Summer Travels Are Over, Time to Catch Up On Blogs! - Wed., Oct.11, 2017

I feel like such a random writer these days. I'm way behind on blogs and need to finish up on our Hawaii vacation from November/December 2016, our trip around the southeast in April/May 2017, one last blog from the eclipse trip in August, and our most recent vacation to Nevada/Arizona/New Mexico. So hang on, we're going on a verbal time-travel mission. It might not be pretty because it won't be in any particular order. I'll start with our most recent expedition first.

You last heard from us at Picacho Peak RV Resort in Eloy, Arizona. It was a nice enough RV park with a beautiful view of Picacho Peak. Next time we're in the area, it would be nice to spend time at the state park next door, visit Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch next door on the other side of the RV park, go to Pima Air and Space Museum, the largest aircraft boneyard in the world at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Saguaro National Park, and so much more. As Bob says "We're not done with this part of the country yet."

Sunday, October 1, 2017:

Bob is in training for San Antonio's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in December. This morning, he needed to run 14 miles. This is a problem when the temperature is 96 degrees. So, he decided to get up at 4:00 a.m. (crazy, right?) to get his run in before it got too hot. 

I, on the other hand, attempted to sleep in. The cats had other ideas and woke me up for their breakfast. 

Since I was up anyway, I decided to go out and take "golden hour" photos of Picacho Peak. The lighting was beautiful as the sun came up.

Beauty and Rigamarole at
Picacho Peak RV Resort

Picacho Peak and saguaro cactus

I ate breakfast while I waited for Bob to return from his run and got the 5th wheel ready to roll. Bob came back, showered, put away all outside paraphernalia (electric cord, water hose, surge protector, chocks), and hooked us up. Meanwhile, I had cleaned and cut up celery and made chicken salad for our lunch. We exited the RV park before check-out time and headed northwest to Las Vegas.

We had smooth sailing (sorry for the mixed metaphor) all the way to Las Vegas. We checked into our site at Las Vegas RV Resort by 5:00 p.m. After we set up and got situated, we headed over to Bob's mom's house for dinner. Since our microwave was kaput, we had Chicken Tikka Masala to cook so we took that along with rice. Bob's sister made a cabbage salad, Bob's niece, Emily, brought a sub sandwich to share and Bob's mom made chocolate chip cookies. We had a very nice dinner and enjoyed catching up on what everyone's been up to. 

After dinner, we brought in the leftover art from our move into our new manufactured home. [Note: When we collected art in our 3,200 sq. ft. home in Washington state, and then moved into a 1,400 sq. ft. home in Hawaii, we did not have room for all our art. From Hawaii, we moved into our 5th wheel where we had no room for art. All of our art was in storage from 6 to 11 years!] We let Bob's mom, sister, and niece pick out pieces they wanted. What was left we brought back to San Antonio with us.

The Neon Museum lobby (this reminds me of
Stitch of Lilo and Stitch).

After dinner and dealing with art, Bob and I had a date to see The Neon Museum. It's a small place and you have to book a tour. I called in the afternoon as we were driving north to find out if they had a tour for tonight (the only free night we had). They did...at 11:40 p.m. Cool. We booked it. I really wanted to see the outdoor museum at night when they light up 11 of the old neon (and other) Las Vegas signs from days of yore. 

We arrived at the museum about 10:45 p.m. That gave us time to read some of the history in their lobby and peruse the gift shop. 

People were mentioning there was an active shooter on The Strip. Alarming, to say the least. All they knew was it was on the south strip and we were at the north end. 

We had about 15 minutes to spare so we sat in their outdoor courtyard. People were on their smartphones talking about a shooting at a music festival. At that point, no one really knew what was going on because it had just happened. All kinds of rumors were swirling about, none of them were good news. 

We were all appalled at what we were hearing and seeing, posts from people at the festival, posts with people getting shot, people trying to flee, and of others lying injured and bleeding on the ground. We checked our phones, too. 

At 11:40 out tour guide took us out into the neon sign boneyard. What a unique collection. 

From Binion's Horseshoe

The Golden Nugget

Our tour guide - Genevieve -
born and raised in Las Vegas

The Lido

Showboat Casino

Binion's Horseshoe

Fitzgerald's

On Sassy Sally's marquee, Genevieve pointed out the subliminal message, the two "S"s in the middle of Sassy are dollar signs.

Sassy Sally's

We learned about all the colors of neon and the gases that create them. Some gases can be combined to create other colors. Neon is orange, hydrogen is red, argon is blue, helium is yellow, carbon dioxide is white, and mercury is blue. 

An intricate neon sign

In the Yucca photo above, notice the white "flowers" of the yucca plant. According to our tour guide, those squiggly lines are very hard to achieve when bending neon glass tubes. She said a master craftsman must have created the flower portion.

All kinds of signs can be found here

Algiers Hotel

In addition to the Tam O'Shanter sign below, underneath it you can see a large tam o'shanter cap sculpture.

Tam O'Shanter

How very Texan

Below is a large sculpture of a pool player. You can see how big it is by the people standing under it. I shot it from different angles so you can see the detail. The artist even put in knuckles and fingernails.

Of course, wedding chapels had to be represented.

Sign for an Asian restaurant (no neon, though)

My very favorite neon sign was Liberace's signature. He always did a little doodle at the bottom of his signature. Look closely and you will see a piano under this signature. Classy!

The Stardust and Riviera signs

Bob in front of the Sahara sign

I will always remember the Sahara (which was torn down a few years ago) for it's super-fast, out-and-back, frontward, then reverse, roller-coaster ride. It was thrilling. My sister and I took my mom on it during her 80th birthday road trip. She was terrified. 

Frontier with massive longhorn horns

La Concha Motel (it's the lobby of the museum now)

Me with the ugly duckling

At the end of the tour, we passed under the Riviera and Tropicana signs on the way into the gift shop.

There is so much Vegas history here. We highly recommend you visit to learn all about it.

Tour over. Time to head back to the 5th wheel and get some sleep.

Westward Ho! - Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017

In the American Old West, about 1830-1870, the Westward Expansion was in full swing. Wagon trains carrying settlers fanned out on different trails across the West to settle in new places with the promise of a better life. Some would strike it rich in the gold rush, others would farm, or bank, or open businesses. 

Getting from their old home to a new life was fraught with danger - everything from disease, Indian attacks, starvation, inclement weather, dehydration, and robbers - seemed destined to set them back. If they were able, they continued on through whatever obstacles or setbacks came their way. Over 500,000 people are estimated to have moved along the trails.

This week we are traveling west in our covered wagon (Rigamarole). On Friday afternoon, we drove from San Antonio to Fort Stockton Texas, and stayed overnight at Hilltop RV Park where we've stayed twice before on cross-Texas trips. We arrived about 9:30 p.m.

By 7:00 a.m. this morning, we were on the road. Our destination for today: Picacho Peak RV Resort in Arizona.

All morning we had rain showers, and then we hit thick fog. The fog was so thick, we had to keep our windshield wipers on. It was hard to see semi-trucks in front of us. They looked like ghosts in the fog. 

The fog lifted where I-20 meets I-10 in west Texas. I checked myradar.com to see what weather would be ahead of us. I saw a big band of heavy rain showers. Really? In West Texas? 

Sure enough, before El Paso a drenching rainstorm hit us. We could barely see to drive. We were glad it was daylight and not night. The rain showers lasted about 25 minutes. From then on, we had beautiful skies all the way to Picacho Park RV Resort.

New Mexico's awesome scenery...

Dramatic shelf cloud descended over the mountains

Awesome cloud formation on the way to Las Cruces

We were amazed by this shelf cloud

Photos taken from Flying J

Franklin Mountains

Franklin Mountains, New Mexico

Driving in New Mexico toward Arizona

Once in Arizona, we needed a rest stop and we found one of the prettiest in the Southwest: Texas Canyon Rest Area between Benson and Willcox (in southeast Arizona). It reopened in June 2016 after getting a six-month makeover. They didn't have to makeover the scenery though; it's pretty spectacular.

Texas Canyon Rest Area, Arizona

Texas Canyon Rest Area, Arizona

At Texas Canyon Rest Area, Arizona

Texas Canyon Rest Area, Arizona

Texas Canyon Rest Area, Arizona

We arrived at Picacho Peak RV Resort a little after 3 p.m. Mountain Time. We had gained an hour. The temperature was 98 degrees. Upon hooking up to shore power, we had issues with our electricity (which had all worked fine the night before). Our refrigerator, microwave, and bedroom AC were not working. The living room AC worked fine. We had the electrician in the park come out and test the post and our rig. Things just didn't make sense. For a time the bedroom AC came on, but then went off. 

What the guys in the RV park told us is that in the Tucson//Eloy/Casa Grande area in the late afternoon on a hot day, the power grid takes a hit with the draw from everyone using it. They told us as the evening wore on and there was less draw on the power, we should have both ACs working. Sure enough, we went out to look for ice to put in our refrigerator. When we got back to the 5th wheel, the bedroom AC worked and the refrigerator was back on. The microwave, however, seems to be kaput. It will not come back on.

So, even though we had some issues, they were nothing compared to what wagon trains faced in the 1800s. I could not imagine walking next to a wagon in the heavy fog/mist this morning, only to travel a few miles farther on and encounter a drenching rainstorm. 

Our modern "wagons" are so much more comfortable! Travel on.

Tomorrow night we'll be in Las Vegas. Woo hoo!