Strippin'.....

8:02 am - PDT - Sunday - The Vegas Strip - 60º F, humidity 33%, wind 6 mph out of west southwest.....feels like no wind to me.  Yes, we have now entered the halls of the dreaded 'Daylight Savings' time.....a custom 100 years out of date....okay, at least 50 years out of date.  Today is one of two days I resent each year......today we 'sprang forward' one hour.....not because we crossed into a new time zone, but because of a government dictate.  It will now take me two weeks to get used to the sun coming up an hour later, and I will keep stumbling across time keeping devices which must be changed to the new time.......UUUGGGGHHH!

Saturday was a travel day and so characteristically I was up a little after 6 am first turning on the burner under the percolator, then typing my blog, then taking a quick 7 mile out and back ride on my bike before the final push to put the rest of our stuff away and be on our way before 10 am.....we actually began rolling our wheels about 9:25 am......not bad!

It was a perfect day for a drive as Tecopa Hot Springs grew smaller in our rearview mirror, and within 10 miles we were beginning our first climb of the day of which there would several.......

......within an hour we were in Nevada and just a few miles from Pahrump and our first stop of the day at the Pahrump Elks Club to dump our black tank and take on fresh water.......

.....we arrived at the Elk's Club to find no one on duty to unlock the dump station so we could use it......doh!  Well, at least we were able to take on fresh water, which we did before heading a few miles across town to the Saddle West Casino which has an RV park and a dump station you can use for $10, but no fresh water......we were in and out of there in less than 30 minutes and on our way eastward to Las Vegas......only 63 miles left to go....

......included in that 63 miles was a 10 mile climb to Mountain Springs Summit at 5,490'!  We were not expecting that....from the summit it was essentially a 20 mile downhill plunge to the Las Vegas Strip......

......soon we could see the tall hotels in the distance.......

.....and then they were right there just off Interstate 15.........The Orleans, where we will be for the next 5 nights is just a mile, or so off Interstate 15 on Tropicana Avenue........

  

......and there she is, The Orleans........we had been instructed to park at the very back of the long term parking lot near the rear of The Orleans Arena, and that is where we landed......

......after trying out several spots we settled on one enabling us to point the coach a little left of due west which will enable us to get sun on the solar panels early in the morning.

After doing a modest setup we first got out our dirty laundry, put it in the car, then stopped off at the casino entrance to check out the facility, and to find out if we needed some sort of permit, or tag for the Newell (we don't)......just after entering the casino I spied a Starbucks.....it was about 1:30 pm and I was hungry so I bought a......wait......you know.....mocha frappuccino, which took the edge off my hunger.

Then it was off to the local laundromat which, conveniently, was just a block down the street, and they have super fast washers and dryers!  We were in and out of there in just under an hour.  After dropping off the laundry (and putting it away, of course) we headed over to the local Trader Joe's to stock up on a few things.....by the time we returned it was time to meet some college friends for dinner at the French Market Buffet inside The Orleans.  This buffet is no bargain at $19.99/person, but the food it quite good, and quite diverse ranging from Sushi, to Mongolian, to Chinese, to Mexican, to BBQ, to American, and giant salad bars along the way.

We had a lovely dinner, and conversation then it was time to bid our adieus and head back to the Newell......we had one last task to perform this day.....pick up Elaine's sister and brother-in-law (Laureen and Glenn) at the airport at 10 pm and shuttle them back to The Orleans.  Their plane was 15 minutes early, but by the time we were able to pick them up it was just after 10 pm.

That was our busier than normal day, and now we are set for 5 days of non-stop conversations at our 45th college reunion.....I'll be quite hoarse in a few days I'm sure.

Thanks for stopping by!