Tuesday 28 August 2012 – On the road again
Day 138 and 20 days to go
Our last morning at Bellagio
and I wasn’t wanting to give it up in a hurry. We had until 11am before we had
to check out of the room so I did some net stuff before reluctantly crawling out of bed at 10
and helping Paul with the pack up of all our things.
At 10.50am we made our way to
checkout, paid up and then gave our bags to the bellhop to look after while we
went in search of food. We crossed using the footbridge and made our way to the
Planet Hollywood shops where the PBR bar was serving cooked breakfasts and
showing the World Superbikes on the TV.
We finished up and did a
quick lap of the shops before returning to the Bellagio collecting our bags and
taking a cab to the Cruise America depot 20min away in Henderson. We passed
through the outer suburbs of Las Vegas, none of it was particularly appealing.
It is all dry and brown.
Once at the depot we joined
the line before finally being served and completing the paperwork. We were then
made to watch a video for half an hour on the workings of the van. Before we
did a walk through of our van and were finally given the keys by 2.15pm.
Our first stop was the
nearest Walmart for groceries. These places are huge with basically anything
and everything you need. With our trolley full we made our way out the door and
back to the van. It was so hot even the birds were seeking shade.
We stopped to fill up quickly
before finally making it on to the highway and heading towards our first
destination 2 ½ hours away. The E350 truck hauling our camper rattles and rolls
and shakes like a washing machine. The automatic gears squeal and rev and Paul
says she handles like a boat. It is not as comfortable as our previous RV. The
foot well I have is taken up by a large amount of plastic and I have to sit at
an uncomfortable angle to fit my feet in.
The drive from Las Vegas to
Barstow on the I5 was an interesting one for about the first 15min and then you
tire of seeing rock, a little sand, spinifex type plants and the mountains. It
is beautiful in it’s own right but there is no way I would want to stay here.
The Joshua trees had us amused for a while. They are odd, like something from a
freaked out Dr Seus.
Our drive took us to the Mojave
Desert passing a golf course and mining camps. There were plenty of trucks and
other RV’s doing the same trek. We crossed the border of Nevada and California
where there is a theme park and yet more gambling halls either trying to get
the last or the start of your spending money.
By 5.15pm we had finally made
it to Barstow where we pulled of the highway at Ghost Town Road. It was an apt
name as there wasn’t much but a fuel station and a highway and our little ol’
KOA campground. We checked in then parked up in spot 42. It was then that we
did the unpack of our bags finding places to shove all of our things. Apart
from being a rattlely old hippo, this RV has limited storage space with nowhere
to store our suitcases except for on top of the over cab bed.
I made up the overhead bed
where we would be sleeping and after everything was unpacked we made our way to
the pool for a well earned swim and cool down. Ahhh. I checked out around the
camp spying a Joshua tree and lots of rusty farm gear.
When we returned to the van
Paul began cooking dinner while I started planning the next 14 days, checking
the net for suggestions. As the sunset the pinks and yellows were tainting the
sky so I ventured out to take some photos before returning and eating dinner
and discussing our plans.
Paul then read for a while
and I caught up on the blog and by 10pm we were ready to call it a night.
View Larger Map
No comments:
Post a Comment