On To Las Vegas

We took it slowly this morning after driving 400 miles yesterday. Why did we do that??? There was a nice lake to look at while we had coffee. We left at 10:30. We were passing through a veritable forest of saguaro. Since there had been rain for several days recently, the saguaro were all fat and stretched out. This will be an awesome sight in the spring when the whole desert is in bloom! We had already planned a trip here to see the saguaro in bloom, so now we can see what a treat it will be! After Wickenburg, there were no more saguaro for a long time. It was a wide plain surrounded by mountains. There were low bushes, cacti, and yucca. After Wickenburg to Kingman, there was NOTHING on Highway 93 for over 100 miles - no towns, no nothing but wide open spaces. (Hi, Janet P.) A roadsign said, "Watch for Animals Next 140 Miles". We watched and didn't see many. Soon we came to a Joshua tree forest. Joshua trees are like yucca plants with branches. These had more branches than the ones at home and looked more like regular trees except for the spiky leaves. There were also some yellow wildflowers blooming along the edge of the road! There were several inches of snow at Kingman, AZ, but the highway was clear and dry. It was 40 degrees and there was a cloudless sky. After we left Kingman, we could see smog in the distance. One way it was Las Vegas, the other way it was Los Angeles. From Kingman down to the Colorado River at Laughlin, we descended on a 6% grade down 3000 feet in elevation. Then we climbed back up the other side 3000 feet up a steep grade. The roads were good and were scenic. We had to go around Hoover Dam because they're constructing a new bridge. Because of construction and delays, no one with a trailer was allowed on that route. The shrubbery was short, with barrel cactus, mesquite, and sagebrush. Between the bushes, green grass and weeds were sprouting because of the recent rains. There was snow on most of the higher mountains around and then a couple of inches in the valley, but not on the road. We went through the famous town of Searchlight, NV, home of NV Senator Harry Reid. (Hi, Barbra) It looked a lot like Tonopah, only smaller and less rundown. People in the parking lot of the service station where we stopped were throwing snowballs. We passed an installation of many acres of solar collectors! There was still snow in Las Vegas when we got there, on ballfields and on the shady sides of buildings. After a stressful detour that made it hard to find our intended RV park, we finally pulled in only to find out it was dumpy, in spite of Woodall's recommendation. We went to Sam's Town Hotel/Casino RV Park instead and it was fine. There was a low, brick sound wall between us and the traffic on Las Vegas Blvd, and it actually worked!
We slept to the (muted) sounds of traffic, the (not muted) bass sounds from some passing cars, and the choppy sound of helicopters.

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