Las Vegas, Nevada - Week 2

Feb 18, 2009 (Wednesday)
Went for our first night out on the Strip. Parked behind Imperial Palace and took several halls to get to the casino. Feared that we’d never find the pickup again but it is a great place to park, midway down the strip. Went over to the Caesars Palace. I love walking through the Forum Shops and also the La Salsa margaritas! Played some penny machines here and there, walked through the Fashion Mall, had dinner there, walked and played some more, lost some more. We were able to find the pickup and managed to get a blister on the bottom of my left foot. Guess that means we walked quite a bit! Weather is finally warming up some and forecast is for the week to continue warming!! Hurrah!

Feb 20, 2009 (Friday)
Yesterday Linda and I did my 4th visit to Curves, I'm really enjoying our workouts. Today we went running around with Phil and Linda. We went to In and Out Burger, they were so sweet and treated us since I’d helped Linda figure out her business card program. On to the Galleria Mall, Bruce got a haircut at Master Cut and they did a good job of it. Last stop was Costco, they are spoiling us, bought us sundaes while there.

Feb 23, 2009 (Monday)
Found a purple bike and just had to have it!

Gallop, New Mexico - USA RV Park

March 8, 2009
Heading back to OK for a visit with the kids. Home route we went over the Hoover Dam and stopped at USA RV Park in Gallop, NM. It was $28.03 which included a $2 fee for cable, WiFi was free, site did not have sewer but some site do. Sites are side-by-side and too close for any longer than an overnight.

Quartzite, Arizona Holiday Palms

Feb. 6, 2009 (Friday)

Another drive day - headed to Quartzsite, seemed to be the best half-way point and some rains are headed our way. With the rains we decided that a nice state park on the Columbia River would be a waste with all the rain they are calling for. Decided on a private park, Holiday Palms RV Park so that we could have all the luxuries of home, ie Wi-Fi.  Arrived at 3:15, office staff was very friendly and assigned us to site E12.We were escorted to our site by another friendly staff member. Plenty of sites available, January is their busy month he told us. Seems rock hounds all meet here so where people are so are vendors!

Feb. 7. 2009 (Saturday)
Rainy day, stayed at the RV and played on the internet, watched TV, all the things you do on a rainy day.

Benson, Arizona - Kartchner Caverns Arizona State Park

Feb. 4, 2009 (Wednesday)
On our way to Kartchner Caverns! One of my favorite places that we happened upon 2 years ago on our SW Tour. Got there about 4:30, office was closed so drove on over to the campground. Found an empty site, #37, the last pull-through! Park is pretty full. Self-pay is cash only so we told the camp host that we’d go to office and pay tomorrow.

Feb. 5, 2009 (Thursday)
Bought 10:45am The Big Room tour ($46 for 2) for the caverns. It is wonderful the amount of time and trouble that the state took to keep any human interaction with the caverns to a minimal, if any, damage to the cavern living eco. The Big Room was a wonderful tour but we both liked the Rotunda/Throne Rooms tour better. The finale of it was a beautiful lights and music program where the Big Room was “we hope you enjoyed the tour”.
Lunch then off to see Tombstone again. Our last trip there I had a migraine so was not able to really enjoy it. We roamed through a few gift shops (there are plenty there!) and we were both hungry for pizza so went back to Big Nose Kate’s for dinner. Drove up to Benson to restock our food supply at Wal-mart and refuel the truck.
Shame on us! We didn't take any pictures this leg of the trip!

Balmorhea, Texas - Balmorhea Texas State Park

Bruce relaxing

Feb 1  Up around 8:30 this morning and was on the road by 9:15 headed toward Balmorhea State Park. Arrived at 3:30, assigned to site 22, which is a pull-thru on the east side of the park. As we were setting up a neighbor came over to watch how a 5th wheel is set up. Claus, a German living in Canada, very friendly and even brought us over a couple of Samuel Adams that he’d been given (he didn’t care of the taste so was hoping we’d enjoy them) After completing our set up, had a beer then over to the spring fed pool. Just as nice as it was 2 years ago when we were here. I sat with my feet in the 75 degree water and we plan on going for a swim tomorrow, if weather cooperates.



Kathy enjoying the cool water

Feb 2 - chickened out on the swim but spent the day sight seeing around the park and relaxing before hitting the road tomorrow.

Bentsen Palm RV Resort - Mission, Texas

Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort  Mission, TX. We arrived on Nov. 1, 2008 

Bentsen Palm Village, Site 606

Bruce and Kathy at
Gladys Porter Zoo-Brownsville, Tx

Very nice resort, great weather, although quite a bit of wind (lost our awning our 1st week here at 1:45 am) Met some great people, Tom and Marianne Guinther from Grand Rapids, IL. They were staying at Retama Village which is next door to Bensen Palm. Retama is a beautiful resort that the sites are purchased, they are renting from the site owner. We had a lot of fun and did quite a bit of sight seeing with Tom and Marianne, one of the most memorable was to the Gladys Porter Zoo, in Brownsville, Texas. The Zoo is decorated for Christmas and with the mild weather in south Texas they had good number of people come.

There is a nice Texas State Park, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley next to our park. The Bentsen Village park residents admission was free and it was a wonderful place to walk or ride bikes, and Bentsen Village even provided a bike if you didn't bring your own.  The Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park is a World Birding Center and even would see wild javelinas running around.  There is also many bike trails, some were right along the Rio Grande River and we saw clothing and a backpack along the bank. Reported it to the Border Patrol that was parked watching the road. There were butterflies everywhere, especially during November.  Some of the RV sites had bushes that weren't so pretty, found out that these are feeder bushes for the butterflies.

Bruce loved his morning workout in the gym. The laundry was next door to the gym so I would use the treadmill while waiting on clothes. This park had about everything you could ask for - just wish the area was as nice as the park!

A fruit truck vendor comes through the park every week and had some wonderful pineapples! So sweet and juicy and they even cut them for us. So much to do, if we got bored, it was our own fault!

Found the sign at Hobby Lobby and added our information on the back. While I was in the crafting mood, I made a pair of silver cross earring. Turned out pretty good, if I have to say so myself :-)

On Our Way to Las Vegas! Buckhorn Lake RV Resort - Kerrville, Texas

Buckhorn Lake RV Resort

Headed to Las Vegas! Stopped in the office at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort to tell them bye, pay the electric and off we went. Uneventful trip, stopped a couple of times for gas/diesel ($2.29/gal). Arrived at Buckhorn Lake RV Resort, near Kerrville, Texas at 3:30, nice office/store area and the park is very nice ($38.70). After a walk around the resort and also a spin on the bike went to the hot tub. Wonderful!! Watched the sunset from the tub with my iPod playing Michael Buble. Can’t get much better then this!! Bruce watched the Superbowl while I surfed the internet looking at destination ideas.

Awwww, love that hot tub!