Thursday, January 16, 2014, Las Vegas, NV

Ready for the operation

We were awakened this morning with news of Vanessa, our youngest grand daughter.  She had her tonsils and adenoids out this morning.  The operation went well and we talked to her and Brandon on Skype.

After the operation

A soothing treat for a brave girl

We got packed and checked out of the Vacation Club at about 10 AM.

Thus ended the adventure of being tourists in our hometown.  It was a good four days.  The weather was great and we did a few things and saw a lot that we hadn't done or seen before.

Actually the adventure continued in the evening.  We went to see the Terry Fator show at the Mirage.  It was a great show and we enjoyed it very much.  A good finish to several days as tourists.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014, Las Vegas, NV

This morning I picked up Bill Cavagnaro at his house and went to a meeting about insurance options. We, everyone over 65, are being forced out of the coverage we had in our previous careers.

After the meeting I went back to the Hilton Grand Vacation Club.  I picked up Gerri and we drove out to the outlet mall south of town to do some shopping.  But, before shopping we decided to have a hamburger at the Outback Steakhouse.  Once at the mall we went looking for some new brown dress shoes for me, which we ended up ordering my size from one of the stores.  I also got a new pair of walking shoes and Gerri got a new Coach purse.  I also got in a enough steps to meet my afternoon goal.

From the scenic elevator at the LVH

Back at the room, I took a walk to get the steps for my evening walk.  I went over my goals the last two days but not today.  While walking I also tried to find a nearby cache.  I didn't find it.  I have never done well hunting caches at night.

We finished our left overs from Battista's.  After some computer time and TV we called it a night.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014, Las Vegas, NV

We met the Cavagnaro's at the LVH and bought tickets to ride the Monorail.  Our plan was to get off at the stations and look for geocaches along the Strip.  The tickets we bought were good for 24 hours and allowed us to get off and on as many times as we wanted.  The plan sounded good.  In practice we did a lot of walking.  The monorail runs behind the hotels and most of the caches were closer to Las Vegas Blvd.  Getting to the caches involved a lot of walking.  Also the monorail doesn't stop at all of the hotels.

Caching on the Strip

We did find four caches and had lunch at Carlos and Charlies in the Flamingo Hotel.

Flamingos at the Flamingo

When we got to the LVH station Bill and Elaine headed home and we stayed on the monorail.  We went back to the MGM and went to the preview of a proposed new TV show.  I thought it was pretty bad, and a wasted 40 minutes.  We went back to the LVH and got our car.  We then drove to Battista's Hole In The Wall for dinner.  Battista's has been a Las Vegas fixture for 30 years.  Like most of the places we have been to this week, we have not been there for years. After dinner we went back to the Vacation club and called it a night.

One good thing about all of our walking, I got my 10,000 steps, 2 days in a row.

Near Caesar's Palace

Monday, January 13, 2014, Las Vegas, NV

We are on the second day of our not far away cation,  Even though I had went to bed early I slept in. I guess we needed to catch up on sleep.

I took a morning walk from the Hilton north to Sahara and found two geocaches.  It has been about eight years since I cached on the Strip.  Walking back south I stopped at a CVS and bought coffee filters. The coffee supplied by the Hilton is in small filter bags but only make about 16 ounces at a time.  So to use our own coffee I needed small cone filters.

When I got back to the room Gerri was ready to go to lunch.  We had decided to walk to the Peppermill.  The Peppermill has been at this location on the Strip since 1972.  I think the last time we were there was in 1978.  We had eggs and hash, and took our leftovers back to our room.

I have lived in Las Vegas for 51 years and except for a couple of brief times in the '60's it has been a boom town.  For many years it was the fastest growing city in the fastest growing state.  That all changed in 2008.  The effects of the downturn are visible as you walk along the Strip.

We had to mail some things to the grand kids in Texas, so we went by the house to pick them up and take them to the  post office.  Gerri dropped me off at the PO and I waited in line to mail the packages. After that I walked to the house.

Gerri had a Bunco game so I stayed at the house to catch up on mail,  I also went for my evening walk. This was the first time in over 8 years that I did over 10,000 steps.

After Bunco we went back to the resort.  I stayed up reading until 2 AM, Gerri was asleep quite a bit earlier.

Sunday January 12, 2014, Las Vegas, NV

Even though we aren't traveling, we are away from home most of this week.

Gerri chillin at the Hilton

After Church this morning we packed up and went to the Hilton Grand Vacation Club on the Las Vegas Strip.  A trip of about 8 miles.  All of you followers may not know this but we own several time shares.  We had built up points that were about to expire if not used.  So, we decided to be tourists in our own town.  It had been several years since either of us was on the Strip.  We went east on Flamingo Avenue and then north on Las Vegas Boulevard to the Hilton Grand Vacation Club just before reaching Sahara Avenue.
We we both amazed at the new buildings and the buildings that had been started and work has now stopped.
We checked in at about 5 PM.  We bought Pizza in the Marketplace Deli at the property and ate in our room.
We were both in bed before 10 PM.

The view from our room

Sunday December 8, 2013, Las Vegas, NV

It wasn't as cold this morning as it was the last few days. There was no wind, so it seemed rather pleasant.
I fixed the coffee and we enjoyed that while deciding whether to go on to Las Vegas today or split the trip up.  We decided to go directly on to Las Vegas with no more over night stops. 

Desert mountains along US 93

Our route was I-10 to Phoenix and then onto US 60 and then US 93 north.  I always miss the desert mountains but sometimes forget that also means 6-7% grades.  We picked up I-40 into Kingman and then back on to US 93 into Las Vegas.

Las Vegas from just past Railroad Pass.

  We traveled I-215 west to Rainbow Blvd. and made a stop at Sam's to fill up the motor home tank.

We got to the house at around 5 PM and unloaded a few necessary items.  We tuned into worship services from Oakey Blvd. and then had supper.  We had chicken salad roll ups for dinner.  After some TV and computer time we called it a night.

This culminates a trip that started on July 13, 2013.  This trip included visits with friends and family in Southern California, Central California, Northern Nevada, Iowa, West Virginia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Arizona.  It also included a month in Southern Europe with a Mediterranean cruise.  Not counting the cruise we have traveled about 9300 miles in the motor home this year and spent more than 200 days on the road.  I managed to find 178 caches on this trip.  Including caches in six countries on our cruise.  I have now found caches in 19 countries including the USA.

This will be my last blog until we travel again in January. 

Saturday December 7, 2913, Casa Grande, AZ

Gerri got up earlier than I did.  After I fixed coffee and enjoyed a few sips I walked about .30 miles to try to find a cache.  I didn't find it and the walk was in bitter cold with a wind in my face.

We got on the road at about 9 AM.  Our goal for today was Casa Grande, AZ.  The trip is mostly along I-10 with a short section of I-8 before we turn off into town.  There were clouds with a little sky showing when we left Las Cruces.  Later we ran in to fog .  It was with us for quite a while but wasn't freezing nor affecting visibility like after we left Fort Stockton.  We stopped in Lordsburg, NM  for fuel.  It was clear there but still cold with a wind blowing.  We also picked up tuna sandwiches at a Subway shop.  Gerri ate hers while we drove on.  I stopped at the first rest stop in Arizona and ate my sandwich.  Later we stopped again at a rest stop in Texas Canyon and I got the information for an earth cache..

Our next stop was at a Blue Beacon truck wash in Eloy, AZ. That took awhile since there was a truck and motor home ahead of us.  The wait wasn't as long as I expected since they were operating two wash bays.

We arrived at the Casita Verde RV park in Casa Grande at about 5 PM and got set up.  Our site was the first back in site we used since Hilton Head.  Even though it was tight, I had no trouble backing in with Gerri directing me.  Casita Verde is an Encore par so we got a discount due to our membership in Thousand Trails.We had to unhook the Jeep before parking, but since we were going to Ben and Merridy Barnhart's for dinner, we had to unhook it anyway.

I hooked up sewer and water since we plan to be in Las Vegas tomorrow evening or possibly Monday.  The coach will be parked for several months so I want the tanks fairly empty.

Ben and Merridy Barnhart

We drove to Ben and Merridy's house about two miles away.  Ben is Gerri's 2nd cousin.  Until recently they had been motorhome travelers and we have met them in Montana a couple of times and once in Pahrump.  We had a nice visit and a great meal before returning to our coach for the evening.

I was tired and went to bed early.