Pictures Dec 5

On the beach at Camp Pendelton,
Dec 4, 2008, left and below.

We saw a lot of this type scenery from Twin Falls, ID, to San Diego, CA. To left and below. In fact it was all this type scenery except agricultura areas in Imperial Valley and around cities, i.e., Las Vegas.

Colorado River campground near Palo Verde, CA, Dec 1, 2008 (to left and below).

Las Vegas to Camp Pendleton--

On Sat, Nov 29, we went downtown to old Las Vegas. It is more our cup of tea than the Strip. It is what Las Vegas used to be, comfortable casinos, good food prices, a "homey" feeling. Would go there if going to Las Vegas to stay a few days, take in some affordable floor shows and low-roller gambling. The 'strip' is just too overwhelming. The main street, Las Vegas Boulevard, rund to a T intersection downtown. For the last several blocks the street is a walking avenue and is covered with a sky grid. They play a music video every hour and it is awesome!

Mon, Dec 1: Left Las Vegas, no fixed destination for the night (we had decided to take two days to Camp Pendleton).

Headed South on Hwy 95 thru Henderson, Searchlight and down to I40 at Needles, AZ. The Colorado River route is warm and beautiful. Needles is the same tourist ripoff as always, gas $2.99/gal ($1.83 in Las Vegas and also South of Needles). Had a hamburger at the Route 66 Burger Joint. Oh, yes, desolation disappeared a few miles N of Needles as we entered the irrigated farmland (Colorado River water). Beautifal farms, very flat, wide variety of crops. The irrigated farms continued on South of Needles to Blythe and even beyond. We took Hwy 78 out of Blythe. Stopped for the night at a county campground on the Colorado River at Palo Verde. Great hidden gem! Quiet, beautiful setting. No hookups so we dry camped (aka 'boon docking'; power from the generator, water from internal storage tank and on board waste tanks).

Tues, Dec 2: Continued on Hwy 78 to Brawley. Went through the a large sand dune area where the only economy is miles and miles of 4 wheel/sand buggy open area with outposts here and there to service the industry.

Brawley is a classic Southern CA agricultural towns. Wish I could adequately describe the farms and crops. Every imaginable type of farm equipment, very flat fields, prosperous, etc.

Out of Brawley on Hwy 78, S of the Salton Sea, and West on 78 thru Ocotillo Wells area. VERY, VERY crooked road, lots of switchbacks, for 60 miles then down the western slope of the mountains to San Diego and the California freeway traffic, UGH! Then N on I5 to Camp Pendleton and our campsite.

Right on the beach, great seaview and lots of surfers. And Camp Pendleton, 125,000 acres, 35,000 marines and surely one of our most important military installations. Sitting here looking out the front of the Coach as I write this watching the surfer dudes and dudettes. Occasional helicopter flying by on a training mission, can hear artillery in the distance occasionally--ah, yes, the sounds of freedom!

Took a drive around Camp Pendleton yesterday. Difficult to describe the size of the installation. Runs from exit 54 to ext 71 along I5. It is divided into different areas which are in themselves separate military posts. For example, there is an infantry school, an artillery school, an aviation school, etc. The marines can train within their specialty and then get together for joint operations. Each area has its own family housing area, clinic (there is a huge central Naval hospital), commissary, Exchange, auto shop, etc. etc.

As you can tell we are really enjoying it here and will depart on Dec 30. Will upload some more pictures later.

Just getting you up to date-----

Let's see, since the last update. Mostly being lazy in great weather. Last Sat the RV Park put on a big T'giving picnic, everything you could possibly imagine.



Last night we went to the Strip! Took a bus down and f0und it was a long ways from the bus stop to the Bellagio so grabbed a cab. 3 long blocks, 30 minutes, could have walked it faster. Watched the water fountain show at the Bellagio and it was well worth it- free! Then walked back down the strip to the Venetian and did a gondola ride, very nice and romantic, very short-7 minutes. Had a snack at Toby Keith's place and then dinner at the Venetian and a taxi home. All of the casino/hotels are very elaborate and hard to see how they can pay for it all. Of course hotel rates are no longer a bargain and neither are meals. Looked at a mock-up of the City Center developemnt, Whew! Boggles the imagination.



Rained last night and all day today-not really hard rain today, mostly light sprinkles/showers. Went to Arizona Charlies on the Boulder Hwy this afternoon. I didn't do any gaming as I learned a long time ago that you have to be flush and have extra cash you are willing to lose. Bev played the slots all afternoon and lost $8. Had a good dinner there.



Nothing on the agenda tomorrow. Starting to think about packing up for the trip to Camp Pendleton next Monday.



Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pictures from the road!

Just hanging out with the 18 wheelers in Wells, NV.

Boy, do we love to run in the doggie park in Las Vegas!

If you can't eat it , drink it or you know what, then this is what you do!

Here is "home sweet home"; the slide out on this side is the sofa and dining area.

This is a test posting to see if the-

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Since Nov 9th-

Left house (after charging the battery on the Forester, must have left some lights on) at 10:40. Stayed overnight at Camping World Mon and Tue, Nov 10 & 11. Dry camped with no sewer dump so made a side trip to rest area in Federal Way to dump. Coach and Forester wired, tow bars installed, sway bar installed and autobrake installed on on Forester.

Finally on the road, a.m. 11-12, Wed, down to Portland (heavy rain). Then I84 East down the Columbia River Scenic Hwy. Still rain but pretty drive nevertheless. Dry camped overnight at Boardman, OR, rest stop.

On 11-13, Thu, continued on down I84 thru Boise, ID. That town (city) has really mushroomed since I used to come down with the Nat''l Guard. Had two sales there since I retired from Nat'l Guard in '84 but really didn't get a feel for the growth as I went straight from the airport to motel. Anyway, overnight at Walmart parking lot, Mountain Home, Id.

Let me make an astute observation here. Finding places to stay and shop is not a problem. BUT you learn really quick that getting rid of the s**t from the waste tank is at the top of pyramid in a RV! Hasn't filled up yet but had a tanki blockage and that was a real crisis until I got it unplugged.

Out of Mountain Home, 11-14, Fri, and on down to Twin Falls and then South on Hwy 93 to Jackpot and then over night at truck stop in Wells, NV, intersection of I80 and Hwy 93.

Next day, 11-14, Sat, headed South again on what is called the Great Basin Scenic Byway. It is beautiful in its own way but is very isolated and desolate high desert; huge basins between mountain ranges. Stretches of highway 18 miles long without a curve! Check it out on Google Earth. Rolled into Caliente, CA, at dusk.

Stayed in a private campground in Caliente night of 11-14 and 15, Sat night and Sun night. Just needed a full day to kick back and do nothing. Very quiet and relaxing.

Mon, 11-17, finished the Great Basin Scenic Byway down to I15 and into Las Vegas at Riveria RV Park. Nothing great but quiet, economical and nice folks. Will leave here Dec 1 for Camp Pendleton, CA until Dec 30.

Observations in Las Vegas: Haven't driven around residential areas yet but commercial real estate is in big trouble. A lot of abandoned commercial contruction and vacancies. It appears that a huge project (dwarfs everything on the strip) just South of the Bellagio will go under as it is about 25% complete. We saw a lot of the depressed real estate as we took a drive down the Strip yesterday while Keelan was getting a bath at Petsmart.

Speaking of Keelan, he is an excellent traveler. Still the occasionally bark when startled while parked but all in all he is not a problem (other than the normal feeding and walking).

Bev is doing fine and enjoying her SKI trip! Still adjusting to buying groceries in small quantities but really amazed on how well you can live without two refrigirators and a huge pantry.

Dwight has found out that six hours of driving (200-240 miles) is about the max-then of course you add on the getting everything ready in the morning and set up for the night.

Lessons learned: Can't overemphasize the priorty of keeping the black waste tank emptied at every opportunity. There are lots of mechanical and electrical systems and we are still learning something new everyday. I did buy a Garmin 260W nuvi GPS navigation system. It is just awesome and, next to the toilet tank being emptied, has proven to be an extremely valuable asset-you can buy on for $248 online, not in stores, from walmart.com.
Free wifi is just that and you get what you pay for. A lot of places put in free (and even fee only) wifi but signals are weak and systems are often not well maintained. Will probably go for an aircard on the laptop for reliability, convenience and security (none of the free or fee wi fis are truly secure).
Well, you are now up to date. Will post again at end of stay here in LV or soon after arriving at Camp Pendleton. FYI our house phones, business and home numbers, or disconnected and we are strictly cell phones, 360-434-8888 or 360-981-4032. Business partner, Mike Lee, has the toll free number for Quitting Business, Inc. www.quittingbusiness.com now belongs to him and I am the Senior Counselor!

Cheers!
Dwight, D, Mac, Papa, Grandboppy, Grandpa, Beverly, Nana Bev, Grandma Bev, Grandma, etc. etc. etc. etc.

We leave Sunday!

Down to Tacoma for a couple of days to get the dinghy hitched up and brakes put on (that's the vehicle we are towing). Have to get the lights hooked up, a braking system on the towed vehicle and an easy to use tow bar.

Should have some pictures up by Monday or Tuesday.

Just starting out to SKI

So here we are heading into retirement. What better time to learn to SKI. Yes, we have put it off much too long so we started by buying a motorhome. How we doing learning to SKI so far? Pretty good I think. Now in a few weeks we will start on our first journey. We will keep you posted on our travels.

Oh, yes, did I explain that SKI is an acronym for Spending our Kids Inheritance;)