We left Albuquerque last Sunday,
October 13th, and overnighted in Las Cruces. On Monday we drove to
Tucson to Davis Monthan Air Force Base to spend five weeks at their Family
Campground. They don’t take reservations, but we had called ahead and were told
that there were plenty of camp sites open.
The campground seemed
about half full when we got here, but snow birds have been steadily rolling in
all week. We could only register for 21-days and have to check back at the
office on our 21st day to see if we can extend our stay. We're allowed to extend in our site, provided no one is waiting in overflow (with no hookups).
If anyone is waiting in overflow, we have to leave our site and move to
overflow. Then we could rotate back to a hookup site when the next camper
reached their 21st day.
On Thursday I saw in my
newsfeed that the Union Pacific historic Big Boy steam locomotive No. 4014 Big
Boy was in Tucson. It is touring the Union Pacific system throughout 2019 to
commemorate the transcontinental railroad’s 150th anniversary. 25 Big
Boy locomotives were built between 1941 and 1944. Of the 25 built, only eight survived
and are on static display at museums across the country. One of them, No. 4014,
was re-acquired by Union Pacific and restored to operating condition over
two-years for the 2019 tour. It is currently the largest, heaviest, and most
powerful operational steam locomotive in the world.
The Big Boy Tour is on its
way through New Mexico to Texas with stops in El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, and
Marshall. Then it stops in Little Rock and Kansas City, on its way home to
Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Steve & Julie
Cornelius
We left Las Vegas on
Sunday, October 6th and headed south. We stopped at a new Pilot station
on U.S. Highway 93 between Las Vegas and Kingman, AZ to fuel up. It was so much
easier than trying to refuel at the TA truck stop in Kingman. As we neared
Kingman, the traffic was backed up over 2-miles in the left lane of U.S.93, as
everyone was trying to turn left onto I-40 to head east.
We went to Williams and
the Grand Canyon Railroad RV park where we met up with Mike and Marcia again. I
was pleasantly surprised that the local CBS station was showing the Denver
Broncos-Los Angeles Chargers football game. Usually only the Arizona Cardinals
games are shown in Arizona on the CBS stations.
Last Monday we only drove
about 75-miles to Meteor Crater RV Park. We intentionally planned a short day
so we could drive into nearby Winslow, Arizona. We enjoyed standing on the
corner, seeing the flat-bed Ford, and the statues of Jackson Browne and Glenn
Frey who wrote the Eagles hit “Take it Easy”.
We went to the La Posada
Hotel next for dinner, a former Harvey House on the Santa Fe railroad. The
hotel seemed very busy for a Monday night. We enjoyed a cocktail in the hotel
bar while we waited for our dinner reservation. It was Mike and Marcia’s first
visit to the La Posada and they thoroughly enjoyed their dinner and watching
all the train traffic out the dining room windows.
We drove about 265-miles
on Tuesday to Rio Puerco, New Mexico, just west of Albuquerque, where we spent
the night at the Route 66 RV Resort. It was our first stay at this RV resort.
The nearby casino was within walking distance of the RV resort, but they had a
shuttle. When we checked in the RV resort, the clerk gave us cards to join the
casino player’s club.
We went to the casino for
dinner but hadn’t decided where to eat among the several available restaurants.
When we got inside the casino, there were lots of people lined up at the
buffet. We learned that with a player’s club card, the buffet was 2-for-1 on
Tuesdays and it was only priced at $14.95. Mike and I quickly got our player’s
cards, with a pre-loaded complimentary $5.00, and our coupon for the buffet
2-for-1.
The buffet was actually
very good with several food stations offering Latin, Asian, Italian, American
classics, Mongolian BBQ, and a bakery with desserts. After dinner, I used my
player’s card, pre-loaded with the $5, on a Walking Dead slot machine and won
$55.
On Wednesday, we drove to the
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Park, where we had reservations in the VIP East RV lot
and met our friends Kris and Jan. We made our reservations for the balloon
fiesta a year ago on the opening day of ticket sales. It sold out in 2-3 minutes.
Julie and I have been to
the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta four times before (2008, 2009,
2010 and 2013) and had always stayed in the VIP West RV lot. We had an end view
of the balloon launch field, but in the VIP East RV lot, we had a horizontal
view of the entire field. It was much, much better.
Our four-night stay at the
balloon fiesta was fun. We “dry” camped (no utilities) for the four nights, but
we could run our generator during the day to charge up our motorhome batteries.
We thoroughly enjoyed the
balloon fiesta this year with its 550 hot air balloons. There were several
special shape balloons that we hadn’t seen before. On Friday night, we saw sky
divers above us in the dark and they used white flares and fireworks to show
their location before landing on the balloon field.
We left Albuquerque on
Sunday, October 13th, and drove south to Las Cruces for an overnight
stay. Today we arrived in Tucson for a five-week stay to just hang out and
enjoy the warm fall weather.
Steve & Julie
Cornelius
We left Lake Powell with
Mike and Marcia on Sunday, September 22nd, heading towards Las
Vegas. We stopped in St. George, Utah for lunch at Hash House A Go Go. It’s
always a challenge parking in the nearby mall parking lot, hoping our
motorhomes don’t get blocked in by cars while we’re eating.
We arrived safely and got
checked in at the Desert Eagle RV Park on Nellis Air Force Base. This Air Force
Family Campground is very nice and it was beginning to fill up with “snow
birds” who stay here for six months during the winter.
We did something different
during our stay in Las Vegas this time. We went to several casinos that either
we’d never been to before or Mike and Marcia had never been to. We
intentionally avoided the weekend crowds and planned our excursions on week
nights.
On Monday we took Mike and
Marcia to The Wynn Casino to enjoy the dinner buffet. The food variety was really
good and the flower displays throughout the casino were spectacular. And, they
had free parking at The Wynn.
My sister Janet and her
wife Nancy joined us at Nellis with their RV on Tuesday, for a 3-night stay. That
evening we went to Aliante casino, located in North Las Vegas, for their happy
hour and Taco Tuesday bar food. It was just okay. But the sunset was awesome.
Last March we bought
tickets to all go see Michael Jackson One at Mandalay Bay on Thursday. We first
enjoyed dinner at the Ri Ra Irish Pub inside Mandalay Bay. This Ri Ra was
constructed from a pub meticulously restored in Ireland and then shipped to Las
Vegas. I really enjoyed a glass of the Guinness Irish Stout, some deviled
Scotch eggs, Irish smoked salmon, and the fish & chips. The Irish coffee
was awesome. I was amazed at the cold cream floating on top of the hot
coffee…yummy.
The Michael Jackson One by
Cirque du Soleil show was excellent. All of us enjoyed the Michael Jackson
music and the acrobatics.
On Sunday we took Mike and
Marcia across town to the Orleans casino to the Ondori Asian Kitchen. We
enjoyed some delicious Chinese dishes.
Late Tuesday afternoon we
drove through Las Vegas down I-15, in the HOV lane, and went to the M casino in
Henderson. None of us had gone there before. Their Studio B Buffet was half the
price of the big casinos on the strip, and the food was really good.
This past Wednesday was
Mike and Marcia’s last night in Las Vegas. We saved the best until last with a
late afternoon trip to The Stratosphere, now rebranded as The Strat. We were
headed to the 107 Sky Lounge for their famed happy hour. There was no charge
for the elevator taking us to the 107th floor. Although only the Top
of the World restaurant on the 106th floor rotates, you still have a great view of the Las Vegas valley skyline. We enjoyed some half-priced hors de oeuvres and adult beverages while waiting for the sunset. Later we went up top to see the view and those crazy amusement rides.
We leave Las Vegas
tomorrow and head to Williams, Arizona where we’ll meet up with Mike and Marcia
again. We’re all on our way to meet up with Kris and Jan again and go to the
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta on Wednesday.
Steve & Julie
Cornelius
