The Journey to Las Vegas

After a long and winding ride through the Arizona desert we arrived in Las Vegas. There's a bit more to this story, so let's back up a bit. We departed Santa Fe after a blissful month of beautiful weather... warm days, chilly nights and amazing sunsets.

We knew change was inevitable, Las Vegas would offer a view of the strip and billboards all around us, change is good, right? Oh and gambling! I almost forgot to mention that!

Not a winning hand...

We began our journey through Arizona with a plan to stay the first night in Winslow Arizona. Yes, there's an Eagles song,  "Standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona"...
We stayed that night in a funky park called Meteor Crater RV Park. The Meteor Crater is a tourist attraction nearby, the worlds best preserved meteorite impact site off  the iconic Route 66 just outside Winslow.
We didn't check it out, maybe next time..
None of the parks in the Southwest have any grass, everything is gravel, Savannah is NOT impressed.

The next morning our destination was Kingman Arizona. We continued on Route 40 West, it was a bumpy ride through the mountains, I think the state of Arizona hasn't upgraded that stretch road, can we say, ever? There was also some wind that challenges your ability to stay straight on the road, did I also mention the other semi's that blow by you at high speeds? By the end of the day the Copilot was exhausted despite the Captains excellent driving skills.  I have to get a better grip on my fears and realize that we WILL make our destination unscathed!
We stopped for a delightful lunch in Seligman Arizona at the Roadkill Cafe, this joint was Americana personified! A nice break from the rough ride!

The food was delicious,(it always is when you aren't doing the cooking) the Iced Tea was cold and sometimes that's all you need to brighten the mood! 

We arrived in Kingman in the afternoon, specifically, The Blake Ranch RV Park, up the hill from a Truck stop, literally!  More gravel, no grass and Savannah was feeling as I was, let's just get this over with and get to Vegas!

Seasoned RVers will tell you that you should travel an average of 300 miles a day or 6 hours on the road, at first I didn't understand that, now that we have traveled over 2500 miles, I get it! 

Driving a coach with a car in tow that weighs almost 18 tons is a task that takes your full attention, its easy to be the copilot (most of the time!)

The driver has to be keenly aware of every other vehicle on the road, cruise control is a necessity because you have to place all your attention on your steering and you don't want to have to monitor your speed, the maximum speed is 65 miles per hour. Oh and by the way ... there is no backing up when you are towing a car and you better make sure you have plenty of room to make turns! The Captain can back up that 40 foot coach easily without a car in tow, of course its equipped with back up cameras and I'm usually out there waving him in when he backs up into spaces. We always disconnect the car when we first arrive at a park unless they give us a "pull thru space", in which case parking is just pulling in! Usually they charge extra for that! 

I got off the track a bit on my story, so we arrive in Kingman aka, extension of the Truck Stop, had a light dinner and settled in for night to the constant hum of the semis in the parking lot nearby.

We were up bright and early ready to complete the last 138 miles of our journey to Las Vegas! I was anxious to get going and so Jay suggested I go on ahead in the car and he would me meet there later so he could stop and get the coach washed at the neighboring truck stop. The Captain has set me free! So I hopped in the car and off I went! It was a beautiful crisp sunny day so I pointed the Jeep west towards Vegas after a momentary recollection of a scene from the movie Thelma and Louise. It was that kind of day, but, I wasn't in a convertable!

It was a wonderful ride, I turned up the radio, and relished the ride through the desert. The scenery is not to be believed, of course I knew it would be! I passed by the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead and in 90 minutes I was on I-215 with a view of the skyline of Las Vegas and the strip.

The famous Hoover Dam

Our home for the remainder of 2014 is 5 miles from the strip. The Oasis RV Park, it's a 5 star RV park with 2 pools, golf, a restaurant and 2000 spaces for potential neighbors! The only place I've ever seen more Palm Trees is our other home on Flagler Drive! 

I met Jay at this behemoth resort, "So Vegas" is all I can say..

We checked in and moved into our site and I can tell you there is no open prairie in this neighborhood!  We will have many more stories to share and this time, what goes on in Vegas won't stay in Vegas!

It's Finally Vegas baby!