1/26 Now THIS is MY Las Vegas!

I do not gamble, I have allergies to cigarette smoke, and I don't like crowds or smog, so why am I in Las Vegas? 

Because this area has some of the most beautiful country!  Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire State Park, Hoover Dam and the Colorado River, and the Willow Beach/Black Canyon areas are nearby by and are wonderful places to explore.  Take a look at these photos of the drive from Valley of Fire to Lake Mead. 

Yes, that is snow on that mountain.

What I did NOT take photos of and should have were the two young, shivering girls getting out of their car near one of the springs along the highway wearing bikinis under their jackets.  (It was still about 45 degrees out that morning.) They thought the spring was going to be a hot spring, but it turned out to be almost dry and very cold!  Very funny!

Anyway, if you go to Las Vegas, make sure you check out some of the areas around the city.   

1/25 Bighorn Sheep Tracks

I went outside and walked about 100 feet away from my campsite towards the rock face to see if I could see any rock art.  Instead, I was surprised to see a lot of bighorn sheep tracks that could not have been more than a few hours old.  The desert sand is slightly damp, especially in the shade of these rocks, from the rain a few days ago, so the footprints stood out very clearly.

Even I could track these animals in this damp, soft sand!!

They seemed to be heading for this slope so they can hide in the rocks for the day. 

1/23 Valley of Fire State Park, NV

I spent most of the day on Thursday getting a new water pump and converter for my RV, plus having the oil changed and the emergency brake adjusted.  I also waited in line at Blue Beacon to get a truck wash.  They do a great job and have never caused any damage, but it is not unusual to have to wait over an hour along with the big trucks to get your turn.

So, I was really pushing it when I drove to Valley of Fire, well over an hour north of Las Vegas and really and truly out in the middle on nowhere.  This is no-reservation campground, and I got there just at dusk, really panicking as I drove as I do not like to drive at night.  Parking an RV at night is even worse than driving at night. The only sites left with electricity when I got there were handicap sites, but I took one anyway.  I was pretty sure no handicap person would be arriving that late, plus I did not want to have to rely only on my furnaces and burn through so much propane.  So I parked and plugged in my electric heater.  Whew.

As expected, the ranger came visiting in the morning.  I apologized for parking in a handicapped spot, and she was fine with it, but pointed out that I would have to move, which I knew anyway.  Luckily, as we were talking I could see the people across from me hooking up, and the lady hollered over that they were leaving right away, so I could have their spot.  So I raced over with my "Campsite Occupied" sign that a friend had made for me! 

I have been to this state park several times and really love it.  Whoever designed the campground was smart enough to put it in a place where it is surrounded by red, craggy outcroppings with a view of the valley.  Any some spots, including mine, face away from the other RVs, for a better view!!

Lots of space between sites.  This is my nearest neighbor, although there had been another RV a little closer earlier in the week.

Campground sits surrounded by red rocks. 

And this is the view over the valley.  

These are the rocks nearest my site.  

Later that day, I got my electric bike out and went for a short ride to check out the other, non-electric campground, just in case I ever came in again late in the day.  

I liked this strange looking rock.  It looks like the middle just crumbled a few eons ago.  

And a very small arch rock. 

 

Interesting looking holes in the rock.  In fact, there are a lot of wind or weather or whatever caused shallow holes in almost all of the rock faces.  

 

 

Valley of Fire was named for its red rocks, but it is known for its ancient rock art.  This is a stairway the park service has built to make some of them accessible.

 

 

The iron in the red rock forms a dark crust over time.  This made a perfect surface for the ancient artists.  All they had to do was peck at the surface with another rock, and the underneath red rock shown through.  This also made their designs last longer than if they had painted in vegetable or mineral colors.  

 

No one knows for sure what these drawings mean, but you might guess at some.  This looks like the suns rays to me.  And there seems to be an upside down animal, maybe upside down because the artist was above and leaning down.

 

 

The drawings here are very faint, so probably very old.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is interesting because it is drawn directly on the corner of the rock. Can you see where the edge has been pecked off and looks a little like a person?  



1/22 What Do RVers Do All Day???

Most of those of us who are full-timing will probably say, "As little as possible."  But in reality, most of us keep pretty busy without doing a lot of anything.

There is a big difference between vacationing in an RV and living in one.  When you vacation, you rush from place to place to see as much as you can before you have to go back home. So you plan your trips out and try to do as much as you can.  You might even end up more tired when you get home than when you started out. 

You have probably noticed that I do not post every day. In fact, I typically only post every two or three days.  (I don't post at all when I am visiting family, for obvious reasons, which is why I hardly posted anything between mid-December and mid-January.) 

Since this is my life, I do not feel pressured to do a lot.  I am also supposed to be retired, although I am teaching a half-time load online.  I thought when I retired from my regular job several years ago and headed out on my adventure that I would have lots of time to read, so I packed several of those books I had bought and wanted to read but never got around to reading.  So guess how many of them I have read in the last almost-four-years??

Right.  Zero.  I just do not seem to have time to do much reading, even though I love to read.

A typical day, assuming I am not driving from one campground to another, begins at about 9:00 a.m.  I am not a morning person, as my family will attest, so that is fairly early for me. I get up, fix a light breakfast, check my email and my online class to see if anyone has any questions or needs anything. I also participate in a forum for women who RV, so I check that and post some things. (I've made a lot of friends over the years on that site and meet up with whoever I can when we are in the same areas, so I really do know many of the women.)  I have satellite TV, so that is always on, and I like to watch the History Channel and such.    

The rest of the day depends on the weather.  If it is cold and rainy, I will likely spend the rest of the day grading papers and getting things ready to post for the next week's class. I may also spend an hour or two planning my travels.  I am a Type A planner and like to know where I am going to be several months out, so I keep a spread sheet.  I have learned that you really need to plan ahead sometimes as much as a year for certain places and for holidays.  For example, a few days ago, I made my reservations for next December in Florida at one of my favorite campgrounds for the 10 days before Christmas. Tonight, I firmed up some plans for late May of this year for Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico.  Memorial Day is one of those holidays when I need to make reservations far in advance. I did a bunch of internet research on the area and found a narrow-gauge train trip that looked interesting, so I will call tomorrow and make reservations for the week after the Memorial Day weekend. 

I also often cook things like soups and make meals in advance that I can freeze for those days when I don't feel like cooking. My freezer is bursting right now, so I can't do any of that until I eat enough stuff to make room for more meals!

If it is pleasant weather, and depending on where I am, I might go out for a walk or a bike ride.  I don't own a car, so if I want to go out to someplace else, I will have to pack up and drive there. Usually, I have visitor centers, museums, or other places I will want to drive to, but I don't go out exploring every day.  Since I seldom have sewer hookups, packing up and getting ready to move this beast just involves putting away the television, tossing any loose stuff into the kitchen sink, making sure drawers are locked shut, putting my slides in, and unhooking the electric cord and water hose outside.  I don't leave a lot of chairs and outdoor junk lying around, so nothing to pack up out there.

There are also routine cleaning and maintenance stuff that takes up my time. I have no dishwasher, so I wash dishes once a day.  I vacuum once a week.  This place gets horribly dusty, so I usually try to hit a few places each day with a damp rag. I also am constantly putting things away. In a very small home, even a few things out makes it look cluttered, which also makes the place look smaller. I seem to be constantly sorting maps and brochures of places, and recording receipts for money spent and balancing my checkbook.

Every couple of months, I also have to do some sorting and cleaning of my outside storage bins.  I tend to toss things into them and then can't find stuff, so I try to keep things under control.  This past week, I cleaned out my camping and maintenance bin and the one where I store my papers and miscellaneous stuff like Christmas decorations.  I spent a full day last Thursday at the RV service place and had to pull stuff out of that bin so they could access and replace my water pump,.  When they were done, the area needed to be cleaned (because it had gotten dirty from some boards I had put in there), and then I had to put all my junk back in, hopefully in better order than before.  Boards (used for leveling) got brushed off and put in another location. I still really need to clean out the bun where I store extra paper goods and cleaning supplies because stuff has been moving around and it is a mess.

See what I mean about time going by?  Evenings are grading papers and watching TV, but they seem too short.  Laundry is building up, so when I get to the next campground, I will need to do a couple of loads.

I used to listen to retired people complain that they were so busy they never had time to get anything done.  And now I am one!
 

1/20 Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, NV

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a scenic area just west of Las Vegas that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  This is a little unusual because it has as many visitors as most national monuments, and also includes a campground and visitor center.  It is very handy to local Las Vegas residents and visitors, so it is a very popular hiking and biking area.

I stayed here for two nights in the campground, but decided not to stay any longer because there was no power, and I burned up a quarter of a tank of propane is just two days trying to keep warm.  Usually, I use a small portable electric heater that keeps me warm enough that I only have to use my furnaces sparingly during the nights.  The temperature, however, was in the 30s by early morning, so it was pretty chilly.  And besides, I certainly do like my television, which I cannot watch without power!!

I took this first photo of people looking at the sign on arrival in the midst of a rain storm. I did not stop in the rain, for obvious reasons!  Luckily, it got sunnier the next day.

This is the next day.  I drove the 13 mile scenic drive.  The roadway is one-way and half of it is reserved for bikers.  Pretty view of mountains.

Some of the rock formations here are red, much as they are in Valley of Fire, where I am going tomorrow.

There is not much inside the visitor's center other than a gift shop, but they have a very large and nicely done area with exhibits outside.  I imagine kids would enjoy climbing these structures, assuming they are allowed to.  Or maybe it is just art??

Note that there are shade covers over all exhibits so you are not standing in the sun during the hotter months.

It is hard to tell from this photo, but this path is VERY steep.  Interesting ancient sand dune formations shown here.

If you look very closely in the distance, you can see the city of Las Vegas.

There was no specific RV parking, but I usually manage to find a spot that I can squeeze into.

Tomorrow, I head to the RV service place to get my water pump checked, have my emergency brake adjusted so I don't roll downhill, get an oil change, and see if they can diagnose the clacking noise I have been hearing in the house battery compartment under my entrance well step.