Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Motorhome Days 16, 17 & 18 - Desert, Mountains, Snow and The Pacific Ocean

Apologies for not blogging for the past three days - we have had no Internet reception.

What a few days it has been.  If anyone ever doubted the contrasts in the USA, travelling with us for the last three days would have put an end to it.

Day 16 in the motorhome was spent travelling to Las Vagas via the Hoover Dam.  On the way out of Williams we stopped by JJ Autos to see if James (of JJ Motors fame) could get the hot water heater going.  After an hour of fiddling and tinkering, he managed to get it to actually heat some water, and we were elated.  Little did we know that we still couldn't get the hot water to the shower, but that is another story. Small steps are good.


We were actually there - Route 66

Classic 50's diner in Williams, AZ

 
The Nevada Desert is rugged, with long expanses of barren plains surrounded by high craggy mountain peaks.  The drive from Williams to Vagas was uneventful, and the stop at Hoover Dam really opened our eyes.  The dam itself is a magnificent piece of engineering in a harsh and unfriendly place.  It is entirely surrounded by huge hills of granite, and the construction of the dam wall is an amazing feat.  The new bridge that crosses the river just below the dam wall is also a spectacular sight and must have taken a genius to design and construct. Roachy had purchased a Lemon Meringue Pie in Flagstaff three days earlier, and we made a start on devouring it at the Hoover Dam as we took in the sights.

Hoover Dam Wall

 
New Bridge at Hoover Dam

 
Great Pie

Las Vagas is bigger than we had imagined.  Its residential suburbs sprawl for many kilometres from the city centre, and feature row after row of plain and ordinary looking cut-out buildings, with few or no trees and very little greenery.  The roads into Vagas are excellent, and getting around with the Tom Tom has been easy.  Our RV park was at the Circus Circus Casino, right on the Casino Strip. We had only to walk a few hundred metres and we were in the thick of the action at the casino next door.  The casinos are HUGE.  They house thousands of "Slots" and dozens of small shops inside sell everything from ice cream to designer jewellery and clothing. Families with small children wander through the casinos at will, and there are all manor of foods available. 
Bright Lights of Las Vagas

 
We caught the bus downtown to the MGM Grand Casino and had a lovely meal, before setting out and exploring the strip on foot.  The sights, sounds, smells and atmosphere is like nothing we have seen anywhere else, though there was no hint of danger or violence.  Everyone is extremely polite and well behaved.  The water fountain show at the Bellagio was a highlight of our stroll along the strip, and we finished the evening at the Venetian Casino and Resort complex, with a drink, before catching the bus home (although it was the wrong bus and took us about 6 miles in the wrong direction before we got off and caught at cab back ($20 later).  It was a great experience to see the bright lights and glamour, though we were all conscious of the "plastic" nature of the strip and it's bright lights.

Water Fountain show at Bellagio
The Interior of the Venetian Resort

 
Late night on The Strip

 
Before exiting Vagas, the girls got some quality shopping time at the Fashion Outlet plaza, and picked up some great bargains.  We then headed towards Yosemite National Park - across the desert out of Vagas, and a turn to the north. The traffic on the highway going into Las Vegas was incredible - it was a holiday weekend, and everyone in the world seemed to be heading there.  There was a traffic jam 2 hours out, and it seemed to go forever. Thankfully we were heading in the other direction, and there was no traffic there - in fact there was almost nothing there at all.  It was barren, inhospitable desert, and we were battling into a 60mph headwind.  The dust storms ripping across the desert could be seen for miles, and it was a most unpleasant drive.  It was made even worse when the roll-out awning on the side of Mary 2 started to unroll in the high winds, and Rod and Brian had to climb onto the roof of the RV (13ft in the air) in 60mph winds and roll it back up.  It took two attempts to get it right, and Rod finally secured it with his belt and a good old reliable plastic shopping bag.  We were good to continue our journey then to perhaps the place where God gives the world an enema - Ridgecrest, Nevada - smack bang in the middle of the Mohave Desert, about an hours drive from Death Valley.

Instant face lift from the wind while repairing the awning

 
The entire town is a dust bowl, and we tried two van parks before we found one we could even consider staying in - at least it had a fence, and we parked right along side it to try to shelter from the wind.  Maureen set what might be  a new record - she did not poke her head outside the van for the entire time we were in the town (including overnight), and the boys only venture outside was to hook up the electricity and water.  It was a dreadful place, and we could not wait to rev up the engine and move on early the following morning.  The wind had not stopped, so we set off into it again.

Motorhome Day 17 was a completely different story.  We decided overnight to head for Sequoia National Park rather than Yosemite, as it was about three hours closer, and had basically the same attractions.  This led us across the desert for an hour or so, then a steep climb into the High Sierra Mountains of California.  We encountered some rain and cold winds on route, but the Californian countryside was a sight to behold as we came down from the mountains, with mile after mile of orange groves.  This led us to our destination, the town of Three Rivers adjacent to the Sequoia Park.

The welcome sight of fertile and cultivated land contrast with the desert

 
Being a holiday weekend, things were really busy - and we had some trouble finding an RV park for the night.  Brian got so frustrated that he took it out on an unsuspecting picket fence surrounding on park which had no vacancy. Not a lot of damage done to the fence, and very little to the RV. 

Brian attempting repairs of a slightly second hand fence

We finally found a park which had one vacant site - we grabbed it, and were delighted to discover that the park was right next to a swift flowing mountain stream, where white water rafting was the order of the day.  Our neighbours in the park were a lovely couple form Indianapolis and we sat around the fire chatting with Charlie and Donna for hours until the fire died, discussing all manor of things from families to jobs to the US economy and more.  It was a great evening, and we enjoyed it immensely. We gave Charlie and Donna our blog address, and we hope they will follow us until we go home.

Chatting with a new friend at the rivers edge in Three Rivers

 
Day 18 started with a great breakfast at the bakery opposite the park, and refreshed and refuelled, we headed off towards San Fransisco - four hours away.  The drive was lovely, and we crossed the Bay around 2:30pm in bright sunshine.  The sight of the Golden Gate was welcome, and we headed for the RV park our GPS system had identified. To say the park was a dive would be to insult all other dives, and we took one look at the place and ran as fast as we could go.  As a total contrast, the next RV place we found just down the road was heaven.  It sits right on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean - in fact you could throw a ball into the ocean from our van, and as we are facing due west (towards Australia) we have been promised a great sunset tonight.

Crossing the Oakland Bridge in San Francisco

Typical housing in San Francisco's inner suburbs

So we have achieved what we set out to do - we have driven from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast, although we are still a five hour drive short of our final destination - Los Angeles. We have two nights here in this lovely park, and we will explore SF tomorrow and Wednesday before completing our final leg to LA on Thursday.

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