RV Fun Trips

A Trip to the Southwest and the Plains
November 2007
The Southwest — Page 2

Las Vegas Here We Come
Our day began in the dusty Barstow KOA campground. With our location being close to Las Vegas, we started the day at a leisurely pace. I took a walk around the campground to check out the facilities for future reference.

Our campsite at Barstow KOA

During my exploratory walk I saw an old Santa Fe caboose as well as a small collection of old farm machinery. One of the old items appeared to be a strange looking engine that I haven't seen before. I looked up to see a sophisticated wireless internet (wi-fi) antenna, probably the most high tech wi-fi antenna system I've seen.

This caboose is on display in front of the campground

Wi-fi is available

There was a simple low-tech item I saw throughout the campground in each campsite. The device is a grill that is made from an automobile wheel. The grill consisted of a vertical galvanized pipe mounted in concrete. Mounted to the pipe was a car wheel with what would normally be the inside — the side facing inside the car — facing up to form a pot to hold charcoal or firewood. The top of the makeshift barbecue was covered with a normal wire grill. It appeared as if the device probably was very effective.

A makeshift cooking grill made of common materials

As I walked back to our motorhome, I passed by a man getting into a dune buggy — the kind built on an old Volkswagen frame. I talked to him for awhile as he prepared join others for a drive across the desert. When the engine started it came to life with the rumble reminiscent of the hot rods I remember from my teen years.

Small pack of senior dune-buggy drivers ready to head out to the desert

It was easy to see where the dune buggies were moving across the desert terrain. A long cloud of desert dust rose into the air lingering for awhile before falling back to the ground.

It wasn't very long until we were ready to get on the road. I drove our motorhome to a place at one side of the campground where Kay could drive our car up to be connected to the tow-bar. It took only a few minutes until the car was ready to be pulled to our destination for the day, Las Vegas.

When I drove out in the northbound lane of I-15 we were traveling into new territory for us. The traffic was probably the heaviest of our trip so far. There was a long uphill climb at one point on our route. Again I was pleased with the performance of our motorhome while pulling our car.

Along the way I saw a sign that pointed to a road with a very strange name — Zzyzx Road. I'm sure there must be a story behind such a strange name.

Say what?!!!

NOTE: Later I would learn that Zzyzx Road goes to small town called Zzyzx, California. Also, Zzyzx Road is the name of a rock band and a dud of a movie.

As we got closer to Las Vegas we saw an increase in the number of Joshua trees. At one point when our rig reached the top of a pass, we were presented with a magnificent scene of the wide open spaces of a desert valley with a straight ribbon of concrete dipping to the bottom valley before climbing up the mountain range on the other side.

As we got closer to Las Vegas more Joshua trees appeared on the landscape

Over the crest of a mountain pass we see the highway straight ahead

The roadway was in pretty good condition until we were about 50 miles from Vegas. Then when our motorhome crossed into Nevada the road surface was sooooo smooooth. I wish all highways were as pleasant to drive on as this was.

As our motorhome cruised along smoothly I saw a strange structure in the distance on the horizon. As we got closer the shape began to look somewhat familiar. Finally I recognized the building as a paddle wheel steamboat. As it turned out, it was the first casino I saw on this route to Las Vegas.

Steamboat casino is reminiscent of those seen on the Mississippi River

We reached Las Vegas shortly before noon and found our way to the Oasis RV Resort where we planned to stay for a couple of days. This RV campground is a very large operation with a lot of services. It took us a while to get set up and to get ready to visit a very good friend of ours who had relocated to Las Vegas from the San Francisco Bay Area.

The sign over the entrance arch to Oasis RV Resort Las Vegas

We found our way to our friend Cheryl's house where she was expecting us. Cheryl is a long- time friend. She works for the same company from where Kay and I retired. We were shown around her beautiful home and she introduced us to her two adorable dogs.

Cheryl was preparing a home-cooked meal for us as we visited and caught up on what we all had been doing. The aromas coming from the kitchen were wonderful. Just before dinner, Cheryl's friend David arrived at which time we were introduced. I have to say, we hit it off with David right away. We had a very yummy meal, fun conversation; a very enjoyable evening indeed. We look forward to future visits with Cheryl and David.

Kay and I returned to our motorhome early enough that we were able to go to a nearby casino. As we entered the casino a light rain began to fall. We spent about 2+ hours playing slot machines with us playing mostly with money won. However, after a while, the machines began slowly reclaiming the money. Even so, we had more than two hours of fun with it costing us a total of about ten dollars.

The casino is a fisherman’s heaven with a huge in-casino aquarium with a large number of different kinds of salt water fish. Across from the aquarium is a Bass Pro Shop with a good sized indoor waterfall with mallard ducks swimming in the pool at the bottom of the falls.

We finally made it back to our motorhome around ten o’clock. It has been a very nice day indeed, highlighted by a very nice get-together with a very good friend whom we had not seen for a few years.