Join Diane and Andy. We started this blog as we began our travels across America in our RV in 2004. (This blog will go back to January of 2005, but for 2004 travels you can visit our website at www.diandy.com). In 2009 we settled down once again, but in Colorado. Our family has since grown (and moved), and we are once again eager to explore our beautiful country, and hopefully the world...this time with the intent of sharing our love for travel with our little love.
We feel like somebody threw us on spin-cycle and we're still spinning.
The ASD trade show in Vegas was a worthwhile trip for us. The business seminars we attended were very informative and we picked up some new product ideas for RollingSands Harmony. My sister always teases me, though, that we are probably the only two people that go to Vegas and avoid the Strip. Normally I love walking the hotels and seeing all of the free attractions (yeah, I'm a big spender), but I was too tired after walking miles and miles of rows at the trade show to have much interest in walking miles on the Strip. We went one night for about 2 hours before taking the monorail back to our hotel.
Here's a picture of sunrise reflecting off of the Wynn:
When I can get some photos off of my cell phone I'll come back and upload them into the post. I took a few on our brief walk around.
It's not often that I'll give a WHOOP! while reading my morning newspaper, but this morning gave me one of those happy moments. Let me explain...about a week ago I read that a number of wild horses contained in BLM holding pens were going to be slaughtered because of budgetary concerns. I wrote to the BLM, our senators, our representative, even a representative from another state. I was still contemplating who else I could voice my concern to when I read in the paper this morning that Madeleine Pickens, wife of T. Boone Pickens, was going to rescue these horses. And not just the ones scheduled for the slaughter house, but *all* of the horses currently held in the holding pens - approximately 30,000 wild horses and burros! (Read a more detailed article) THANK YOU Mrs. Pickens! It's wonderful to have wealthy people with such big hearts in this world who can do such tremendous good!
I'm no expert on the wild horse issues out west, but in simple terms there appears to be some objection by private cattle ranchers to share the land with the wild horses. I came across this video that will explain more:
But this issue is not resolved. Mrs. Pickens has saved the animals currently in the holding pens, but the BLM will continue to remove others from the wild to take their place. The Wild and Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 needs to be restored.
So, if you would like to do something to help, here are some ideas: 1. Go to The Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and click on both - Take Action and Sign the Petition 2. Consider donating to one of the current wild horse sanctuaries that have been rescuing these animals over the years: * Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary - (we've visited this sanctuary in 2005) - in Hot Springs, SD * The Wild Horse Sanctuary - Shingletown, CA * Return to Freedom - Lompoc, CA I'm sure there are other sanctuaries out there, but these are three I'm aware of. Each one could use volunteers, donations of goods, or monetary donations.
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about this issue.
We would highly, highly recommend a visit to Valley of Fire.(Thank you Dee and Jerry for recommending this park to us!) Consider this as a potential day trip the next time you go to Vegas for business. It's a much shorter drive than to the Grand Canyon, and you can really experience the park in a day trip - something you can't do at the Grand Canyon. You could also make it a loop drive and drive back via Hwy 167 along Lake Mead NRA.
We couldn't decide why they called this park "Valley of Fire": is it because of the fiery red color of the rock or because the summer temperatures can reach burning hot temperatures of 120 degrees. We just considered ourselves lucky to be here in October!
Elephant Rock greets you at the east entrance: A drive up to Rainbow Vista gives you a panoramic view of the area: Several short hikes will get you immersed in red: The trail by White Domes will even take you into a slot canyon. These narrow hallways of rock are one of nature's wonders. I think they should call "White Domes" something different - like Rainbow Sherbert Domes. They're not just white. They are striped or splashed with many pastel colors. We'd climb to the top of a dome and just sit and sit soaking in the views. As the sun changed, the colors changed before our eyes. And for those who like some history in their parks, there are hundreds of petroglyphs in different areas of the park.
Friday we decided to head south and stay with the warm weather. We skirted the western edge of the Grand Canyon, but didn't really feel the need or the desire to go all of the way to Vegas this time. RVing friends of ours had recommended Valley of the Fire State Park to us years ago, and it had been on my list of "recommended places" just waiting for the right opportunity. This was it! It's about 75 miles northwest of Vegas. But to our surprise when we arrived at 4:30 pm, the campgrounds were already full. We hadn't considered that to be a possibility considering it is relatively remote. The rangers recommended several options, the closest being the BLM "free zone" = no fees, no rules. "It could get loud.", we were warned. We had driven by two areas on the way in. One area had great views, but was filling up with RVers. Another section was down a dirt road and only had a couple of RVs back there. We decided to try out the quieter Sandmine Road first. Only after making the turn onto the dirt road while towing Ele did we notice the fine print - 4x4 recommended. Yikes! We detached and Andy went to investigate.
We were able to drive Spirit down the road without any problems. And, we were about to experience one of our rare boondocking weekends. "Boondocking" is an RVing term referring to camping in a remote area without any hookups. Some RVers do this frequently and have developed special tricks or techniques on surviving without power or water. For example, solar panels on the roof of their RV.
So, here we are....our closest neighbors were several hundred yards away. It was quite a liberating weekend. We enjoyed the most beautiful sunsets.... ...and watched the full moon rise over the distant mountains... ...and drank our coffee outside watching the sunrise light up the sky. All in quiet solitude.
We really enjoyed our stay in Minden. It's a lovely little town. We did get out for one more road bike ride during the week and a couple of visits to the local Swim Center for some laps. Unfortunately, we were here for a whole week and only had one short visit to Lake Tahoe. We drove over for a scenic drive one afternoon. Our intention was to go back yesterday and bike or hike part of the Rim Trail and visit Lake Tahoe State Park. But, we had some worries with our car that kept us off the road. We got Ele into a dealership this morning and everything was fine - great news, but we feel like we were robbed of our opportunity to see more of Lake Tahoe. Taking care of our vehicles, however, has to take priority.
We're now in Susanville, CA heading towards Lassen Volcanic Nat'l Park and Lava Beds Nat'l Monument before heading into Oregon. Lucky for us, we learned of this wonderful Rail-to-Trail here in Susanville called the Bizz Johnson Trail. Our plan is to ride it tomorrow.
We *finally* got out our road bikes today. What a joy! We only went about 24 miles, but we thought that was pretty good for the first day out in months. Carson Valley, which includes Minden, Gardnerville, Genoa, and Carson City, resides between two lines of foothills. Along the western range is a road called Jacks Valley Road/Foothill Road. It's a designated bike route. There's no bike lane, and the speed limit is still 55mph, but there's reduced traffic. Rolling hills take you along the foothills and past cow pastures and horse ranches. We rode directly from the Carson Valley RV Resort, in downtown Minden, out to Foothill Road. We rode south til we hit Hwy 88 and then came back through the towns of Gardnerville and Minden. It's always interesting to check out the neighborhoods, but if we do it again we'll backtrack on Foothill because it was a calmer ride.
There was a bike event going on today, too. We had read about it, but felt at $45/head for a 12/24/44-mile ride that that was kinda steep. We love doing these events, but it's hard to pay that kind of a price for a short ride.
There are also some areas in the Valley that offer mountain biking and hiking. We hope to fit that in during the week after work.
While in Yosemite Valley, a fellow-camper recommended a website called Routeslip. We'll have to check that out more often. Nothing was listed for Minden, but it could prove useful when looking for biking routes during our travels.
Our friends, Gail and Merle, recently went to Paris - well so did we! We can't let our old neighbors top our travels, can we? Just kidding! Doing Paris our way is not quite the same, but its still fun to tour all of the casinos and check out the over-the-top designs and decor. Its one of my favorite pasttimes when we're in town. I'm not much of a gambler (unless I win again), so I would rather see the beautiful and interesting themes of each property. I also enjoy trying to schedule our walks to take advantage of the free attractions The Strip has to offer. Here's The Mirage's volcano eruption: This was our first visit to the new and elegant Wynn Casino. This place is gorgeous, but we couldn't afford the $15 minimum roulette tables. We prefer the $5 or $2 tables so I can stay in the game for more than 5 minutes before blowing my nightly gambling allowance. The Wynn had a interior courtyard with trees dressed with these incredible flower-balls. They also have beautiful, eclectic, chandeliers in an atrium that move up and down or spin. I could've spent more time looking around, but Andy promptly dragged me out and across the street to the cheesy Frontier so he (I mean 'we') could gamble.
We came to Vegas to attend a class on options trading and to hit The Money Show. Our initial plan was to go to Monday morning's class, check out the booths in the afternoon, and maybe attend a few more classes before leaving Tuesday or Wednesday. Well, the classes/seminars were so helpful we attended many until close of the show on Thursday afternoon. We were mentally exhausted. And physically, too, from sitting for ten hours a day. But it was worth it. We had hit a wall with our trading - partly because we have tried several different strategies, each failing; partly because there has been less time to focus on trading with our new lifestyle of being on the road. Being at the show has helped put things back into focus for us. We've also kept in touch with members of our Ft Lauderdale Investor Group (via emails) which has helped us, too. Trading can be a very lonely business, so its more fun and more productive to have other people in your circle to help trade ideas and support.
Now we are eager to work and trade, but we are heading into the National Parks again - Death Valley, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite - and are concerned about not having the time to properly monitor new trades. Oh well.
It wasn't until Thursday night that we got out on The Strip. And, for the first time in memory, I WON! Not much, but a 2.5:1 return and Andy also walked away with a 2:1 return. Perhaps we should just gamble instead of trade? Here's the funny thing...I should've walked away with a 3:1, but what did I do? I removed my 'stop loss' and decided to bet another $10 because I wanted to stay in the fun. Even with my gambling I make the same mistake! Ha!
Who knew?! There is natural beauty in Vegas! After arriving early on Sunday, we read in the RV brochure about the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. We weren't quite prepared to tackle The Strip so we drove to the western mountain range that hems in the valley. Usually we've paid no attention to these yellowish mountains because they don't look too appealing in the yellow smog that tends to hover over the Vegas valley. But we learned in Salt Lake City and in Albuquerque, that once you get into the hills, the beauty is there. One area consisted of petrified sand dunes of red and tan. The rocks were like swirled ice cream with stripes of colors blended throughout. We also found Joshua Trees (cacti) here in the park. The park also consisted of canyons that cut through the towering cliffs. These shaded canyons provided us with some relief from the blistering sun. Wish we had more time (& heat endurance) to tackle some more of the many hikes here, but it's always good to save something for the next time. So, the next time you come to Vegas, don't forget your hiking boots!
