Las Vegas and Beyond!
We recently left the San Joaquin Valley in central California and continued our winter drive southward to our final winter destination, Yuma, Arizona. Sadly we were unable to visit with our pals in Visalia while we were in the area, but that is now a great excuse for us to return to the Sierras! Currently we are settled in the Paradise RV Resort in sunny Sun City, Arizona. The weather is great here, mostly 70’s and sunny during the daytime and drops down to the mid 50’s at night. We hear the coyotes many nights and saw one jogging through the neighborhood last week. Don’t leave your pets out or their food!The first leg of this journey was a quick side trip to Las Vegas for some fun and business. We saw a great windmill array going through the mountain pass east of Bakersfield, and a solar electric facility on the west side of Las Vegas that was very interesting. We had about 150 lbs of things we wanted to pawn and had the idea of going into Rick Harrison’s Gold and Silver Pawn Shop. We did that but could not make a deal with his shop. We saw Rick sitting in his office and they all treated us with professional respect but could only offer $100. We eventually found a shop that gave us $622. Yay! That paid for a cheeseburger and a two beers in Vegas! Fun was had by all.
Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm is one of the first large-scale wind farms installed in the U.S. Wind development in the Tehachapi Pass began in the early 1980s. The area hosts a multitude of wind farms, comprising one of California's largest wind resource areas. The pass is undergoing much repowering activity. The area has multiple generations of wind turbine technology installed, including both single and double blade turbines, as well as the more modern three blade horizontal axis design. The older generation turbines generate kilowatts, and the modern turbines installed generate up to 3 megawatts, depending on the specific turbine and manufacturer.
The Joshua Tree National Forest in the Mojave Desert. I think the Josua Tree is an interesting cactus. Becasue they resemble people standing out in the desert to me, I can feel the soul of these cacti. 
The Ivanpah Solar Electric
Generating System is a solar thermal power plant in the California Mojave
Desert, 64 km (40 miles) southwest of Las Vegas, with a gross capacity of 392
megawatts (MW). It deploys 173,500 heliostats, each with two mirrors, focusing
solar energy on boilers located on three centralized solar power towers.
We stayed at the Duck Creek RV Resort, in Henderson, Nevada (Las Vegas); not much to talk about here, but it was a safe place to sit. They were not set up well for the bigger 40 ft trailers. We had to rent two lots that were end to end and pull halfway between them. As a result we could not reach the water or sewer hook ups easily. We only stayed 4 or 5 days so it wasn't a big deal. The people at the park were nice and the location was convienient to all of Las Vegas.
Going into town exploring...
Hanging out at the Venetian Hotel
We headed up to the rooftop VooDoo Lounge atop the Rio Hotel
and Casino for the view of the Las Vegase Strip at night!
View of the Las Vegas Strip from the VooDoo Lounge @Rio's 51st Floor. Can you see the Luxor light beaming straight up at the right side of the picture?
We headed up to the rooftop VooDoo Lounge atop the Rio Hotel
and Casino for the view of the Las Vegase Strip at night!
After a few days of excitment it was time to depart and make Sun City West for Thanksgiving with Gari's mom, Shilo. Below is a little scenery leaving Las Vegas... passing the Lake Meade and Hoover/Boulder Dam areas.
On to Congress, Arizona and another Escapes Park, North Ranch to be exact. As we ride around we notice more permanent living options that we may consider inour future. This park is one of those options, but we don't think it will be the one, certainly not anytime soon! We really liked the people, park and area, but it seemed a bit too far away from enough civilization to be totally practical for us. But it was a very attractive loctation to us.
The members named this huge Saguaro in the background. They choose the name Methuselah. This cactus is thought to have come to life around 1600 A.D. So Steve spent a very little time in comparison with Methuselah.
and a parting shot with Methuselah...
Steve/Gari, thanks for sharing your adventures with us! Both interesting and fascinating, it's been fun to see our wonderful country through your eyes. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
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