INTO NEVADA

We left Wilderness around 10 o'clock to miss all the morning traffic on I-215 and I- 15. It was a beautiful day but got very windy.

The road were pretty straight but went up hill and down. We went from 1000 ft elevation to 5,000 ft in 15 miles.

It was a 269 mile drive, 200 of it in CA. We went through the Mojave desert ( saw signs for Death Valley) and entered Nevada at Primm.

Thursday was Larry's birthday. We decided to go to the Hoover Dam. It formed Lake Mead which we saw as we drove south on 93.

We had to go through a check point to drive over the Hoover Dam.

This bridge was opened in October, so you don't have to go through the check point or cross over the Hoover Dam. I really wanted to see it.

You could climb up to the bridge and walk across it. There were lots of information panels about the bridge as you climbed up.

Nevada on one side of the bridge, Arizona on the other.

Not a lot of traffic on the bridge.

A lot more people walking across it.

A great view of the dam and Lake Mead from the bridge.

Proof we were here. It was another warm sunny day.

This is as far as you can walk across the bridge. Notice the Arizonia state sign.

This is the switchback you climb up (or there are stairs).

Lots of pretty yellow, orange and purple flowers in bloom.

The bridge from the road down below.

Hoover Dam 75th anniversary.

We parked and took the power plant tour. ($9 for seniors)

We saw a movie and then we went down an elevator 530 feet where Rick, our tour guide, told us about the power plant. the electricity it has generated has paid for the building of the dam and it takes no federal money.

There are nine generators on the Nevada side (8 on the Arizona side). You can see how big they are from the man walking by on the right.

This generator provides all the power at the visitor center.

A great view of the Tillman Memorial Bridge from the observation tower.

It had gotten late and we hadn't eaten since breakfast so we stopped here at the Hacienda Casino a few miles from the Dam. We had shrimp cocktails for $1 and then Larry played the poker slot. He put in $20 got it up to $41 and cashed out at $21.50, so he came away $1.50 richer and had an hour of fun. It was then 4 o'clock and the dinner buffet was open, so we ate here to celebrated his birthday. I was planning to make fillet mignon for his birthday dinner but I found the meat on the counter this morning. I had forgotten to put it into the refrigerator after I took it out of the freezer last night. What a waste.

LAST DAY IN CA

A beautiful warm sunny day after a week of dreary, cloudy, rainy, cool weather, so we went off to the golf course. This course is in Sun City, CA about 8 miles away. After hitting a bucket of balls at the driving range we decided we weren't up to a game of golf, so we went to the putting green and had some fun practicing our putts.

We are getting a new home and Godiva lost hers. This cat post was where Godiva spent many hours in our RV, but there is no spot in our new one for it to go. So we found a couple who were very happy to have it for their cat Reggie. We will have to come up with a good place for Godiva to hang out in our new home. Right now see seems a little confused and lost without her post. We took a walk around Wilderness Lake and Iremembered to take my camera for a picture of these birds. They have long beaks and long legs, but I don't know what they are called.

There is a large flock of these ducks (kind? black with white beak) in the park. They are always swimming around in the canals.

As I was taking the pictures all the birds came thinking I had something good for them to eat.

A blue heron was watching over the water.

What a sight when they fly. We see them every day but I still get excited when I see them.

We leave this area tomorrow and head to Vegas just as the weather turned warm. So goodby to California and this area. We have had a very nice stay and look forward to returning another year.

BIG NEWS

On Thursday we got up early and took our motor home to Temecula RV. Larry was feeling a shimmy when he was using the jack brake and Coach Net sent him there to have it diagnosed. We dropped the RV off at 8:00 and then headed to Palm Springs to have our last golf lesson with Jeff Harrison. Jeff was a great teacher and we enjoyed all his help.

Jeff putting out some balls for us to warm up and practice our drives. I need a lot more practice!

After hitting some balls we went out with Jeff to play a game. He taught us golf etiquette, rules and to understand how to play a course. The First Tee is a nice 3 par 9 hole golf course. Larry had some great shots.

OK my turn, let see if I can remember all I was taught.

I hit the ball. Most of them went pretty straight. I actually had one hole in 3 ! Thanks heaven we weren't keeping score.

After golf we had lunch at the Elephant Bar and then I had my hair cut at Penney's while Larry picked up his medicine from the CVS. We had to hurry back to Temecula to get to the RV dealer before they closed at 5. Unfortunately they found that the U joint needed to be replaced and the part they needed they couldn't get till Friday. We couldn't stay in the RV since it was in a stall with its rear jacked up. We feed the cat and gathered some things we needed and headed to Wilderness Lake to stay the night in this cabin. ($47)

It sure wasn't like our motor home.

The old U joint. It wasn't long before we would have been broken down and have had to been towed in. This is the second time we have had this replaced. Luckily our warranty covered it.

Saturday afternoon we went to Riverside to Mike Thompson RV. We had been discussing about getting a new RV, but we only went to look and get a feel if was sensible for us to even think about it. We knew Tiffin was the best RV on the market today. Herb was our salesman and he showed us this RV and it had all we wanted and was "cheaper" then we expected. He was not a pushy salesman but before the evening was over we were the proud owner of this 2011 Phaeton! It has a bath and half, four slides, three TVs inside and one outside, washer and drier, a regular home refrigerator, sleeper sofa, 2 Euro chairs, a built in desk by the table with a draws for the computer and printer. We take possession of it next Monday so many pictures will be posted of it next week.

On Sunday we went back to Mountain Shadow RV park for their church service. The pastor left us half way through his sermon last week so we wanted to hear the rest of it. It was on Revelation and the letters to the seven churches and how each one prophesied the history of the church until today.

After church we went to lunch at Paul and Karla's. What a delicious meal she made and we had a lovely visit. They are an amazing couple and make us always feel so welcome. They are Dutch and were raised in Dutch Indonesia. We learned they had been in a Japanese concentration camp during WW II. It was a fascinating story and one I never knew anything about. Thanks to Paul I have all the music for the dances we learned at the line dance rally last week.

BACK IN CONSTRUCTION

The back door on Paul and Karla's shed was rotting away and in need of replacement. As a thank you for being so kind to us and letting us stay on their site here at Mountain Shadow we volunteered to fix it for them.

Larry took the door off and was able to save the frame.

Since we didn't have all the tools we needed with us we were able to get all the wood cut to the size we needed at Lowes. (no extra charge)
A little bit of a mess for me to clean up.

My job was to prime and paint the door and all the trim.

The finish project is a perfect fit.