from Peggy Sue's. As we got closer to Death Valley, we passed through Baker. And saw the world's biggest thermometer.

We pulled over in Death Valley Junction to make some lunch.

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The land is getting drier and more desertly. We are going to the NP for a Christian Fellowship rally followed by the 49'ers Encampment Days.

It even rained a little as we entered the park.

Down, down, down we go into Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park. The hottest, lowest, and driest place on earth!

Then got set up in Sunset Campground for the week.

This is a boondocking campground. On arrival, we stopped at the dump station and filled our fresh water tank. The drinking water here is reverse-osmosis water and is really good.
we parked away from the big crowds in the overflow section with our Christian Fellowship group.

Here we are at the Furnace Creek Ranch area. It's like a little city here.

The visitor center.

A gas station.... expensive gas too!

*

A post office, general store, saloon, buffet hall,

A nice golf course. At 214 feet below sea level, it is the lowest in the world.

Yes, I played a round there. My score was not too good. But I had fun. Only 1 par and only lost 1 ball.

There is the Borax Museum with lots of old time 49'er mining equipment on display.

And a pool too. A busy place I bet when the temps are up around 120 degrees.

And other things to gander at!

Now for some of the things we did during our week here.


Dantes View. Awesome view of Death Valley from 5,475 feet above sea level ... to -282 below. Cold and windy too.

Zabriskie Point.

The Devils Golfcourse. You wouldn't want to stumble and fall down out there.

The lowest point on earth. Badwater Basin. Halfway up the mountain, is sea level!

A hike along Salt Creek Interpretive Trail.

The Devils Cornfield.

The Mesquite Flat Dunes.

A stop at Harmony Borax Works, quite an old borax mine in it's day, along with a 20 mule team borax wagon.

And lots of other exploration hikes.

Along the white rocks.

Had to top all the big hills surrounding our campground.

Up to the tea house.

I think we visited at just the right time of the year. The temps while we were here ranged from 68 degrees, to around 82. It was a bit windy at times too.

Onward to the Lake Mead area.