Snow in the mountains around Pahrump!

Yesterday was really cold. At 7:00 a.m. it was 50 but by noon it was in the low 40's and windy too. We took off and went to the Mountain Falls golf course for lunch! Our friend, David Hawkins, had mentioned it was a good place to eat. It wasn't raining yet but even with the cold and wind there were golfers out on the course! We had a yummy lunch in the nice warm restaurant!

After lunch we went over to the Terrible's Lakeside campground to check it out. It is on a little lake with nice grassy spaces and concrete slabs for the RV. We stopped in at the casino and gambled awhile. Ted had a couple of good runs but I wasn't hitting anything. Finally played one last machine and built it up enough that we broke even. That's what keeps you coming back!

The rain had started while we were inside the casino and it rained into the evening and was very cold. This morning when I took Max for his walk I took a couple of pictures and then some more on his afternoon walk. It's clear and cool today and as usual in the afternoon, a bit windy. 

Tomorrow we head back to Vegas for 4 nights. We have to start figuring out where we are headed from there!

Planning a road trip..."Ain't Life Grand!"

An afternoon in Death Valley!

Thursday afternoon we drove over to Death Valley. I made appetizers for happy hour. Since we were supposed to be there for 5 days I had gotten groceries to make appetizers for the week. During the day everyone sort of goes their own way. One couple play golf (which we had planned to do also), a couple of others go four wheeling in the mountains looking for geo-cache, some read their books and relax in the sun. There is also the Furnace Creek Inn to check out; the restaurant and gift shop. In the village there is a general store and a small museum. There is Scotty's Castle and lots of sights to see in the valley. Everyone is usually back at 4ish for happy hour! I actually made three dips and only cut the tip of my thumb once! I made a spinach dip with lots of fresh veggies, a tomato cheese log with crackers and a hummus with pita bread. The onion in the log were a bit spicy but okay and the hummus was also so-so! But hey, I tried!

Yesterday we visited the casino to gamble, have lunch, and since gambling wasn't good, played bingo! That was the fastest bingo callers ever! If you bought a 4-pack they gave you a 4-pack free (because we were new we had a coupon). I thought no big deal - wrong! I had to put it aside! We wouldn't know if we won or not it was so fast!

Gotta go get ready for more adventures today..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Back on the Road!

Wednesday the mechanic arrived around 1:00 and got the new bearing on the axle and put on our spare tire.  We think we may be able to fix the tire but we will have to buy a new hub cap, it sorted of melted!  You can tell that from the bearings that it got pretty hot!  They aren't supposed to be flat or scratched up!

We got to Pahrump Wednesday afternoon. We got the RV set up and walked over to the Pahrump Nuggett for dinner and a little gambling. They had a 2 for 1 buffet! The only thing I can say about it is that I got full! Ted was pretty lucky with the gambling but I couldn't get anything going on!

This morning we walked over to Terribles Town Casino. Today I was luckier and doubled my money! It sure is a lot more fun!

This afternoon we are headed over to Death Valley to visit our friends that we were supposed to be camped with. I made some appetizers to share with the group.

Today it is pretty windy and there is still a lot of snow on the mountains around Pahrump!  It's very pretty!

Safe and sound in Pahrump..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Ted & Susan's Latest Adventure!

We left Las Vegas for Death Valley Sunday morning as planned. We got about 25 miles west of Las Vegas on Highway 160 when a tire on the trailer blew. Ted was able to turn off the main road and pull over on a fairly level shoulder of a side road. We called Good Sam to change the tire, but Ted was concerned about the axle, it just didn't look right. About an hour later the mechanic got here and pulled the tire. The sealed bearing had failed. We were lucky the tire didn't fall off because there was nothing to hold the wheel on. Our 5th wheel is less than four years old and apparently the bearings don't normally fail like that. Being Sunday, we had to wait until Monday to order the part.

Monday morning rolls around and guess what, it had snowed! Yes we had a small amount of snow on us but a lot of snow on the mountain between Pahrump and us and the mechanic could not get over the pass for awhile! He finally got here a little before noon and took off the bearing. The good news was that they "don't think" there was any damage done to the axle itself. He went to Vegas to order the part and was told it would be a week by ground. To overnight was an additional $130, and really meant Wednesday because it was past 9 a.m. on Monday!

We cancelled our Death Valley trip because we were only staying until Friday and the RV wouldn't be repaired before Wednesday at the earliest! Something seems to happen to our RV everytime we go to Death Valley. Getting a bit superstitous at this point!

On Monday when I went to take Max out in the morning, he put his paw down on the snowy step and quickly pulled it back, looking at me like I was crazy! Fortunately the snow melted quickly! It stayed very cold all day and windy at times.

The adventures of RVing..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Ted's Home!

Yay, Teddy is home safe and sound!  Saturday morning Ted woke up to about an inch of snow (yes fortunately only an inch) which melted before he had to leave for the airport! Max and I were happy to see Ted.  I took Max with me to the airport and he went crazy when he saw Ted walking towards the truck!  He gave Dad a great big welcome home kiss!

Today we leave for Death Valley.  We are meeting a group of people we met through Jim and Della Crownover who are classmates of Ted's.  We will be dry camping but I will try to do the blog at least once while we are there.  We will be there until Friday the 26th.  Can't believe February is almost over!

We are getting ready to get on the road again..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Still in Vegas!

Ted is still in Illinois and Max and I are still in Vegas!  Had a fun day Wednesday at the casino.  Played for several hours without losing anything, had a bite to eat and then lost $30 straight and came home!

Yesterday was laundry day!  Max and I just hung out at the campground all day.  We leave for Death Valley on Sunday and will be dry camping which means no electricity, water or sewer.  That means we can't do laundry or watch tv and to use the laptop we will need to run the generator.

Ted is doing well, visiting relatives.  There were some cousins at the funeral that he had not seen for a long time so he enjoyed visiting with them and catching up.  He said it's not been snowing but very brrrrr cold!  Looking at the weather today, it is supposed to snow there today and tomorrow.  We are hoping he won't get stuck in Champaign or Chicago!

Praying for sunny skies..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Snow!

Monday we ran some errands to get Ted ready for his trip to Illinois.  Banks were closed so we hit the ATM Sunday and Monday!  Friends David and Debbie Hawkins took us out to dinner Monday evening at the Red Rock Casino.  We had a wonderful Italian dinner.  Max stayed behind and David and Debbies and was a good boy!

Took Ted to the airport yesterday morning.  He landed in Champaign, Illinois around 4pm.  He called and said "it's freezing here"!   Ted doesn't really have any heavy clothes but took lots of layers and his long johns!  He rented a car and drove to his cousin's dad's house, Bill & Suzy.  He called and let me know he made it.  He said he only had one incident, the car started talking, asking him if he wanted a weather report.  It startled him and he was trying to turn it off and veered into the non-plowed lane!  It was mushy snow but he said he stayed calm and got the car back in his lane! If he can help it, I doubt he'll drive again until he has to go back to the airport!

The funeral was this morning.  Ted was said it was very nice.  It's in the low 20's so very cold and snow on the ground.  They are at his cousin's Tricia's house where he took this picture of the snow:

Meanwhile, back in Vegas where the weather is nice, Max and I were invited back to David and Debbie's for dinner. David's mom is in town for surgery so I visited with her. I hadn't seen her for many years. It was nice to see her.

Today is "senior day" at the Boulder Station casino (near the campground) so being over 50, I will head over this afternoon and see if I can win anything! Wish me luck.


More later..."Ain't Life Grand!"