Saturday, February 24: Not sure how many of you have noticed but all my blog post titles have also been song titles. Some of the songs are pretty obscure but they are actual songs. Today, however, I found one that kind of fits except it should say ‘outside Seatac.’ Lol!

Outside Providence by The Wilkinsons

She’s driving outside Providence

She’s on the outside looking in

She’s finally figured out just where she’s going

Her mama says that she’s insane

Her daddy swears a boy’s to blame

She’s never seen the truth so clear before this

Chorus:

Cause there’s a world outside Providence

Somewhere to spread her wings and fly

She’s taking chances, life begins again

Somewhere outside Providence

A hula man sits on her dash

Beside a Rand McNally map

She circles places that she always heard of

She plans to see the Hoover Dam

And the world’s biggest frying pan

Open to any place outside Rhode Island

I don’t think my mom thinks I am insane but I know she was worried about me being by myself, Dad probably doesn’t think a boy is to blame unless it is Darrel for dying, I have my Western United States Rand McNally map, and I have a hula girl that dances on my boat dash, and today I saw the Hoover Dam and got close to the the world’s biggest frying pan.

After getting ready for the day I walked over to Mar and Gar’s RV. Gar had gone back to Needles for the boat racing and to see another old friend who was supposed to be there on Saturday. Mar and I went for a walk along the river. there is a very nice walking path all along the river and past the casinos.

We decided we would have breakfast at the Riverside buffet. She said they made good omelets. Well the line was really long for the buffet so we went to the restaurant next door. There was a line but we were seated fairly quickly. Breakfast was not quick in coming, however. It took about an hour to get our food and then Mar’s veggie omelet didn’t have the cheese she had asked for. So the waitress whisked it away and came back shortly with cheese melted on top.

After breakfast we walked around the casino and she showed me a few things then we headed back to the RVs. I said my goodbyes and got the camper and Misty ready to leave. Didn’t take much as I hadn’t any hoses or things to put away. Misty wasn’t thrilled to be back in the truck. When I stopped for gas she sat in the window and meowed the whole time. She settled down fairly quickly after that, though.

It was a drive of about 90 miles and I saw some wonderful, amazing scenery. I drove for miles through the Golden Valley which seemed mostly brown with sparse creosote bushes and hills with no vegetation at all. The hills did have just a bit of a green tint to them so there must have been some rain in the area recently to make a bit of grass grow. The weather was sunny and for once the wind was not blowing like crazy. It was still cool, however, and I had long pants and sleeves on.

It was quite dramatic coming over a pass and around a corner to see a panorama of jagged hills and cliffs in many hues of reds and oranges and snow covered mountains behind them. There was a scenic viewpoint so I stopped to get a couple of pictures. Going on I saw even more rugged hills and the colors at times were so vivid – pinks, oranges, golden yellow.

Then I came down a steep and winding road and there was Hoover Dam. I only got a quick glimpse of it as I was driving past but it is pretty dramatic too. I will probably head back up there when I leave Lake Mead.

I went into Boulder City to pick up a couple of things before checking into the Lake Mead RV Village. I finally got some Aquaphor for my dry hands and feet. I have mentioned a couple of times how the dryness and wind have caused me some problems, well my feet were now the worst with deep cracks around my big toe nails. I learned about Aquaphor a long time ago from one of my pharmacist friends, Belle, so decided to get some and see if that helped.

I had called the RV park from Laughlin to see if I could get in. I didn’t want to get here and not have a place to stay. The woman I talked to said just to come in and they would put me in a spot. When I went into the office the woman asked if I had a reservation and when I said no, she looked aghast! I said I had called and was told to just come in. She looked out and saw my camper and then said, “Oh, that was me.” Yes, they did have back-in spots for smaller RVs. They actually had one pull through but it was $5 more so I said I would take the cheap one.

The camp host got in her little cart and showed me the way. I find it odd that the back-in spots don’t have the rear of the camper facing the lake. All the hookups are on the side where you end up not facing the water. I probably could have turned it the other way but then I would have to have the sewer hose stretched under the truck and wasn’t sure it was long enough for that.

I am in an area that has probably 20 spots and there were only 3 other small RVs there. I have a view of the lake and surrounding hills. There are permanent mobile homes all around my area (not sure what they are all about) so the lake view is a bit limited. Again, I am so impressed with the colors of the hills though. Some areas totally look like part of the Grand Canyon to me, which is nice since the weather had not improved there and I decided not to go.

Misty and I got settled into our site, she on her leash and me doing all the work. I had asked the host how the water was there and she said it is pretty good but if I have a filter, use it. Huh?! By this time it was about 3:00. I wandered around a bit and ended up putting a sweatshirt on as the wind had picked up and it was only about 50 degrees out. Misty liked being able to roll around and get tangled up with her leash again. It is all rocks here. Not really any good dirt to roll in.

I hadn’t eaten since our late breakfast so I started dinner around 4:30. I had bought a whole chicken in Yuma and used the leg/thighs in the Coq au Vin so I still had my favorite bony parts to cook. I had ‘dry brined’ them for a couple of days so baked them in the oven with a small potato cut in half. Then I cooked some spinach for a green vegetable. I ate the back, ribs, and liver but still have the wings. The breasts are still in the fridge so will probably freeze them since I don’t think I will want chicken again right away.

I had finally bought a cable so I could get TV here. I hooked it up to the place on the outside of the camper. When I was ready I hooked the inside cable up. Didn’t work. I gave up and watched the Olympics on my iPad once again. As I lay in bed awake at some point in the night I realized the cable I had hooked up on the TV was actually my HD antenna cable and it was not hooked to TV. So I will see if the cable comes off the antenna and try to hook it up to the TV. The TV set up is weird, though, and it is attached to the wall so I can’t see where things are plugged in. More to come as that develops.

I soaked my feet for a while then used the foot file to get the dry skin off. Then I slathered them with Aquaphor and put socks on to sleep in. They felt better already.

It was a quiet and peaceful night. Much better than the roar of traffic! Lol!