1/29/2013–Laughlin, NV to Parker, AZ

We drove from Laughlin, NV to Parker, AZ today first heading south on the Needles Highway to I-40, then east to take AZ-95 south to Parker.

We stopped in Lake Havasu City at the Walmart to stock up on a few items we needed for our stay in Parker, then continued south.

In this photo, we can see some RV’s parked up on the hillside called The Steps.  We camped there a couple of years ago while attending the Winter Blast with the Escapees Boomers group.

There is usually heavy traffic in both directions with just a small area for turning into the Steps.  Toward the middle of the photo, you can see a break in the guardrails near the RV we’re following and the approaching vehicle.

And another photo of it as we get closer.

This photo is looking to the north from the south end of Lake Havasu.

This cluster of palm trees is an interesting landmark as we get closer to Parker.

The Blue Water Casino is the base for the Parker 425 race.

In Parker, we stopped at Superfuels to fill our fuel tank.  We had planned to fill the propane tanks also, but there was too much congestion, and we decided to return later with just the small tank.  South of Parker, we took Shea Road for approximately 8 miles where we joined Jerry & Sue, Ron & Diana, and one other Boomer couple who are here for the Parker 425.  We got set up, had a late lunch and returned to town to fill the small propane tank and look for some information on the race.

With those tasks accomplished, we returned to the RV just in time for happy hour.  It’s nice to have some warmer weather returning to us!  We sat outside until it started chilling off, then it was back to the RV for the evening.

1/26/13–1/28/13–Laughlin, NV

We’re currently on our fourth and final night in Laughlin, NV and really don’t have too many photos of our visit.  Most of our time has been spent getting the inside of the RV cleaned up and getting caught up on laundry.  Also, Ken’s cousin and her husband live here in Laughlin, so we’ve spent every evening visiting with them either at their place or ours and having meals together.

Here are a couple of photos taken along the north-south highway during our ventures away from the RV.

There are many colors in the hillsides.

This almost looks like a tropical beach, but it’s a desert beach along the Colorado River near the Avi Casino south of Laughlin.

Tomorrow, we’ll be headed south to Parker, AZ for about a week to catch glimpses of the Parker 425 race while dry camping off of Shea Road.  We’re looking forward to the experience and hope to catch up with other Escapees friends while there.

Laughlin, NV to Atascadero, CA

Although the temperatures were supposed to drop lower than the 100’s over the past 3 days in Laughlin, it was still to be in the mid 90’s.  As our RV has been running hot in the higher temperatures, we decided to get an earlier start on Tuesday to get over the higher hills earlier in the day.  We were on the road by 7:30am and headed south on the Needles Highway.  The road is actually in pretty good condition in Nevada, but once you cross the California border, it gets a lot rougher.  We found today that it has been worse than what it was today.

Crossing the Nevada/California border.

At Needles, we turn onto I-40 west.

How’s this for smooth driving?

We passed through windmill country.

Heading down to Bakersfield.

We’re getting closer to Bakersfield.

After turning onto Hwy 99 north, we saw a plane doing some aerobatic type maneuvers, but we think now it was just fertilizing the fields…no big deal.

After our fuel stop, we headed west on Hwy 46 and passed several fields of almond trees.

And we drove through one area with numerous oil wells.

And we went up and down hills through the wine country.

And construction areas.

We turned south on Hwy 101 and drove about 9 miles to our exit for the Atascadero Elks lodge where we’ll be staying for 2-3 nights before continuing our journey north.

4/22–4/23/12–Laughlin, NV

I don’t have any photos to show for the last two days which have been in the 100’s.  We have mainly been trying to stay in air conditioned areas avoiding the high temperatures and haven’t wanted to leave the camera in the truck when it wouldn’t be in use.  We did run a few errands after lunch on Sunday and then went to visit with Ken’s cousin for the afternoon and then went out to dinner with them at an Italian restaurant in one of the casinos.

Today Verna and Art drove over around 1:00pm to go to lunch, so that we’d have the evening to put things away in preparation for our travel on Tuesday.  We had a great lunch at the Black Bear Diner across the river in Bullhead City, AZ.  In addition to serving breakfast all day, it has an extensive lunch and dinner menu also.  It had it’s start in the Shasta, CA area and has expanded throughout the western United States.  On our return to the RV, we said our goodbyes and spent the rest of the day watching tv and getting things ready for travel.

 

 

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.

10/23 – 10/25/2009 – Laughlin, NV and Trip to Hoover Dam

We left Visalia on the October 23rd with plans to stop for the night in Boron.  By the time we got there, it was still early in the day and we had already toured that area, so we decided to continue on to Laughlin, Nevada.  The following day, we visited with Ken’s cousin Verna and her husband Art then went out to dinner with them.  Here is a photo of Verna and Art:

 

On Sunday, we packed our lunch and headed out to see Hoover Dam.  In our past travels through this area, we had never seen it and Verna and Art had shown us some photos they had on their computer of the new bridge being built there to route traffic away from the dam.  After crossing the Colorado River to the Arizona side, we came across this unfortunate truck accident at the bottom of the hill:

 

Here are a couple of photos of Hoover Dam and an informational sign about it’s size:

 

The next two photos are of the Mike O’Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge as it appeared the day we visited there and of a sign that gives an idea of how the bridge will look when it is completed:

 

Art had advised us to return to Laughlin on the Nevada side, and we were very glad we did.  Traffic was backed up from the dam about 5 miles to Boulder City of Phoenix people headed home from Las Vegas!  When we got back to Laughlin, we visited with Verna and Art for awhile before returning to the RV to get ready to travel the next day.