Monday PM, March 29, 2010

Tonight we went downtown and watched and listened to "The Fremont Street Experience." It’s a $70 million light canopy with a $17 million sound system. The canopy is 1,400 feet long and 90 feet above the street. It has 12.5 million LED modules. One of the songs they played was Bye Bye American Pie with images as in the photos. During the shows there are thousands of people on the street and everyone is looking up, Connie included. It must be spring break.

More later!

Monday, March 29, 2010

This morning we toured Hoover Dam. We got to the Visitor’s Center about 9:00 and were on the first tour at 9:30. We toured as much of the dam as is allowed; the power plant and the inspection tunnels. We stood above the inlet tubes for the generators and could feel the water rushing through. This is the water that propels the turbines that produce the electricity that pays for the dam. The dam was built beginning in 1930 and dedicated in 1937 by F.D. Roosevelt. It was dedicated as Boulder Dam and in 1847 it was renamed Hoover Dam. FDR did not like Hoover and didn't want the dam named after him. It was during Hoover's Presidency that the idea was started. The dam has 17 generators and produces four billion kilowatts of electricity. The dam is one of the top 10 construction achievements of the 20th century. 35 million people have toured the dam since it was opened to the public.

What has been particularly interesting to me is the by-pass bridge that they are building just south of the dam. I saw a TV program about the construction of the piers for the bridge and the engineering that had to go into its building. The bridge will be finished within the next year and, as you can see, they have most of the parts in place. They were setting one of the deck supports while we were there. When completed, the by-pass will take a lot of the traffic pressure off of the dam. I’m sure that security was also a consideration for building the bridge. Today they don’t allow trucks, buses, or motor homes across the dam.

As we left the visitor’s center the traffic driving to the dam was backed-up to Boulder City, four miles away. We said that we had made the right choice to get to the dam by 9:00. It's spring break.

Just a short distance from the dam, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The dam has created the largest man-made lake in the US. The lake is the size of the state of Pennsylvania.

More later.

Today we spent the afternoon on “The Strip,” Las Vegas Boulevard. There had to be 100,000+ tourists in the city today. Everything was crowded; its spring break too.

We watched the water show in front of Bellagio’s. The photo of Connie and the Gerber Daisies is from the Conservatory and Botanical Garden inside Bellagio’s. Bellagio’s is huge. We walked for blocks just to get from one end to the other.

We also went to the auto museum and auto auction at the Imperial Palace Casino. I think the cars are part of the Harrah’s collection. While we were at the museum, Connie had a chance to dance with one of The Blues Brothers. That might have been a once in a lifetime opportunity. I also put a picture of the front of one of the cars in the museum. Can you tell me what make of the car it is?

The shot of the Eiffel Tower is at the Paris Casino. Today there will be more pictures than talk. Enjoy

Friday, March 26, 2010

Today we stopped in Seligman, AZ, at the Route 66 KOA. We drove 400 miles, every single mile into strong winds. A ‘wind advisory’ was issued in the morning forecasting winds of up to 40 mph, with gusts of 60. Driving was a full-time job today.

There is no TV reception here, but we were able to watch most of the game on the internet, but lost the signal in the second half. Too bad UNI lost.

Tomorrow Las Vegas!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Today was the last day of the Rally. We went in this morning for three more seminars. I went to a seminar of Allison transmissions; Connie went to one on computer safety and security, and we both went to one on Atlantic Canada. We’ve spent four days going to seminars, and we’ve learned something at all. But the seminar about Allison was the most unprofessional one of the week. The only thing that saved them was that they have a good website for RV’ers.

The total count of motor homes at the Rally was 1,780. Some are in the above photo.

In the afternoon, I installed the tire monitor system that we bought at the Rally. It monitors the pressure of all ten tires on the ground; six on the motor home and four on the toad. Unfortunately, two of the sensors leaked on the inside duals of the motor home. Nothing seems to be easy any more. Why couldn’t I just screw on the extensions and then screw on the sensors?

I’ll have to fix it in the morning before we leave.

Tonight we went to our last concert, The Flying J Wranglers. They did a great job. After the concert we watched the balloon glow. It was very over-rated. They only had one balloon. I thought they would have more. Maybe it was too windy.

Regardless, our first FMCA Rally is history. We had a great time. Tomorrow we head for Las Vegas. Send money, we will bet it for you!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Tuesday we did more seminars. We attended seminars on Cummins diesel engines, digital cameras, generator maintenance, and microwave/convection cooking. A lot of information.

Wednesday was another day of seminars; we attended one on Freightliner, microwave/convection cooking, and RVing Alaska. We also watched a presentation for an RV caravan tour to the Copper Canyon in Mexico. The caravan would be for 19 day trip in October of 2010 or 2011. We’re considering it.

Tonight we went to a concert featuring B.J. Thomas. His first hit was in 1965, and he has won 5 Grammies. One hit that everyone should remember is from the movie Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head. The concert was scheduled as an outdoor event, but the weather today was not a spring day. It was snowing this morning and then sunny, but still cold – kind of like having winter, spring, summer and fall all in one day.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Rally.

Monday, March 22, 2010

First big day at the Rally! Between the two of us we attended five different seminars; Orientation, Toad (name for towed car) Braking, Batteries, Full-timing, and Enhancing the RV Lifestyle (don’t go without Velcro). We might be a little crazy to spend the day listening to people talk about this stuff, but hopefully it will extend our RV’s life and our enjoyment.

Tonight the scheduled activity was “Movie Night.” All of the seniors watched the movie “UP”. It had a “balloon” theme and was kind of cute. There was free popcorn and soft drinks; we were home by 9:00.

The weather today was perfect - a high of 66 degrees and clear skies. We are parked next to the balloon ascension area, and this morning there were five balloons in the air when we left for the Rally at Expo New Mexico. If the weather holds, there is a balloon glow scheduled for Thursday night. We’re looking forward to that!

Pictures later.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

We woke up Saturday morning to snow and 27 degrees. BRRR! We waited until 10:00 and drove to the Balloon Fiesta Park where we parked the motor home for the Rally.

After we got parked, we drove to Santa Fe to visit the Kingsbury’s. What a great time! We hadn’t visited with them for 10 years. They retired to Santa Fe after Khalil retired from John Deere. They live in a beautiful adobe in a gated community northwest of downtown. Mimi and Khalil are in the picture with the mountains in the background.

Sunday, we went to their Episcopal Church, had breakfast at Harry’s Road House, went to the “Miracle Staircase” at the Loretto Chapel. Then we went to the New Mexico History Museum, and to the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. Later, we stopped at Trish and Clark Elmer’s; they also retired to Santa Fe from Cedar Falls about six years ago. They live in the same area as the Kingsbury’s. Both have beautiful homes!

Here’s the history for today. The Loretto Chapel is home to the “Miracle Staircase.” Around 1865, a carpenter was passing through Santa Fe and the Sisters at the chapel asked him to make a staircase up to their choir loft. He built a circular staircase to the loft with two full 360 degree rotations and no supports. Modern carpenters would have a very difficult time reproducing this staircase. When he finished he just left, vanished.

More history, the Bradbury Science Museum displays the history of the atomic bomb/the Manhattan Project. Los Alamos is home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory which employees 11,000 people. The Laboratory works on nuclear programs, national defense, and lots of secret stuff.

Tomorrow the Rally begins. We have an orientation seminar at 8:15 A.M. More later.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Today was a short drive compared to the previous two days. We drove 240 miles from Las Cruces to Albuquerque. The last 15 minutes of the drive was completely different than the previous four hours. The entire drive north was another day of clear skies and reasonable temperatures. As we approached the city we could see low hanging storm clouds and it started getting very windy. The winds were gusting to 40 mph + and then it started to rain. Then the rain changed to snow.

We arrived at our RV Park and were assigned a spot in the far northwest corner, the outside row. The storm is coming out of the northwest. Well, as I’m writing this the wind has died down and it’s not snowing. It is supposed to get cold tonight, 27 degrees. I think everything will be OK.

Did I tell you we had made an agreement that we wouldn’t stay any place where the temperature gets below 32? Well, I guess this will be the exception.

Just in case you don’t know why we are in Albuquerque, it’s because there is an FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) Rally here next Monday thru Thursday. We registered in January and were then told to arrive Saturday between 8:00 – 12:00 to get parked. We will be at Balloon Fiesta Park which can hold 1,000+ motor homes. The park will be full and, therefore, they have to schedule when people arrive. Monday – Thursday will be seminars, exhibits, and entertainment. You can go to seminars of Cummins engines and rubber-stamp greeting cards. I need to know as much as possible about maintaining the motor home. On the last night, they will have illuminated hot air balloon ascensions after dark. That should be a photo opportunity.

Since we are two days early, we called Mimi and Khalil Kingsbury who now live in Santa Fe. We’re driving to their home tomorrow and will spent the night and return to Albuquerque on Sunday. We haven’t seen the Kingsbury’s for years! We are really looking forward to seeing them.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Tonight we are at another KOA in Las Cruces, NM. Today's mileage was 484 miles.

Another spectacular day; warm (75) and sunny. We spent most of the day in the flat lands and hills/small mountains of West Texas. Beautiful scenery. The roads were the smoothest that we've been on and the motor home was very quiet. We could balance a nickel on the dash as we're driving. I guess we should thank George for the roads, they must have been done when he was governor.

We did see three javelina's along the road. The last time we saw javelinas was in Big Bend Nat'l Park in 2008.

As we were approaching El Paso we saw a traffic warning and a radio warning that traffic was blocked on I-10 because of an accident. So we took a detour, the 375 loop, around town, past Ft. Bliss and over North Franklin Mountain. The mountain is 7,200 ft. and El Paso is 3,800 ft. ; the grade was an 8%. An interesting detour that took over a hour. Maybe the accident would have been cleared if we would have taken I-10 through town.

We arrived in Las Cruces at about 6:00. Our campsight overlooks the entire city of Las Cruses. The scenery is beautiful especially at night. Attached is a picture of the city and a picnic area along I-10.

We were able to watch part of the Northern IA game against UNLV. Congratulations to UNI for their first win in the NCAA.

More tomorrow from Albuquerque.

Wednesday, March 17,2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. We are on the road again and will try to 'blog' as often as possible. We left Donna/Victoria Palms at about 9:00 A.M. and drove to Junction, TX; about 390 miles. It was a beautiful day to drive. Clear blue sky's most of the day and about 72 degrees. We didn't take the bypass around San Antonio, as recommended, we drove through exciting downtown. Everything went well except for the 1/2 hour delay to merge three lanes of traffic down to one. It's hard to believe that traffic would be backed up for miles just to merge down to one lane.

We are staying at a KOA campground. The owner's name is Dusty Sullivan. Coincidence #1

There is another Winnebago just like ours parked in the next row. Coincidence #2. It has Washington state plates and it's a special plate for Navy Aviators. I asked if he was from Oak Harbor and did he fly A-6's. That's the aircraft that my brother flew and my brother lives near Oak Harbor . He said he did live in Oak Harbor and he flew A-3's, the predecessor to the A-6. His name is Ray Sullivan and he knows of my brother. Coincidence #3.

Tomorrow we going to try to get to La Cruces, NM. Later!