Solar Farm & Laughlin NV

Our short visit to Las Vegas came to an end and Gerry went down to the cashier to cash in her winnings. We had a great time here and are wanting to make plans to come back for a couple weeks in the motorhome this fall or next spring if we come out west in the fall. There is always something going on in this town and you can keep busy seeing shows, gambling or just sightseeing around the place. We have the added advantage of geocaching and that has taken us to some out of the way places in Las Vegas.

When we finally hit the road for Laughlin, NV we came upon police cars in the median strip of the highway for miles. They were spaced about a half mile apart and had their lights flashing. At first we thought they were speed traps, but they were so obvious and not stopping anyone so that wasn't it. When we turned down Rt 95 and saw even more police cars, trucks, etc we knew something was up. They were blocking the side roads all along the highway and also driving in the desert about ¼ mile off the highway. It finally dawned on Gerry that Obama was coming to town to give a political speech at a solar panel farm on the outskirts of Boulder, NV. The only time I ever saw so many police cars lining the road was in Abidjan when the president of the Ivory Coast was moving around.

We drove by the solar panel arrays a few minutes later and made it past the site. The people coming into Boulder from the south weren't so lucky. They had the two lanes blocked and people were standing outside their cars, trucks, etc milling about wondering what was going on. They were backed up for over a mile and the line was growing rapidly. I wonder how many votes he was going to get from this group of people.

Rt 95 is a nice 4 lane divided highway south of Boulder down to I-40 just west of Needles, CA. The speed limit is 75mph all the way until you get to the little burg of Searchlight, NV where the road goes through the center of town and is down to 25mph. A first I wondered why they didn't bypass the town like they do everywhere else and then it dawned on me that Sen Harry Bird lives in this town. They didn't want the road to bypass the few stores there and have the town die like many others in the same situation. It's nice to have a powerful Senator from your home town and all the things he can do for you.

A few miles north of Searchlight we stopped to pick up a geocache at an old abandoned gold mine.  It was a relatively easy find but the mine shaft had fence wire around it to keep people from falling into the shaft.  It was at a steep angle and there was a tipple with narrow gauge rail lines running down in the shaft.  I am sure glad that I didn't have to go down that hole in the ground every day to make a living.

We continued on our way to Laughlin, NV and stopped at the Tropicana Hotel there to check on getting a room. They quoted a price of $37/night and Gerry managed to get them down to $29/night. It was a huge hotel and they must have had a lot of empty rooms to fill and were willing to deal with her. The rooms looked a little worn and frazzled, but overall it was a decent place to spend a night. No frills, small tv, internet was extra and a spartan room. 

We unloaded our bags and headed down to the Players Club to get our cards and then gambled for an hour or so. We were ahead and then decided it was time for dinner at their buffet. With the Players card we got the meal cheaper and paid $9 for a very nice buffet. It was amazing that the food there was better than the Mandalay Bay hotel in Vegas, but that was the case.  Gerry gambled some more after dinner and I went to the room to watch some basketball games. Win win for both of us.

Laughlin has about 15 casino/hotels along the Colorado River on the Nevada side and is a nice little town. Most of the hotel/casinos are very nice and upscale and rival some of the 2^nd level hotels in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Strip & Pawn Shop Stars

We decided to spend some time on the Strip today and check out the sights.  We were here two years ago and they have built a ton of new buildings since then.  The new City Center was just taking shape in 2010 and now it looks completed.  There is another huge block or two long casinos going up on the strip near the Wynn casinos.  It is hard to imagine that they all can survive and make a profit.  

Gucci on the strip

In the midst of all these buildings are upscale places like Prado, Gucci, Louie Vutton and others.  We saw more than one luxury car including a brand new Ferrari that was cruising down the strip.  I wonder why you would buy a Ferrari to just drive from traffic light to traffic light.  Maybe they take it out on the road after hours.

We drove by the sign boneyard and were surprised how small it was and how close to downtown.  I always figured it would be out in the desert somewhere and there would be thousands of signs.  Not so, they are crammed into a small space and it was hard to see all of them.  They are working on the street near the area so that made it even harder to see them.  There is a small park next to the boneyard that was open, but we didn't see much parking in the area.  The area was the scene of a geocache and I had to pick out a favorite sign to complete the find.  The Golden Nugget was my choice.

We stopped at the Pawn Shop Stars shop on Las Vegas Blvd and Gerry wanted to go in and see what it looked like.  The stars weren't there, but the place was full of tourists and about 50 clerks selling t-shirts and the tourist junk.  The shop is in a seedy area of Las Vegas near the downtown section. 

We ran into a famous person on the strip out near the Welcome to Las Vegas sign.  He was there posing with the tourists and making a ton of money doing so.  He even had his signature pink Cadillac car parked in the area.  He has lost some weight since we last saw him in the 1970s.  Wow!  It is amazing how he hasn't aged after all those years.


Gerry saw a sign for all the girls out there and managed to get a good shot of it as we drove by.  Feast your eyes on this all you ladies.  There was another sign advertising an Australian group but she couldn't get a clear shot of that one.  I thought the car parked in front of the sign looked great.

We managed to get some shots of two of the older casinos left on the strip.  The Sahara casino closed down a year or so ago and they have taken down part of it, but the bulk of the old building is still there.

As the night wore on we drove the strip a couple times after dark and enjoyed the drive.  There was some traffic, but nothing that terrible.  Circus Circus used to be a top casino but has fallen in stature after all the new casinos were built.  They still have a ton of light bulbs in the entrance of the casino and it looked good after dark.

  We have eaten numerous dinners at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino over the years and enjoyed them very much.  They were always one of the more expensive buffets but the food was always great.  Well, that ended with this trip to the buffet.  The price this time has gone up to $30/person and was one of the worst buffets we have eaten.  What a disappointment to the both of us.  Later on in the evening my stomach was acting up and bothered me most of the night.  Yuk.

We did manage to leave with a net gain of $50 in gambling money and Gerry played for hours.  She had a ball and is already talking about coming back for a week.  Time to start saving our pennies for the next trip.

Sam's Town

We are staying at the Eastside Cannery hotel for a few days and our room overlooks Sam's Town RV park and the casino.  We always stay at Sam's Town RV when we have the motorhome with us, but since we are only going to be here for a few days, we came up in the car.

Sam's Town RV park & Casino

We got a great rate for the hotel room, but they want $6.00 for room service coffee and $12.99/day for internet service.  Ouch!  Monday is half price day for food for 55+ patrons with the club card.  We meet the criteria for 1/2 price and had a late breakfast here.  In order to get the 1/2 price you have to get a voucher at the Player's Club  center which was at the other end of the casino.  We had to make two trips to the center to get the voucher and spent 1/2 hour or more doing so.  It seems the hotel gives a great room rate and then tries to recover the reduction with prices such as above.  I guess it is the nature of the business environment now.

Gerry and I spent some time gambling this morning and I was up $19 and Gerry was losing.  I finally got tired of the games and gave her my winnings and came back to the room.  She will be down there turning that hand crank for a while.  No problem, I am happy to take it easy and catch up on some much needed rest.

It sounds like we dodged the bullet getting out of Tucson when we did.  Cousin Al & Sharon said they had 70mph winds, rain and snow near Willcox, AZ and Ron K. said they got buckets of rain yesterday and snow this morning.  Crazy weather patterns out here in the Southwest.  It is nice here in Las Vegas and a little cooler than usual.  Maybe we will get out of the hotel today, but I am not sure.

I am watching ESPN talk show hosts running on and on about Peyton Manning signing with the Denver Broncos.  It is amazing how much time is given to this subject by all the talking heads.  Peyton had a few neck injuries the past couple years and may only last one play if he is hit in the neck again.  How would you like to be the owner who signed him for $95 million and see him go down after one play?  Then again, if he stays healthy and can play up to his previous years, he could lead them to the Superbowl.  Roll the dice they say. 

Gerry made the local tv in our hotel room.  She is famous. 

 

Rain, Snow & Wind in Arizona

We got up early today to have breakfast with Erin & family before we all left Tempe, AZ.  Gerry had bought a few trinkets to give to the kids to help entertain them on the long drive back to Utah.  Caden wound up with a plastic tic-tac-toe game that he didn't have the faintest idea what it was.  Not surprising since he is only 4, but he is a very smart child.  I showed him how to play and he beat me.  Humm!

We bid them a fond farewell and were scheduled to meet them in Las Vegas for dinner.  The elements had something else in mind for us and the meeting never took place.  They were going to visit with a friend of Erin's and then hit the road.  We left on time and had an interesting time on the road.  Once we got past Wickenburg, AZ the weather started to change a little.  The wind picked up and it began to rain and then turned to snow.  We noticed an abnormal amount of traffic heading south on RT 93 and were wondering why.  Then it dawned on us that there was a problem on I-40.  Yep, it was closed down from east of Kingman to Holbrook, AZ.  That's well over 140 miles of Interstate highway closed due to the snow and wind.

We were making good time and by chance called Erin & Herbert to see how far they were behind us.  They had decided to take I-17 to Flagstaff and then I-40 west.  Oh Oh!!  We told them to stop at the soonest time and check if the road was open.  It wasn't and they had to turn around and head back toward Phoenix in order to cut across country and pick up Rt 93.  Two roads they tried were turnbacks due to the snow and whiteouts.   The last we heard they were thinking about staying in the Phoenix area and trying again in the morning.  We just want them to be safe!

We continued on and when we got to I-40, it was fine for a couple miles and then the snow started.  Blowing snow.  It wasn't too bad and we continued on to Kingman.  What a difference when we got there.  There was a mini blizzard going on and the snow was falling about an inch in 30 minutes.  The roads were quickly covered and it got a little hairy for a while.  I stopped for fuel at the FlyingJ and it was really coming down then.

FlyingJ exit area

FlyingJ - cheapest fuel around

 We decided to keep on driving and once we got about 15 miles north of Kingman the sun came out and it was a beautiful day.  We made really good time since I was driving 75mph and people were whizzing by me running interference from the cops.  Bearbait!  Love it.  We stopped and I got a nice shot of the Colorado river from up high.  

Colorado River

We drove over the new bridge by Hoover Dam and were very disappointed since you couldn't see over the sides.  It looks like just another part of the highway.  We plan on stopping on the way back and getting some photos from beneath the bridge.

We are settled into the hotel and are getting ready for bed.  This has been a very tiring last couple of days. 

Good night.

Arizona Karate Tournament

Today was the big day for Christopher and his competing in the Karate tournament here in Tempe, AZ.  He had to be there by 8:00 AM to check in and get his name tag.  We arrived about 9:30 AM and took our seats in the grandstand of a Middle school gym.  Tight fit for an old man like me.

They usually get the younger children out of there first, but this time they were near the end of the competition.  That coupled with the large number of participants made for a long day.  We did learn about the scoring for the competition and some of the rules.  That came in handy trying to understand who won and why.

There are three parts to the competition:  Kata, Kumate (fighting) and Weapons.  Christopher didn't participate in the Weapons part but did in the other two.  He placed second in the Kata and got a medal for that.  They mistakenly gave him first and he told the judges that he came in second, not first.  They reviewed the scores and he was right and they moved him down to second.  Sounds to me like he has learned the sportsmanship part of the competition very well.  He had two very proud parents there to congratulate him. 

Christopher in red belt.

Christopher in red belt.

Christopher showing off medal and his form.

 We were seated near the middle of the gym and the black belt contestants were doing their thing in front of us most of the day.  There were a number of division by skill, age, etc and also a number of women contestants.  They didn't seem to have near the skill of the men, but did put on an interesting show.  A number of the men were very good and clearly better than others.  Two especially were obviously very good.

Men's black belt competition

By the time Christopher finished his competition it was way past lunch and everyone was famished.  We went over to Chevy's Mexican restaurant and managed to stuff ourselves and put an end  to the hunger pains.  Since it was so late we planned on skipping dinner, but Herbert did go out for Chinese food to tide us over.

We plan on leaving here in the morning and make our way to Las Vegas, NV for a few days.  They are calling for 60mph wind gusts and snow somewhere along the way there.  I am hoping they are wrong and we have a nice, clear day for travel.

I did get a chance to watch some basketball games on Friday and Saturday and got to see some teams play for the first time.  No big upsets on Saturday like Friday, but still some very good games.