Laughlin, Nevada

I think this is the longest I've gone without updating where we are or what we're doing. We've had a pretty busy week. We spent all last week with the Ashton & Reilly so there's no way I was going to be able to sit down alone and write anything. We saw them almost every day and had them all last weekend. We really do love the time we get to spend with them though. We won't see them again until April so we really had to get our fill. Because it was so cold outside we were all cooped up inside. I did get a chance to make some awesome soups though.

Here they are again!!!




Naptime with her baby


We were supposed to leave Wednesday but it looked like a storm system was coming in with some more mixed snow and rain so reluctantly we decided to leave on Tuesday and WE decided that I was going to drive. I have driven the truck before but not with the 5th wheel attached. I was supposed to hook it up but I had too much inside stuff to do so Rod went ahead and hooked us up. I drove us out of the RV park and on to the freeway through Salt Lake City. Since it was Veteran's Day there wasn't a lot of traffic. It was surprisingly easy to drive. I couldn't even tell it was back there unless I looked in the rear view mirror and all I saw was white. I even pulled it into the Flying J Truck Stop for fuel and parked amongst the "big boys" (got a lot of double takes) while Rod went in and paid. All in all I ended up driving 348.1 miles that day all the way to Mesquite, Nevada. We were going to stop in Hurricane, Utah for the night but when we got there it was still daylight so we figured we'd continue on. We drove through some absolutely beautiful canyons but the camera was in the 5th wheel so we didn't get any pictures. Bummer.

We were going to look for an RV park but as we were driving through on the freeway we noticed a lot of rigs parked in the casino parking lots. Hey, that's right, people park overnight in casinos all the time. We figured we'd try it out too. The parking is free and we can go in, have a drink and maybe gamble a little. I got us in the parking lot of the Casa Blanca casino and parked next to another rig. We asked if it was okay to park there and they said they've parked right there before with no hassle so we were good to go. For my non RV'ing friends, this is called boondocking. We had no electric hookup so we were only using our battery power for lights. Our refrigerator runs automatically on propane so no worries there. Our heater is also propane but we were warm enough without it. We don't have an onboard generator but we do have a couple of little portable ones. It wasn't worth the hassle to hook them up for just one night though. We had dinner in the casino and did some gambling on the Keno machines. It ended up costing us $120 to boondock in the parking lot. LOL It would have been cheaper to stay at the campground in Hurricane. Oh well, maybe we'll have more luck in Laughlin.

The Casa Blanca Casino in Mesquite, Nevada


Our "free" campsite


I know we had said we were headed for Las Vegas but we had a little change in plans. We were going to Vegas to see my brother George and sister-in-law Jolene but as it turns out they were there the weekend we were in Salt Lake City. My sister Joyce thought since they weren't going to be there anyway it would be more fun to go to Laughlin. It's a little further south than Vegas and much smaller. There are only a few casinos but lots and lots of RV parks. Rod drove us the 180 miles here from Mesquite and we arrived on Wednesday afternoon and we're now back on Pacific time. If we drive across the river to Bullhead City, Arizona we're back on Mountain time. Good grief, it's so confusing. I think I have all the clocks set right but I'll have to change them again when we leave here on Monday.

Passing through Las Vegas


The long and winding road through the Nevada desert


We haven't had much luck in the casinos so far but it's got to change, right? LOL Isn't that what everybody says? Joyce and Rick will be here later today and I can't wait. We always have lots of fun with them and they like to gamble as much as we do. We don't go crazy or anything like that. We set a limit for the day and when it's gone, it's gone.

We're staying at Don Laughlin's Riverside RV Park and this place is HUGE! It's terraced on the hillside across the street from the casino of the same name. There are 740 spaces here. They have a shuttle that picks us up right in front of our rig and drops us off at the bridge that goes across the street and right into the casino. Hmmmmm, how convenient. When we're done making our deposit in the casino we cross the bridge and the shuttle picks us up and drops us off at our rig again.

We haven't been doing any cooking at all since we've been here. It's so cheap to eat at the casinos, it's cheaper to eat there than cook. One of my chat room friends, Bob, said to eat at a certain restaurant in the Riverside Casino where they had prime rib that they carve right at your table. The price is $12.99, which IS a great price but we happened to pass by the buffet and it was Italian night!! We couldn't pass that up. The food was incredible, not just lasagne and spaghetti, but veal marsala, canneloni, baked halibut, baked ziti, chicken marsala, etc, etc. ALL things Italian. I think we'll be doing the prime rib thing before we leave though, Bob.

Almost to Laughlin


The Riverside Casino


It's incredibly windy here today and I'm not just talking a little breezy. It's REALLY windy. We've got steady 20 mph winds with gusts of 40. I probably should stow the satellite dish but I'm looking at somebody else who has a dish and they haven't stowed theirs so I guess we're okay.

If we're not having too much fun I'll try to remember to take pictures of Joyce and Rick's visit. They're staying at the other end of the strip because Joyce got a free stay for some reason. It still won't be a problem to visit though since the strip is pretty short here.