In late April we took a trip up to Colorado to soak in the hot springs of Valley View / Orient Land Trust. During this trip we drove further North to view truck campers in Ponchas Springs. Our plan for retirement in three and a half years is to put a large truck camper with slide-outs on top of a big 4x4 Truck. We were checking out the truck campers. We had a great breakfast at Seasons Cafe in Salida, CO.
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| Season's Cafe, Salida - Great Breakfast with gluten free options. |
Here is a link to a short video showing one of the soaking ponds at Valley View
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| Had lunch at Mo Burrito in Salida. A Chipotle ripoff basically, but very good. |
In May, I (Greg) took a trip to Zion National Park to hike up Angel's Landing.
I first stopped for an overnight stay at the Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino parking lot in Laughlin Nevada. It used to be that you could park an RV overnight in the south lot but, as usual, people took advantage of the situation and stayed for weeks and even months in that lot in their RVs. It appears that Clark County is very much enforcing their "no overnight sleeping in vehicles" rules. The RVs in the south lot were all cleared out. (I've noticed that also in Las Vegas, Clark County seems to be enforcing these no sleeping in your car rules much more vigilantly.)
I found that some RVs were in the north lot near the boat ramp, so I spent the night with them with no problems. After a reasonable breakfast at the Riverside's breakfast buffet, I headed for Las Vegas in order to have a good walk around the strip and see the sights (people and structures).
On the way, not far out Laughlin, I noticed a spot with an RV on the side of the highway.
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| An RV at 35.170076, -114.711308 |
When we lived in Sacramento California years ago, I would take short trips to Reno, Nevada. Over the years, I watched as Reno got scuzzier and scuzzier to the point where I didn't feel it was safe to walk around too late at night downtown. I'm seeing the same thing happen in Las Vegas. There are a lot of sleazy characters roaming around the strip these days and it is not unusual now to have panhandlers doing their thing or sleeping on the pedestrian overpasses. It seems the glory days of Vegas are definitely over. It gets less and less pleasant to walk around in order to see the sights each time I go these days. It seems like the Vegas cops have just given up hope. Has Vegas cut back on social service? It sure looks that way.
Bally's has opened their new Grand Bazaar Shops out in front of the hotel where ponds and a moving walkways use to be. I checked out the new Wahlburgers restaurant there. I'm definitely not a fan of Mark Wahlberg's robotic acting but his burger restaurant looks pretty good. It's probably smart for him to invest his acting money in side businesses. I don't eat burgers these days, having nasty gout and all, but I would if I could!!!
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| Outside Walburgers. |
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| Inside Walburgers. |
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| The Grand Bazaar Shops at Bally's |
After getting my steps in, I headed for a hotel where I thought I could stealth overnight in their dirt parking lot. I had scoped out the parking lot on Google Maps satellite image and saw that a lot of RVs parking in the area, but things had changed since the sat image was made. Now there was a fence in the area I wanted to stay in that was keeping RVs out. Instead, I parked in the regular hotel paved parking lot, a quiet lot far from the entrance. It was a fine spot with no problems. I wouldn't stay there again, but I was too tired after my long Vegas walk to hunt for a better spot. It was at the Tahiti Village Resort in Las Vegas. In the morning I took a stroll around the hotel, which has a nice garden area with two large pool areas. One of the areas is a very nice lazy river. (I love lazy rivers!) The hotel grounds are really nice. There is a Denny's next door.
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Next, it was off to Zion. You have to park outside the national park and take shuttle buses to the sights within the park (unless it's low season in winter). I was there to hike Angel's Landing. This is a spectacular hike, nearly straight up to a narrow ridge with amazing views of the park's main valley. If you are nervous about heights then this is not the hike for you. You are literally on the edge of a 2000 foot drop much of the way, holding on to chains for dear life.
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| Greg after coming off Angel's Landing. |
Here is a link to a short video of a scary part of the hike:
Here is a link to a short video of the view from the top of Angels Landing.
After the hike, I drove through the tunnel at Zion to Page, Arizona.
There is a well know boondocking spot just west of the Glen Canyon Dam 36.934814, -111.504811.
I got there very late and most of the obvious open spots were taken. I had to drive pretty far back on the sandy dirt road. I nearly got stuck in the sand just before I backed up and parked for the night. I decided I would turn the van around in the morning when I could see the hazards better. A couple of 4x4 jeeps passed by for a late night drive but they too turned around before the sandy road got too difficult.
Another fine night of free camping!
In the morning, I took a nice hike. It's a pretty cool area with neat sandstone hills and great views.
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| Just east of Zion, The Thunderbird Restaurant, "Home of the Ho-Made Pies" |
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| Boondocking near the Glen Canyon Dam |
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| Boondocking |
Here is a short video from my hike around the area.
After leaving Page, I made my way home to Los Alamos.
More catching up continued in the next post - Ridgway Colorado....
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