Thursday, March 23, 2023

Familiar Territory

 We’re traveling over well known areas for the first part of our “Farewell Tour 2023”. Like the Rolling Stones, we have to indicate the year because there may be more than one….Farewell Tour.

Our first nightly stop was at Orange Grove RV Park just east of Bakersfield, in the Central Valley of California. We seem to stay here at either the beginning or end of each of our journeys because it’s a great place, level sites with orange trees spaced between them. Its an easy in, easy out, no contact checkin place, however if you need help, there is always someone in the office to talk to. We were unexpectedly held up the morning of our departure a trip or so ago, so I asked for another night….No Problem! Then our problem resolved itself and we asked to cancel the extra night……No Problem! We checked out a bit late and still made our next destination. Nice people!


After a good nights rest, we hit the road again. Next stop Las Vegas! Las Vegas (Lost Wages) is well known for its entertainment, but we were looking for a few days of downtime and a couple of nice meals. 284 miles later we checked into the Sams Town KOA, set up the satellite systems and took a deep breath! The sites here are close together but easy to get into and the park roads are paved and very wide. It’s a bit pricey but, Hey…It’s Vegas!


The next day we ventured into the “Strip” via Uber for lunch. This was our first experience with Uber and it was great! No muss, no fuss, and in a town like Las Vegas, the rides are only five minutes away. We walked a bit, watching people and some not-sure-if-they-are-people. Of course, it was nearing the weekend, so traffic was terrible.


 After awhile hunger got the best of us, and we revisited Gordon Ramsey Burger.



As always, the burgers did not disappoint and we left vowing that we would never need to eat again!

One of our must-see things to do here was to visit the Valley of Fire State Park. It’s locayed 50-odd miles northeast of Las Vegas, and displays some of the most spectacular geological sights you’ll ever

It seems that a lot of other people had the same idea….









Some of the dramatic color changes were unbelievable!



This formation is called “The Bowl of Fire.”



Another of the things on the bucket list was to check out Lake Mead. Unfortunately, while the lake level has risen dramatically and will continue to do so for awhile yet, the overall volume is tragically low.


Next day was our day to stretch our comfort boundaries. Calling Uber for a ride to New York New York for dinner and a show. There are so many choices in Las Vegas that a person could go nuts, so we choose a nice Italian dinner at Il Fornio. We each had a pasta and seafood dish, and evidently I liked it…


Of course we had to have Tiramisu for dessert!
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Terry Fator is an accomplished entertainer, and as we all know, a visiting star on the television show America’s Got Talent. We knew that he is a ventriloquist, but didn’t know he does over 200 different voices, both speaking and singing! We waited too long to get tickets so we were quite a distance from the stage, but fortunately, large screen televisions were strategically placed so we had a great view of Terry Fator and his many “friends”!




We originally planned to be in Las Vegas five nights, but a high wind/rain event was forecast so we elected to stay another two days. The first of those two days was spent hunkered down in the trailer, reading and watching television, and the second was a laundry day with a quick trip to the hardware store for minor nuts and bolts. It seems that these trailers are continually deteriorating!

That’s a wrap of the first week of our trip.

Stay tuned…

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