Wednesday - Starting to head NORTH!!!

We woke to a wonderful Sunny day. We had a great breakfast of gourmet sausages, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and English Muffins - all cooked on the BBQ right there at the beach. We did a big clean-up and then headed out. A few miles up the road we had a spur of the moment decision and did a quick zip off the highway to tour the Mission Santa Barbara. It was a beautiful place with lovely gardens and some interesting history - thoroughly enjoyed. Once more we headed out and before long we were off the highway again and walking around the little Danish style town of Solvang. We toured the little trendy boutiques, admired the old style of architecture, shopped a little and had a nice lunch/dinner on an outdoor patio. We avoided the farmers market going on there - crowded and expensive! Up the road we went once more hoping to put a few miles behind us. We got as far as Pismo Beach and decided to stay there for the night. We got set up and Dale and I walked up to the washrooms and found them on FIRE! I quickly ran back to the rig to get my phone to dial 911. Of course being a Washington number the operator had no idea where Pismo Beach was and had to try a few places to find out who handled this area. I was finally put through to the local fire department and soon the lights and sirens started to appear. Someone had started a fire inside and then locked the door so no one could get in.

The fire department soon had it open and the fire doused but what a mess the inside was! We went back to the RV, ate a snack and sat around chatting until bedtime. Once more - another day, another adventure and only 135 miles under our belt! More photo's to come with stable WiFi!

Tuesday On The Coast

The view of the coast from our RV Site

After another windy night of the RV shaking & shuddering we woke to a beautiful, calm, sunny, and warm day. We had breakfast of Muffins, Yogurt & fruit and then we all had a shower. We did a quick clean-up of the Rig which was starting to look a little like it had been on the road for ten days or so! While I downloaded my camera of it’s 252 photo’s and wrote the Blog, Dale & Sue took Henry for a walk. They tried to have a look at the little “Apple” things on some of the Cacti close by and both got covered in thorns - Hahaha!

Trying to get out all the Cactus Needles!!!!

It serves them right I told them, as they sat trying all different ways to get them out of their fingers. Posting this now while we have WiFi but will add the rest of the day later as it’s only 10:00AM. Continuation: We drove a little ways up the Hwy., stopped at a trendy little market for some great things for BBQ’ing as we planned to be at the beach that night. It was called Vintage Market and a bit pricey but it was right in Malibu Beach and it was all gourmet and organic foods. We had three wonderful steaks, some yummy veggies and scrumptious desserts! We piled back into the RV and went about ten miles up the coast to Point Mugu State Park which has campgrounds right on the beach.

Henry playing in the waves!

We had a fantastic afternoon just walking the beach, watching Henry chase waves, lying in the sun reading, and basically doing nothing at all. The wind picked up late in the afternoon but wasn’t too bad. Henry got attacked by two big dogs that came running off the beach with some woman. One bit him in the shoulder and also wrenched it as he was limping. Dale picked him up right away and one of the dogs bit him twice on the hand. We yelled at the woman and she just took the dogs, put the vicious one on a leash, called the other one over to her truck and as we were checking Henry’s bites under the blood she just drove away! Poor Henry was all upset and very quiet all evening. We dressed his bite, cuddled him for a while and tucked him up under a blanket.

We had a wonderful meal, BBq’d by Dale as the sun set over the ocean in front of us and we ate it by candlelight.

Monday - Hollywood

The Sign Says it All!

Shrek & I

When we got up after a very WINDY and RAINY night, we breakfasted and got on our way. Who could believe that we were in the Mojave Desert - It was SOOO cold and the rain was unbelievable! We headed towards the coast - about a 3 hour drive to Hollywood. We stopped in Montcalm for lunch of sandwiches and pick up some dogfood for Henry from Petco.We got to Hollywood about 1:30pm, paid $20. to park and then walked up “The Walk of Fame” looking at all the Stars stars! The wind was a biting one so it was sunny but very cold. I had to buy a sweater it was so cold - Darn! About 4:00 pm we headed down Santa Monica Blvd, through Beverley Hills and onto the Pacific Coast Hwy. and into Malibu Beach - a trip that only took about 3 hours. We were starving so Sue fixed up a “Happy Hour” platter of Cheeses, Kolbassa and Apple slices and we ate on the road (It was actually the LA Hwy.101 parking lot!)

We finally reached Malibu, quickly found a nice little Bistro called “The Marmalade Cafe” to have a light dinner and then found a spot at The Malibu Beach RV Park for the night.

Saturday and Sunday in Vegas

"I'm just a little Black Rain Cloud - Hovering over The Navion"!!!!

Bob & Christina had to head back to San Diego on Saturday so after breakfast we all packed up and headed out. We had another free night but thought it might be boring without the rest of the Warcup’s so off towards Needles we headed. Just a few minutes on the highway we saw the signs for Hoover Dam and Sue wanted to see it so off we turned. We love doing that - see something and just go for it that’s why we end up in such interesting places. Going down the hill towards the Dam - our brake warning light came on so after the Dam and sandwich lunch there, we headed the 20 miles back towards Las Vegas to have the light checked. Coming through Boulder City we saw a Big O Tire, so in we pulled. They had a look and the brakes definitely needed work and they could get the parts right away and be done in about 2-3 hours. Dale stayed there while Sue and I walked through “Old Town” - something we had seen on the way to the Dam and thought would be an interesting stop but decided against.

Downtown "Oldtown" Boulder City.

How lucky were we - now we could browse all the little boutique style shops that I love! The brakes took almost 5 hours to fix - “It’s a MERCEDES you know!!!”. Being close to 6:00 PM we decided to head back to Sam’s Town KOA for the night since we hadn’t actually checked out. We stopped at a Red Lobster for dinner and GOOD it was. A movie before bed and another day over!

Sunday morning after we had all had Breakfast and showered we tried to head out once more. We were on the road by about 10 AM and first stop was a Diesel fill up and then South to Laughlin/Bullhead City & Needles, CA. We tootled along, looking at the desert scenery and watching the black clouds form over all the hills surrounding us. It even sprinkled on us once - the middle of the Mojave Desert and we get RAIN!!! At Bullhead City, we stopped for a few supplies at Safeway and then headed Southwest towards Needles and the coast. It was cold and windy and the weather forecast for the area was going to be the same for the next few days so we wanted out of there and in search of sun and warmth.

"The Cloud"

In Needles we caught up with the “Old Mother Road” Route 66 and followed it. By 4:00PM we were getting hungry and the light was starting to dim so put in for the night at the John Wilke Rest Area at Penner on Hwy. I-4. We had a few Bevvie’s, played some cards and had dinner of Taco Salad - YUMMY!  

Friday in Vegas

Friday morning we were up about 7:00ish having coffee and tea. We then had a co-op breakfast between the two rigs, next door with Bob & Christina. They then went to do some laundry and putz around their RV while Dale, Sue and I went for a walk up our little “Strip” around the RV park. I picked up some new nail polish (exciting I know!) and we topped up a on a few supplies like fresh veggies, etc. When we got back, I spent an hour or two catching up with the blog now we had semi-good WiFi while the rest hot-tubbed or laid in the sun.

Dale and Henry laying in the SUN!

We had a bit of a “Happy Hour” with fruit and cheese” and watched the news about the Paris Bombing on Bob’s outdoor TV. We started prepping for an early dinner about 4:00 - left from the day before. We had steak, rice, Harvard Beets, garlic roast Brussel sprouts,etc. After dinner, we all went to the Casino - the luck was sort of lousy so we Canadians left before they got it all (they only got half of Dale and I’s and Sue broke even) but Bob and Christina stayed. When we got back, we three had dessert - Brownie with Cream cheese Icing that Sue had made earlier, watched the new “Vacation” movie (sort of ridiculous - not funny like the last one) and then off to bed.

Wednesday & Thursday - Las Vegas!

Wednesday AM saw us on the road once more. We took the #178 east to Pahrump, a nice little town with an interesting history - you should google it. We then headed along the #160 and into Las Vegas and the Sam’s Town KOA. We had a voucher for a couple of free nights they had sent us so we only had to pay for the Third - such a deal!

"The Patio"

We were soon settled in and relaxing on “The Patio” - sunny but still a little short on the WARMTH - only 61*F. We had dinner next door at the other Rig and a fun evening of playing cards. I headed off to bed a little earlier though as I hadn’t slept properly (only a couple of hours per night) for over a week and suddenly felt really tired. I finally had a really good nights sleep and felt so much better in the AM.

Nighttime on "The Patio"

The next day the others headed downtown to the do the Strip but as Dale didn’t feel all that great we decided to stay behind.We laid around and relaxed for a while, we walked across the street to Walmart to do a little shopping, I did some dinner cooking prep, I had a pedicure, we both went to the pool and hot tub, and we took Henry for a long walk. The others returned about 5:00PM but Bob wasn’t feeling so great so they stayed behind while Sue, Dale and I decided to go over to the Casino for dinner instead of the big dinner we were going to BBQ. We saved it for the next night.

Dale & "Elvis" having fun!

We just caught the early bird special at Billy Bob’s Restaurant - Prime Rib! It was delicious and so much that we took half home for breakfast the next day. We spent a little time at the Casino - Dale lost his $20, I lost $30 but Sue once again won! Off home to a movie and bed.

Tuesday - Shoshone

Tuesday morning we were once again on the road to our destination of Shoshone. We had a bit of a laugh starting out as Dale once again didn’t understand the “take the next exit right” and nearly missed it and we had Bob right behind us wondering what we were doing! We travelled east on the #58 to Barstow and joined the I-15 until we turned off to the #127 at Baker. We stopped for lunch at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner at Yermo on the way. We enjoyed the Desert scenery along the #127 until Tecopa and Tecopa Hot Springs and then turned off to visit China Ranch Date Farm - a place we’d been before but the others hadn’t. After having a fun walk through the Date Orchards and seeing the  other interesting artifacts there, we filled up on some Dates and then continued on to Shoshone - another wonderful little Oasis we had been to previously. We had planned to stay for a few days, relaxing in the warmth of the sun and lay around and/or soak in the mineral spring fed pool but as it was in the mid 50 degrees F. with a biting cold wind we decided to head off to Vegas a little sooner.