Amargosa Valley to Pirates Den RV Park, Parker, AZ

Believe it or not we got ourselves going at just about 0800 yesterday morning. Had a nice night's sleep but by 0430 I was wide awake so got Ken up at 0500 for some coffee and visiting with our blogging friends. 

Our boon docking site at the rest area..Amargosa Valley

The Brothel across the street a bit..

The Brothel..

My husband saw this sign and said "And the more positions you
know  the quicker you'll get hired" :0

There's a restaurant and gift store.  There's a gas station too
$2.87 a gallon for gas and lots of room for big RV's.  

Pink Jeep Company coming from Vegas to Death Valley...
Not cheap

Had a lovely drive all the way with a tailwind pushing us down the highway.  Gas got cheaper as we headed south, so that's always nice too.  Pulled over just outside of Lake Havasu for a bit of lunch in the trailer. Continued on and just enjoyed the views.  Always love this part of the country.  

Love these roads! 

Joshua Trees

Vegas

Traffic wasn't bad at all..

Crossing over the Colorado..

We got checked in and found our site.  Ken did his thing outside and I did mine inside. The sites here are typical for an RV Park, pretty close together but oh well, it's just for a few days til after the new year. There's no cable or satellite and no tv reception. Of course we don't come camping to watch tv so that's ok. Wifi seems to work pretty well. 

We waved at the hand as we went by!

Lake Havasu..

The flag at Lake Havasu

John and Karen arrived around 1730 (Arizona time) so they missed checking in, but they found their spot before dark and he got backed in. Wish i had a picture of that! He does a good job getting that huge 5th wheel into these spots! We let them get set up and then they came over for a little Happy Hour.  Ken took our little red campfire outside and that certainly helped with the chill.  Temps are chilly for sure, but definitely warmer than home! 

We called it a night fairly early and they went home to relax.  They did the drive in one day, where as we took two. Nice to be retired! 

We awoke this am at 0500 or is it 0600?  We are so close to the river that our phones aren't sure what time it is.  Does it really matter? Nope.. Every Saturday through March there's a Swap Meet here at the park, so we'll head over later to see what they have that we don't need. 

Karen's daughter and family will be here later today to spend the night, so that'll be fun.  The party's at their house tonight. Hahah. 

Have a great day! I'm sure we will enjoying the beautiful Colorado River and even though cool, warmer temps than at home.  Waking up to 42 degrees here (feels like 35)..brrr...but home is 15 degrees at home. BRRR...

Yerington, NV to Amargosa Valley, NV..Cold temps and wind

We left home Thursday morning around 0900.  We set the alarm and i was awake anyway before 0400.   Seems to be my time lately..oh well.  Had our coffees, checking in with blogging friends and the worked on getting ready to leave.   On our way out around 0900 we stopped in to see Karen to let her know we were gone.  

The last fire for the year with lights on the bunkhouse and outhouse

Ready to head out!

Had a very nice drive from Yerington to Hawthorne where we stopped to get some gas, not much as we thought (wrong) that it would be cheaper in Tonopah.  Great drive, with some bits and pieces of different weather. We watched the skies change from blue, to clouds to what appeared to be snow. Gave us something to watch for sure.  We got gas in Tonopah (3.69) and then pulled into their trucking area for lunch. I made a simple salad for me and Ken had the last of the roll ups from his mom's house.  

Near Walker Lake, NV

Just love the different skies over the lake

The largest flag in NV....Hawthorne

On the road again about 92 miles to Amagosa Valley and their rest area.  The wind was crazy! Some winds pushed us down the road nicely, but as we neared our destination turned into a crosswind, not fun for the driver. 

Looks like we might be running into snow..but it didn't happen

Coming into Tonopah, NV

Out our dining area window...we got nothing but wind
and cold!

The view out our back window..yep there's a wind!

There is an RV Park just behind us, that we have stayed several times but decided instead of $27.00 for the night or FREE here we decided on here.  

Ken was able to run the generator for a few hours as it's so noisy outside with the highway we weren't bothering anyone.  We watched the movie Lawless which was based on a true story and very good!   Had some dinner and now Ken's sleeping and I thought I'd get this narrative done.  

Should be about 250 miles tomorrow so we'll be up at a decent time, but not setting the alarm. 

Thursday morning...I woke up at about 0430, got up nearing 0500 and started the coffee.  Visiting our blogging friends is done, coffee too so now we'll continue getting ready and head down the road after some breakfast.  We do have a few RV's and cars around us.  Temp is 22 degrees! We'll be out of here soon (well, soon for us).  Have a wonderful day everyone! 

Nothing better than a family Christmas...Home and gone again tomorrow!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope yesterday was as wonderful for you as it was for us.  

Funny how the days fly.  Monday we ran around a bit but were back to the trailer in time for lunch.  Then I started cooking some things that I brought from home.  Pioneer Woman's Restaurant style potatoes which are oh so yummy and very not good for you  (haha).  Got veggies cut up for the spinach dip and some other things made.  We listened to the rain all afternoon and evening. Just a nice day inside with some cooking going on.  Then off to bed with the alarm set for 0430.

Yesterday being Christmas we wanted to get an early start so I could be at my sister's house by 1000.  We opened presents that Bryan, Cheryl and Adam had given us. Yes, it takes us forever to get ready.  Had a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs. I made the green bean casserole and threw the potatoes into a crock pot just so it wouldn't take so long to heat up.  It as just a little after 1000 when we arrived.  

Linda was busy in the kitchen with her part of the dinner as Dusty, Chelsea, Owen and Little Cassidy arrived.  Santa had come to Grandma's house so we watched the joy of any 4 year old that has even more presents to open! He got a side by side battery powered ride on that we watched him learn to drive.  He'll get better at it I'm sure.  

Cassidy, pretty in pink!

Owen getting instructions from his dad

And he's off!

Cassidy and Grandpa Bobby

Angelina doing what teens do..haha

Jesse, Aaron and Mason

Aaron, Adam and Jesse

Lori and Cassidy

Boys in the garage...the whiskey is open!
Russell and his cousin, Dusty..

Russell, Dusty and Steve (who has been a friend since high school)

Isabella and her mom had to stop by to meet Miss Cassidy

Seth, Owen and Mason

Ken ran to say Hi to his mom for a bit, and was back by noon which is when most of the family started to arrive. We enjoyed the afternoon with everyone. So many people it was difficult to hold a conversation for too long. 

My greatest joy yesterday came from having ALL of our boys and their families together.  That hasn't happened for at least 3 years! I know my oldest and youngest sons haven't seen each other in that long.  Time flies, families and jobs keep them apart, but yesterday we had them all! One happy momma and grandma here!! Dad was pretty happy too.  

The boys do this pic every Christmas...from left..Jacob, Seth, Adam, Aaron, Dusty, Jesse and Mason..it goes by height.
I'll have to find last years..

It started with this...Ken, Me and our boys...Bryan, Eric and Russell

Then this happened! Ken, me, Bryan, Cheryl, Eric, Christina, Russell, Lori

And then this happened!! Ken, Me, Bryan, Cheryl,(Cheryl has two daughters and five grandchildren who couldn't be there)  Adam, Eric, Mason, Christina, Seth, Jacob, Russell, Lori and Aaron! 

This one is pretty much the same but we added Owen to it! 

Our five grandsons!  Seth, Adam, Jacob, Aaron and Mason

Jacob, Lori, Russell, Aaron

The Byrnes Family...My sister Linda with Cassidy, Chelsea, Owen, Dusty and Bobby..

A group of boys who wanted a picture with Steve :)
Aaron, Russell, Ken, Steve, Jesse and Eric

Ursula, Aaron, my sister Wendy and granddaughter Angelina..

Seth, Eric, Mason and Christina

We said goodbye about 1700 and then headed over to see Ken's mom.  She had a nice spread of roll ups, olives and other goodies.  Diane and Jesse came over too so we had a great visit for about 3 hours. Very blessed to have her :) 

Ken, Diane, Jesse and Grandma..:) 

I had to share our wonderful family with you..our greatest blessings! :)

We got back to the trailer a little before 2100 and both of us didn't last long, before it was time to hit the hay! 

Thank you to my sweet sister Linda for opening your house once again for this special holiday.  After Daddy passed and we moved to Weimar I used to host Thanksgiving and Linda would do Christmas. Now she does both and we love going there.  Sorry to leave you with the mess :0  but she does have a great hubby who is good at cleaning up!  

Wednesday morning we sat the alarm for 0415 as we're headed home to Yerington to get ready to leave tomorrow for Parker, AZ to ring in the New Year with friends.  

We are home!  Got the trailer loaded for our trip tomorrow and now outside for a fire with John and Karen for a bit.  Have a wonderful evening.