Las Vegas to Camp Verde

Well, we couldn't wait any longer and got the wheels on the motorhome moving today.  We had intended to leave Las Vegas on Monday but we were having a great time and put it off for a few days.  Time ran out today.

We had a 300+ mile trip ahead of us and the weather forecast called for low winds.  They were wrong!  We had winds up to 40 mph pounding us all day.  Some gusts really smacked the motorhome and shifted it over a few feet.  For a change, I didn't get to see much scenery since I was fighting the wheel most of the time.  At one time it was so strong I decided to pull off the road, but then it eased up.  

This will be another pictorial blog since basically we rode all day long and didn't stop except for fuel.  So here goes:

Lake Mead is seriously low now and as you can see there are small islands in the lake and they were previously under water.  As the lake level receded, the white stain remained.

 Notice the island with a black top and white sides in the lake, plus the row of land exposed now.  Must be rough on boat propellers now that the lake level has dropped so much.

 This is the new bridge that replaced the road over Hoover Dam.  Even though we were in the motorhome and 900 ft above the river, we couldn't see the Colorado River flowing beneath us.  It doesn't look like a $240 million bridge, but that was the cost to construct it and the highways leading up to it.

View of the bridge from above.

Rt 93 South Mike O'Callagham, Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

Recreation area along the Colorado River.

 We began to see smoke and smell the Sedona Slide Creek fire in Oak Canyon as we rode along I-40 east of Williams, AZ.  The tall smoke plumes weren't visible, but the smoke covered the forests along side of the road.

 Once we turned on to I-17 south the smoke was more visible and this is a good shot of the fire around the Munds Park area.  The fire is west of Munds Park and it doesn't seem to be a problem for them.  As you can imagine, it is the big topic in the news around here and everyone is watching it's progress.  The area where it is burning is in very steep and difficult areas, so fighting the fire is slow going.

 We came across this sign on I-17 and thought, oh boy.  We've been down this road before and it looks worse than it is.  I put the motorhome engine brake on and we went from 7500 ft near Flagstaff to around 3000 ft in Camp Verde.  Thank God for the engine brake.

There were other signs, but I am sure you are tired of seeing the signs by now.  We were chuckling about how they told you how many miles to go.

We finally arrived at the Rancho Verde Campground in Camp Verde and intend to stay here a couple weeks and check out the Sedona, Cottonwood, Jerome and Flagstaff areas.  We've been here before a number of times and never tire of seeing the beautiful mountains in the area.

Oh, before I forget.  When I went to dump the black tank today it wouldn't expel the liquids.  Oh, Oh!   Not good.  We decided to drive to Camp Verde and let the contents slosh around and hopefully clear up the problem.  Once we had the motorhome hooked up at our site, I connected the sewer hose to their septic system and pulled the plug.  Whew!  Everything worked out fine in the end and that was a relief.  

See, there was some excitement today other than the 40mph winds and bad driving conditions.  I was glad to get off the road today and settle down.

That was our day, how was yours?