4/21/12–Congress, AZ to Laughlin, NV

The temperatures were predicted to be in the low 100’s in Laughlin today, so we wanted to get an early start.  We were on the road at about 8:00am this morning.  We drove through an area with numerous Joshua trees.

If you were to blink, you most likely would miss Nothing, Arizona.

In this photo we’re approaching Kingman, AZ where we stopped at the Flying J for fuel.  As luck would have it, we pulled into the shortest waiting line and waited and waited.  We moved to another fuel lane, took on our fuel and left before the truck ahead of us in the other lane.  It must have been one of the courteous drivers who had fueled up, then went into the building for a meal and a shower without thinking of other drivers needing diesel.  Our next stop was the Walmart where we picked up some additional groceries.

Just outside of Kingman, we turned onto Hwy 68 to Laughlin.  The last 11 miles into town are on a 6% grade, so it’s a slow trip the last few miles, but scenic.

And there’s Laughlin down in the valley.

We arrived at the Riverside Resort’s RV Park and are parked at the top of the bluff, where we chose to drive in forward for a few of the river and casinos.  We didn’t waste any time getting the air conditioners going.  After lunch and getting rested up for awhile, we went to the Edgewater where I won $1.  From there, we drove to visit Ken’s cousin Verna and her husband Art.  We visited for a few hours and had pizza delivered before heading back to the RV for the night.  We made plans to see them again Sunday afternoon and evening.

On The Road Again–Arizona City to Congress, AZ

This morning we got an early start to try to be the heat of the day on our journey to Congress, AZ.  After getting the electric disconnected, Ken had to roll the cable and put it in the garage until we return in the fall.  The gate to the backyard was padlocked, the garage door disconnected, the circuit breaker panel was padlocked, all doors to the house locked, and the security system was set for “away mode.  Here we are all hooked up and ready to hit the road.  We said our goodbyes to Jason and Sutton, and Sadie our neighbors and were on the road around 9:00am.

We decided to bypass the Phoenix area even though it meant backtracking a few miles just to avoid the heavier traffic.  We headed west on I-8 toward Gila Bend.

We saw numerous saguaro cactus in bloom, but this is about the best photo I could get.  I was hoping for a better photo when we were stopped in Congress, but due to the higher elevations, the saguaro there still weren’t in bloom.

There is a major road construction project going on in Gila Bend.

We had a bit of a scare as we drove north on the 303 from I-10 to Hwy 60 (Grand Av).  A screw on the pulldown sunscreen on the driver’s side came out and it came crashing down to the left of Ken.  Fortunately it didn’t hit him or break a window…just created quite a scare.  Once we arrived at the SKP North Ranch campground in Congress, we got set up for the night, ate lunch, and I walked down to see their amazing cactus garden.  Here are a few photos taken in the cactus garden.

This is a closeup of buds just forming on one of the saguaros in the park.

This saguaro is circa 1600 and known as Methuselah.

Here’s a photo of Methuselah from the other side.

Several of the cactus varieties were in bloom…a beautiful sight!

While I was touring the cactus garden, Ken got the sunscreen re-hung and we decided to take a drive.  We did a drive around the SKP park, Congress, and then decided to drive up to Yarnell as it had been quite a while since we had been there.  For the most part, it looked like Yarnell had rolled up their sidewalks, but there was a small amount of activity there.  The next two photos are of an old Texaco station that is a neat looking building.  The first one was taken as we headed north and the next as we drove south.

On our drive back to Congress, we stopped at a view point and got this photo of the SKP North Ranch park.

There is also this large dairy farm at the bottom of the hill.

And, another well known landmark in this area is the rock frog toward the bottom of the hill going to Yarnell.

Back at the RV, we had a shrimp salad for dinner and a quiet evening of watching tv and reading.