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.
On the beach at Camp Pendelton,
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.
