Laughlin Travelog

5/14/10 Friday Our long awaited trip is finally here. We prayed and left home (Potrero, CA) at 12:30 PM and headed east on Hwy. 94. At Boulevard, CA we caught I-8 eastbound and were tired out by the time we got to Dateland, AZ so we checked into a RV park there.

We had only gone about 2 miles from home and were going up a grade when as we came around a blind curve and there was a car directly in front of us cross ways in our lane. A not so good driver had decided that would be a good place to make a U-turn. I had to jam on the brakes to keep from hitting him and everything in the trailer went flying forward. We had to sort it out later but nothing was broken.

It had been several years since I pulled the trailer and I was a bit nervous about the long steep grade going down I-8 into the Imperial Valley but it went okay. The brake controller for the trailer was working just fine. When we got to El Centro (on the flatlands) the controller stopped working. After several attempts at reconnecting the plug from the trailer to the van it See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion.med to be okay. It was just a case of dirty contacts from the long period of disuse. We were sure grateful that God protected us and kept it working until we were on level ground. If it had failed on the grade I hate to think what might have happened.

5/15/10 Saturday Left Dateland, AZ and took I-8 east to Gila Bend and then cut north to I-10 towards Phoenix. Went north on I-17 to Hwy. 69 to Prescott Valley, AZ where my brother lives. Checked in to the Orchard Ranch RV park in Dewey, AZ which is only about 5 miles from my brother's home. This is a VERY nice age 55+ RV park with numerous amenities and activities. A lot of people live there year round and I can See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion. why. It is a simply wonderful place for seniors.

We went to my brother's house and from there he, his wife, and we went to Applebee's for dinner. Visited with them afterwards.

Back at the trailer the handle for the toilet flush broke and things were looking grim. I finally was able to figure out how to reach inside the lever hole and grab something to make it flush. It's no laughing matter when you only have one toilet and it won't flush!

5/16/10 Sunday We had breakfast with my brother and his wife at Sally B's restaurant in Prescott Valley. She serves really big omelets and very much enjoys bantering with the customers. This is a great restaurant with something like 50 different omelets from which to chose. If that isn't enough just tell them what combination you want and they will make it for you.

As I started the van back up the 'service engine soon' light came on and stayed on. No where to get it worked on today and it See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion.med okay so we continued to use it but I did not want to pull the trailer until it was taken care of. Decided to stay for an extra day to get it and the trailer toilet serviced.

Went to Calvary Chapel in Prescott Valley. Came back to the trailer and rested. Then went to WalMart for some things and later to my brother's house where he and his wife fixed us a wonderful meal of grilled salmon with a sweet sauce, shrimp fettuccini alfredo, scalloped potatoes, corn on the cob, and tossed salad.

Sherry had me take her to Living Faith Chapel for evening service.

5/17/10 Monday We had a mobile RV repairman come to the RV park to fix the toilet, clean the electrical connectors for the van and trailer, and do a few other small repairs. Then I took the van to KC Auto Repair in Prescott Valley where they diagnosed the "check engine light" as just being some misfires. We went on a test drive while the mechanic watched his electronic diagnostic box and could not get any further misfires. He said the most likely cause was just a little bit of water in the gas and he suggested that I just watch to See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion. if it happens again. He also said that since he could See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion. that the wires, plugs, etc. had recently been changed it would not make sense for them to just start replacing parts to See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion. if he might happen upon what caused the problem. It was at that point that I realized just how honest that shop is since many others would have sold me everything that they could think of and just run up a large unnecessary bill. He wrote down all of the information from his box and gave it to me to give to the next mechanic if necessary and then cleared the code to make the light go out.

After that we went to Sally B's restaurant in Prescott Valley for lunch. I had a really good breaded pork tenderloin sandwich with fries and the meat portion was huge. I barely was able to eat half of it (the rest we took with us). The owner (Sally) does her share of waiting tables and good natured harassing of the customers. She has a very quick wit with fast comebacks but I managed to leave her speechless when I said to her "My brother told me that the best thing about this restaurant was the friendly service but I think it's the great food." After she recovered she managed to get out "I think it's the service."

When we got back to the trailer I looked at the clock / thermometer on the wall. At first I thought that there was something wrong with the humidity gauge - it was reading 1. Then as I was looking at it it changed to 2 and I realized that it was accurately showing the real relative humidity - 2%. Now that's dry! Welcome to Arizona.

For dinner we went out to a Chinese restaurant with my brother and his wife.

The RV park has a heated pool and hot tub. We went in the hot tub for about 15 minutes and went back to the trailer. It sure felt good and got us relaxed to go to bed.

Sherry set the breadmaker to be done early and made whole wheat bread. We went to bed for the night.

5/18/10 Tuesday We got up, had bread, oatmeal, and leftovers for breakfast and went to Albertson's Grocery in Prescott Valley. Went to Sam's Club and got gas in the van. Came back to the RV park, disconnected the trailer from the park services, put everything down that might fall down, hooked up the trailer to the van, and pulled out at 11 AM. Traveled east on Hwy. 69, then east on Hwy 169 to I-17 into Flagstaff, AZ where we caught I-40 eastbound. Had lunch at a Taco Bell just off the interstate. The uphill grade on I-17 really put the van to the test. We were down to 25 miles/hour at times because it was so steep. Even at that we passed a few trucks that were struggling even harder than we were. We stopped for gas at a truck stop by the name of Hopi Travel Center, just east of Holbrook, AZ. We pulled out back of the place (where the trucks park), ate a simple dinner in the trailer, and dry camped for the night.

5/19/10 Wednesday Well, that was certainly an interesting night. Trucks driving all around us, brakes squealing, air cylinders making their noises, wondering all the time which truck was going to run into us. I have some doubts about the wisdom of staying at truck stops. On the plus side the travel center has a a couple of fast food joints and I was able to get an easy breakfast there. This center also has a chapel with Sunday services for the truckers (and any one else that is interested). There is a chaplain on duty in his spacious office four days a week. It was nice to See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion. that offered here. I have a new appreciation for the hardships that truckers endure just trying to make a living. It's a tough life.

We left there and headed east on I-40. Went through the "painted desert" area - very pretty. It is very hard to find any where on the Interstate to stop to take photos but here is one from an exit ramp.

We had lunch at the Sizzler steak house in Gallup, NM. I now know what it feels like to be a minority. Probably 3/4 of the people in the restaurant (customers and staff) were native Americans. There were some very darling little 2 year old and younger girls among them. I believe that they were mostly Navajos and Zunis. Gallup is pretty well surrounded by reservations and it is definitely "indian country."

We crossed over the Continental Divide which in this area just consists of a long uphill gentle climb followed by a long down hill descent. Nothing like it is in Colorado but even so it slowed the van down to around 30 mph.

Around Grants, NM the highway goes through an extremely large black lava field. I can't imagine trying to walk through such an area as the pioneers must have had to do. The lava is very jagged and sharp. Grants is on the north end of the large and recent (youngest flows around 3,000 years old) lava field known as "El Malpais" (the badlands), part of which is preserved as El Malpais National Monument. The region is primarily high desert country, dominated by sandstones and lava flows. I did not take this photo but it looks a lot like what we saw for about 20 miles.

We stopped along the way at a couple of Navajo trading posts (tourist traps) but managed to escape with our money and our scalps. One of them however had a Dairy Queen and Sherry took a very well deserved fall off of the diet wagon. She has lost about 22 pounds since starting 3 - 4 months ago and got a reward today in the form of a small hot fudge sundae.

We stopped for the night at Enchanted Trails RV park just west of Albuquerque.

5/20/10 Thursday Stayed in Albuquerque today due to being tired and a digestive upset. Trust me, you don't want the details.

5/21/10 Friday Feeling better today. Left Albuquerque this morning planning on making it to Raton, NM. The van had other plans however. The engine started running really rough after about 50 miles so we stopped in Santa Fe, NM at the Santa Fe Skies RV Park and I took the van over to the local GMC dealer. They discovered that at least one (possibly two) of the spark plug wires were arcing to ground. Little wonder the van didn't want to go up the long hill coming into town. After getting the van taken care of I came back to the trailer for lunch and a short nap while Sherry went walking and resting in the patio of the RV office building. We then went for dinner at Las Tres Campanas mexican restaurant just about a mile away. Sherry had a vegetarian combo plate and I had shrimp fajitas. Very tasty. We came back to the trailer, did a bit of organizing the place, and updated this travelog. Then to bed. Hoping to get to Raton, NM tomorrow.

5/22/10 Saturday Left Santa Fe and stopped for lunch at the Brown Hotel in Springer, NM. After lunch we continued on and managed to make it to Raton, NM. We were planning on spending the night at Cedar Rail RV Park at the top of Raton pass. As we were climbing up the grade the engine started missing again and we began to pray really hard. The van kept loosing speed until we were just barely crawling along at about 12 mph for about the last mile which See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion.med straight up. I later measured the grade using Google Earth and it was only 5% but it sure See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion.med steep. I had the pedal to the floor in first gear and was rather shook up by the time we got to the top (and the RV park). We discovered that there was no Verizon phone or internet service at the park so we were out of touch for the night. It was very windy the first part of the night.

5/23/10 Sunday Left the RV park and about 1/4 mile later we were in Colorado and came down the grade into Trinidad, CO. We stopped at the first RV park we could See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion. and unhooked the trailer. I called M&M Repair and Towing and he said they will look at the van in the morning. We had lunch at Chef Liu's Chinese restaurant. Sherry went to a close by Pentecostal church for evening service while I got a bite to eat at Wendy's and did our shopping at a nearby WalMart Super Center. The winds are rather strong here in Trinidad also and the trailer is rocking even with the leveler feet down. There is still snow on the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the west of us.

5/24/10 Monday While on the road we continue to operate our small work clothing business Work Wear Headquarters. We just received a nice order from a man in Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada. Since I had never heard of it I looked up the town and discovered that this order will be going a long ways to get to the customer. I looked through the town's website and found it rather quite interesting, especially the fact that a community of 2,100 people in the far north of Canada has a "state-of-the-art, 500 seat conference center." Who would have thought that to be likely?

I got the van to the mechanic at 8 O'clock this morning and they gave me a ride back to the RV park since it will take them a while. The wind has been fierce today at 30 - 40 mph with gusts to 65 mph per the NWS. They have issued a high wind warning and are advising against vehicles pulling trailers in this region due to the wind. The wind is forecast to settle down this evening. I'm glad we're not on the road today.

We got the van back in this afternoon and it See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion.ms to be running okay now. The mechanic at the GMC dealer in Santa Fe had left one of the spark plug wires laying against the exhaust manifold and it burned right through the wire. Not a very professional job! Here's hoping we don't have any more of those problems!

5/25/10 Tuesday As we were getting the trailer hooked up the permanent resident of the next space over stopped by to try to make a sale of his homemade smoking pipes. The two smaller ones were rather obviously intended for marijuana use (one was a piece of deer horn with a roach clip inserted on one end) and the large one (about 2 feet long) he called an "Indian Peace Pipe". It was made from varnished cholla cactus and deer horn with feathers and brightly colored bits of stone attached and was very beautiful as a decorative item. He said that he sells them to the indians who then sell them to the tourists. I considered selling them on eBay until I called a relative of ours who works in law enforcement and he said that some states might consider them to be drug paraphernalia. I was reminded of the 'native American baskets' that we saw in a gift shop that had a "Made in Pakistan" tag on them. The clerk told me that they were much less expensive than the real thing and that they were "just as good". We left Trinidad, CO and headed north up I - 25. Stopped at a roadside historical marker for Huerfano Butte and had lunch in the trailer. I estimated that if we were to try to get through Denver today we would arrive there just about in time for the start of afternoon rush hour and that didn't sound too good so we stopped at a Sam's Club in Colorado Springs to spend the night. We have a wonderful view of Pikes Peak from here.

5/26/10 Wednesday We had a good night at Sam's Club and headed out in the morning on I - 25 toward Denver. The van See conditions for free shipping and reduced promotional shipping rates that apply on the Holiday Shipping Promotion.med to be working just fine. I'm very grateful for that. We got to our friend Cathy's house in Strasburg, CO about noon, unhooked the trailer from the van and connected the utilities. Part of Strasburg is located in Arapahoe County which is of special interest to me as back in the 70's I was a deputy sheriff for that county for about 5 years.

We then went out to lunch at a local restaurant and did a little bit of shopping. Sherry picked out a darling outfit for our newest grandson who is due in a very few more weeks. He will be Kristin's fourth boy. Sherry made a Polish sausage and scalloped potato casserole for dinner and it was delicious.

5/27/10 Thursday I got up early and fixed sausage, eggs, and toast for the group (the two of us, Cathy, and her granddaughter 'Becca' whom she watches weekdays while her father works. The ladies then went out to check out a garage sale and to check on an elderly lady for whom Cathy gives meds, etc.

It was a quiet day today - grocery shopping, cooking, eating, and napping. I think I would like to have more days like today. For dinner we had crock pot prepared pork shoulder with onions and applesauce. It had a very good flavor and went well with baked potatoes and corn on the cob.

5/28/10 Friday It was hot today - 93 degrees. I stayed around Cathy's house doing repairs for her and the ladies went to some garage sales.

5/29/10 Saturday It was quite a bit cooler today here in Strasburg, CO - a nice break from the heat. Sherry and Cathy went to several garage sales this morning (Cathy's favorite hobby) and then we went over to a Chinese restaurant in Bennett, CO for lunch. After lunch we went into Denver on errands and for a drive in the mountains west of Denver. It was very pretty and the ladies spotted several more garage sales along the way. They managed to persuade me to stop for a few of them. Dinner was at an Italian restaurant in Aspen Park, CO. We then came back to Cathy's house. It was Sherry's birthday today and all three of our children called to wish her happy birthday. All in all it was a very pleasant day.

5/30/10 Sunday We have a running joke between us that since we live full time in a trailer we are 'white trailer trash'. Sherry and I were getting around this morning when I noticed that she had a new dress on. I commented about how nice she looked and she said that she had bought it at a garage sale yesterday for "only a quarter". I replied "Now we're well dressed white trailer trash".

She went to church with Cathy while I started barbequing a full rack of pork spare ribs. I cut them Saint Louis style and put a dry rub on them that I had concocted last night. The ribs cooked up real nice. We were invited to a barbeque next door at 2 PM and went over there, taking the ribs with us as our contribution.

We had a really nice time at the barbeque. They had corn on the cob, potato salad, beans, and ribs. I ate too much.

5/31/10 Monday We were getting low on some of our medications so I called them in to the nearest WalMart (25 mi. west of us.) The clerk was very nice and they were able to look up the prescriptions on their computer. It was no problem at all to get them filled even though we were in a different state from where they were originally dispensed. I was surprised and pleased at how easy it was. They even had Sherry's Medicare Rx information.

I made a double batch of my meatloaf and we had some of it for lunch with baked potatoes and canned corn. We then took naps.

We went to WalMart to pick up the Rx's and do our shopping. Along the way I stopped at a hardware store to get some items to try to keep my portable satellite dish from tipping over in the wind.

On the way back to Strasburg we stopped at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Cathy had rented the movie "The Spy Next Door" and we watched it before retiring for the night.