A Windy Day at the Lake

WHERE ARE WE? Lake Mead Nevada

NEXT DESTINATION? Who knows?

Today was forecast to be a windy rainy yucky day.   We don't really have much to do today except spend time with Rowdy and Missy.  The first part of the day was a bit breezy but we still sat outside watching the planes bringing money into Las Vegas.

I have an app on my phone so I can listen to the Las Vegas air traffic control talking to the planes.  Right above us is one of the points where most aircraft call the tower for instructions so we can here all that conversation.  

In addition to that, I also have an app that identifies all the aircraft in the area on radar and shows a picture and all the details of the aircraft including the flight number which the controller uses to talk to the plane.  We now know exactly which plane is which and where it is coming from.  Its kinda like our own little air traffic control in the desert!!  Sue says that small things amuse small minds and these apps keep me entertained!!

 

It wasn't long and the clouds began to thicken and the wind started to blow real hard so we headed inside to play some games.  

We opted for Skip Bo with a twist.  It is a fun game to pass some time away.

We spent some more time just chatting while Sue was busy preparing a fabulous supper for us.  

We had bought a ham while at a butcher shop in South Dakota and today was a perfect day to bring it out to share with our friends.  It was sooooo good!!!

Rowdy was checking the weather and this is what it looked like where we are.  Pretty busy radar with some water spouts reported around us.  We still had fun today, and hope you did too!!

Being Thankful

WHERE ARE WE? Government Wash, Lake Mead, NV 

NEXT DESTINATION? Who knows?

We are hanging around the lake today just chillaxin!   I was just sitting around looking out over the lake when I saw some movement between us and the lake.  We have been hearing the coyotes howling quite close to us over the last few nights.  Well this morning here come one just moping along.  He/she looks quite old so I'm wondering if it isn't the king or queen of the pack.  It was neat to see it finally.

Because I had nothing to do I spent some time people watching.  I probably shouldn't but there is something in me that needs to figure out why some people do what they do.  I told you yesterday that there are lots of snowbirds out here just putting in time and they form the majority of people here.  There is also another element here in small numbers, and that is the people who are in bad shape and have no where else to go.  That seems to be the case with our neighbours.  They live out of a truck and a car and hang together.  They have been around since we got here, just minding their own business.  Today there was a new person involved and obviously some drugs by the way they were acting.  It started when I saw that the one guy was at the neighbours trailer in a complete mess.  He was saying that the lady had left with a guy and took his phone and his cloths and he wanted to call her to get his stuff back.  He was super strung out.  As he is talking, the lady and another guy come walking or should I say staggering back up the hill to their vehicles.  Well the interaction was pretty funny with lots of yelling and staggering and arm movements.  None of them had any idea what was going on.

Finally the original guy and the lady leave to go somewhere.  They leave the second guy sitting there.  He just moped around and slept in the lawn chair for the hour or so that they were gone.  Every once in a while he would get up and look down the road to see if they were coming back.

When they finally came back the first guy starts yelling at the second guy and lots of arm movement and next thing you know guy 2 grabs his hat and starts walking down the road.  Being as nosey as I am I head out for my walk and our paths crossed.  He is still staggering and he mumbles something about where he can flag down a taxi.  I wished him luck and he kept walking.  He has a long way to go to find a taxi!!!

When I got back from my walk, the other two were still arguing and staggering and trying to sort out all of their treasures.  These kind of people seem to like to collect things.  The pile of stuff you see in the picture was under the blue toilet tent in the first picture.  They did make peace after a while and must have went for a nap to sleep off the high because I didn't see them all afternoon.  I do feel sorry that people get drawn into these kind of situations but I just don't understand these kinds of addictions.  I do know a little about addictions because I smoked for 40 plus years knowing that it could kill me, and it almost did.  I hope something happens that turns these peoples lives around before its too late, but for now I have no idea how to help.

Speaking of naps, I did have a short one this afternoon.  Shortly after the nap I hear a vehicle pull up.   I told you the other day we had a surprise coming.   Well guess who showed up to spend a couple days with us on their way back to Idaho??  Yup our friends from Alaska, Rowdy and Missy and their dog Bean.  We got them settled in right beside us.   There is some windy weather coming so they are hunkering down here with us for the next day. 

We sat and caught up on everything we had missed since we saw each other last about 4 years ago.  Rowdy was one of the original people I met on an RV chat site close to 10 years ago.  He was a fire chief in Fairbanks Alaska back then and we both had the dream of hitting the road.  Well here we are, 10 years later, on the road.  We seem to be like thinking people and have some good old conversations.  We hope to visit them in Alaska one day before they move for good to Idaho.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and some more chat before retiring to our homes on wheels.  

A little bit of Survivor and off to bed we all went.  We always look forward to our meetings with old friends whenever it works out and we were thrilled today.  Hope your day was as good as ours.

Just Another Day!

WHERE ARE WE? Government Wash, Lake Mead NV 

NEXT DESTINATION? Who knows?

Just another day of soaking up the sun.  The weather is exactly what we have been looking for with 24 to 28c in the day and 15 to 17c at night.  You might ask about where we are staying right now.  It is a rocky gravelly area on the edge of Lake Mead.  Where we are parked would have been under water a few years ago but it is now more than 100 feet down to the water.  We can see for miles in any direction from here and there is lots of action at all times.  Lots of snowbirds come here just to relax before heading farther south.  Its almost too hot to be in Yuma Arizona right now so we will just hang out here for a while.

Today we ordered a bunch of things from Amazon which will give me a few projects to do when the parts arrive.  One thing is the gas struts that hold the basement doors open.  I hope I measured right.

Like I said, there is always something interesting to watch.  Sitting outside and an aircraft did a circle overhead and then dropped down and landed on the lake in front of us.  It was a flying boat style aircraft with the engine above the plane.  He then turned around and with a burst of the throttle he was off again to check out a different part of the lake.

Las Vegas is just over the hill and we like to go see the lights for something to do.  That's what we did last night and the sight is still spectacular.  Although the photo doesn't do it justice, the Strip is certainly the brightest part of Vegas. 

Well that was about it for the day.  I got out the propane fire pit tonight because wood is not easy to find in the desert.  I figure by the time I buy wood it would be cheaper to use propane.  The only thing missing was the smell.  It was still nice to sit around and watch.  Hope you enjoyed your day.

Lets go to Las Vegas!

WHERE ARE WE? Government Wash, Lake Mead, Nevada 

NEXT DESTINATION? Not really sure, don't really care.

We have a lovely spot here at Lake Mead with not a  lot of people around.  Just enough to keep it interesting.   But if you want your fill of people, just 15 minutes up the road are the people of Las Vegas.  We made a little trip in to town today to kill some time and soon found out why we like boondocking in quiet places.  I have pictures of the mayhem!

We had to travel to the far side of Las Vegas to get to our destination.  Can you guess where we went?

Yep your right, we went to IKEA!!  Why?   I have no idea.  We bought a mat, a garbage can and a shelf.  Hardly worth the trip but it was still a fun day.  And on the way home more fun on the freeway.  We restrained ourselves from going to Salt Lake City or Los Angeles, or even down the Las Vegas Strip and just headed back to our quiet little spot.  

My window picture is outside tonight and it reminds me of a TV show I used to watch as a kid.  The Friendly Giant was a great show really.  He would invite you to his castle where he and Jerome the Giraffe and Rusty the Rooster told stories. First he would reach down,,,,,way down and straighten the chairs while saying "Here we are inside, here's one little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two more to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle."   After his stories at the end of the show, he would reach down and say "It's late. This little chair will be waiting for one of you, and a rocking chair for another who likes to rock, and a big armchair for two more to curl up in when you come again to our castle.  I'll close the big front doors and pull up the drawbridge after you're gone.  Goodbye."   Do you remember, he used to play the song "Early one Morning" on his flute at the end.  Well this picture reminded me of the three little chairs in the castle.  If you remember this show let me know in the comments, and if you don't remember it, you must be a youngin.  Hope your day was fantastic. 

We travel cause we can.

We have found Home for a little while

WHERE ARE WE? Government Wash, Lake Mead Nevada 

NEXT DESTINATION? Probably Pahrump Nevada

Well today we arrived at Lake Mead where we plan to hang out for a couple of weeks while we wait for some our friends to escape their wintery grips and join us here.  We anticipate that our friends Pat and Harold will join us in 10 days or so.  They have hired River Rock Transport who we used to transport their Motor Home over the border today. They fly to Grand Forks tomorrow morning to pick it up and will start their winter journey there. Our friend Kyra, better known as the boondocking queen, hopes to start her trek south from Washington State next week I believe.  We hope to meet up with her early next month.  And friends Chuck and Angela hope to start across the country from Illinois fairly soon and we hope they will come hang with us in the desert.  Friends Ed and Lessie may get to Arizona before we head farther south into Mexico. There is some indication that we may see more of our friends very soon.  I will tell you more about that at a later date.  Anyway, this was our path today.

In the last two days we have been in and out of Utah, Arizona, and Nevada a few times as our travel path jigged and jogged.  We knew we were in Nevada when we saw the Casino signs.   

And when we were in Arizona we could tell because of the very pretty overpasses.

And in Utah we would see Latter Day Saints Churches.  We went through some more beautiful country today with mountain passes and expanses of rocks and the red rock of Valley of Fire.  Every corner there was more eye candy.

We arrived at Government Wash about 1 pm and immediately set up our chairs and laid back and took in a little sun.  

The weather looks good for the next while except for some wind early next week.  

There are lots of coyotes around here this year.  They are howling right now between us and the lake and the neighbour said he saw one run right by our Motorhome earlier.  I will try to get some pictures if I can.  But for now here is the view out our front window tonight.  I think the lake is down about 8 feet from what it was when we were here in 2018.  

Well we had a great afternoon setting up for a little longer stay than we have been.  Hope your day was as great as ours.