RV having fun or what?
Friday, June 5 – A nice calm day with nothing much going on except it was the last day of school for both kids and Michelle’s new bedroom furniture was being delivered. Scott came home whooping about the start of summer vacation but Michelle was very sad because it was her last day ever at Monfort Heights Elementary and she already missed her friends. Once Michelle calmed down, we loaded up the car and left for the airport in Indianapolis at 4:45 pm. (Leaving from Indianapolis saved us over $200 per person compared to Cincinnati, and leaving Friday night rather than Saturday morning saved us an additional $80 per person.) Despite traffic coming to a stop twice on I-465, we got to the airport two hours before our flight so we had time for dinner from McDonald’s (kids’ choice) and ice cream from Baskin-Robbins. Scott and Michelle played a couple of games at the video arcade, looked around a couple of the stores, and decided airports were cool places.
At 8:39 our flight started rushing down the runway and Scott exclaimed “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God” as we accelerated and took off. It was just past sundown when we left and except for some lighted towns, not much to see from our America West 737. We were in row 3, right behind the bulkheads that partitioned off first class. This gave us a little more leg room but meant our bags had to go in the overhead racks so we couldn’t get our books out to pass the time. Las Vegas was a sea of colored light in the dark desert when we landed at McCarran Airport just after 10:30 Pacific time. We then spent 20 minutes sitting in the plane waiting until we could get a gate. McCarran was an absolute zoo and the kids were pretty much zombies by the time we made our way to the baggage claim. We then got in line for a taxi and when we finally did, the driver was angry because we were only going to the Howard Johnson by the airport. He drove like a maniac complaining the entire time. At the hotel we checked into room 300 and immediately hit the beds. It was 3:00 am according to our internal clocks.
Today marked Michelle and Scott’s first ride in a jet and first visit to Nevada.
Saturday, June 6 – We awoke to subzero conditions thanks to the overzealous air conditioner in our room. Scott and Michelle wanted donuts for breakfast so we sent them down to the little snack bar at the hotel and went looking for real food. There wasn’t any so we ended up eating donuts too. The kids got to see a couple of Plymouth Prowler sports cars next to the hotel and Michelle was very impressed. Scott was more impressed looking at the hotels on the Strip. We took a cab ride (a sane one, this time) to Cruise America on Boulder Highway and found out they had no record of our reservation. While they worked on finding us a replacement, we watched a video to acquaint us with the operation of the RV. The fellow on the video kept saying that every appliance and fixture worked “just like the one at home” and we were ready to strangle him by the end of the familiarization.
The rental agency said we could have a 25 foot immediately, or could wait a few hours and get the 27 foot we had wanted. We opted for the 25 foot although it had a little less storage and the bed was not as convenient as on the longer vehicle. We followed the agency’s directions to Von’s supermarket and loaded up with groceries, then promptly turned the wrong way out of the parking lot and got lost. After wandering around a bit we finally found our way to Circusland RV Park which is part of the Circus Circus complex. The hookups for power, water and sewage proved not to be too tough and we took a shuttle over to the hotel for lunch. Scott was thrilled because he finally got to see a casino. We ate at the Pink Pony cafe where the food was okay but the red and pink decor didn’t do much for one’s appetite.
We walked through the casino and shops to Grand Slam Canyon, an amusement park under a five acre pink dome. It featured rides, video games, animated dinosaurs and other attractions aimed at those too young to gamble. Michelle and Scott went on a couple of rides and decided they really liked the place. We returned to the RV as the sun was starting to set and hit the pool about sundown. It was cold when we got out. Back at the RV we made the beds and discovered we were short a pillowcase. The kids cooked pizza rolls in the microwave for our bedtime snack. Michelle slept over the cab while Scott slept on the bed made from the dinette.
Sunday, June 7 – Michelle woke Lynne up at 5:12 because she had a stomach ache. She was sick all morning and threw up repeatedly. The rest of us had pancakes we cooked in the RV. We had a Phoenix Flyer, a Class C with a Ford cab and V-10 engine. Jim took Scott over to Circus Circus to see the Midway, ride the shuttle (monorail) from the rear of the property to the Strip, and see Grand Slam Canyon again (this time with the camera). Back at the RV we started gathering up information for our insurance and discovered the temporary tag on the RV expired in two days. Michelle wasn’t feeling any better at lunch time and skipped eating. Jim and Scott walked over to the Stratosphere Tower and took the elevator to the observation deck a thousand feet above the Strip. The Stratosphere featured a roller coaster and freefall ride located on the top of the tower but they passed on those attractions. On the way back to the RV park they stopped at Bonanza Gifts which claims to be the world’s largest souvenir store.
Scott and Lynne went swimming while Michelle took a long nap. When she woke up, she felt better so we rode the shuttle to the Midway. Michelle got sick standing in line at McDonald’s and threw up on their floor. Lynne took her to the restroom to clean up and Jim bought her a shirt because the one she was wearing was unsalvagable. We snuck back to the RV and had stew for dinner. Scott had come down with a head cold and neither kid was enjoying this trip at all. Usually we have to be gone for a week or so before the kids decide they hate the trip. Scott was also getting very aggravated because neither Lynne nor Jim had done any gambling.
Monday, June 8 – We woke up a little after 5. Morning comes early in Las Vegas and the cloudless skies ensure plenty of light to chase away the sandman. After cereal and cleanup we dumped our holding tanks, unhooked, and promptly turned the wrong way going out of Circusland. Neither Jim nor Lynne had driven an RV before this trip and Jim was still trying to get used to the size and handling. Michelle at least had made a full recovery from her troubles of the previous day. After a U-turn at a Denny’s, we took Sahara to Boulder Highway and stopped back at Cruise America to get the license tags renewed and pick up our missing bedding and some lawn chairs. A quick right on Boulder Highway took us to Henderson where we stopped for more supplies at Albertson’s.
Nevada 146 led us into Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The desert scenery was at times stunning and we saw some wild horses. We stopped at Echo Bay on the shore of Lake Mead and had lunch. On the way to Valley of Fire State Park we passed a couple of oases. The kids had a great time climbing the rocks in Valley of Fire and the intense red formations were incredible. Eventually we made our way through the park to I-15 and the Virgin River Gorge (indescribable), past stands of Joshua Trees to Saint George, Utah. We stayed at McArthur’s Temple View RV Resort. At the kids’ request we had hot dogs and beans for dinner. We had a pleasant gravel site with a concrete porch and lots of shade trees. Jim, Scott and Michelle went for a swim after dinner.
Tuesday, June 9 – We awoke to the sound of rain. Somehow we are able to conjure the stuff even in the desert. Once we had tidied up and cleaned the laundry, Lynne took the wheel for the first time and manuvered us into a gas station. Half a tank of gas set us back $35.50 – when the average price of gas was $1.25 a gallon. We took I-15 to Utah 9 through the town of Hurricane and past colorful formations, banded cliffs and sagebrush flats. The road turned into Arizona 389 at the border. We stopped at Pipe Spring National Monument, one of the few diversions in the Arizona Strip, to tour the fort built over the spring by early Mormon pioneers. Alternate 89 took us to Arizona 67 and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Road construction gave us a couple of very bouncy miles over dirt and gravel. On the paved sections of the road, we passed patches of snow and saw many deer grazing in the meadows.
The air was heavy with the sweet scent of Ponderosa Pine. Michelle did not want to get out of the RV to see “oh wow, a stupid hole in the ground”. We dragged her along to Bright Angel Point and she changed her mind about the canyon. The temperature was struggling to pass the 60 degree mark and Lynne thought it was wonderful. After walking along the rim a little and seeing the Grand Canyon Lodge, we headed back north over the road construction to Jacob Lake Junction and camped in the Jacob Lake Campground, 8,000 feet elevation, amid the pines. This was the first site we had to back into but it presented no real problems other than that we were unable to get the RV level. Jacob Lake turned out to be a small pond where we watched a deer. Who needs television? We did make use of the windbreakers once night fell.
Wednesday, June 10 – We left Jacob Lake on 89A and descended from the Kanab Plateau via a set of switchbacks. Along the way Scott spotted a herd of Pronghorns and pointed them out to everybody. We drove for miles along the base of the Vermillion Cliffs, part of the Grand Staircase, to Navajo Bridge. The original bridge is now open only to pedestrians. We walked out to the midpoint of the bridge, 467 feet above the incongruously green Colorado. We drove across the new bridge onto the Navajo Reservation and passed miles of small ranches and towering cliffs to the town of Cameron where we stopped for gas and souvenirs. Arizona 64 took us alongside the Little Colorado. We had lunch at an overlook of the small river and saw a coyote standing beside the road afterwards as we drove through the Kaibab National Forest.
At Desert View in Grand Canyon National Park Jim and the kids climbed the Watchtower for a view from the South Rim. The kids had been begging for ages to use the pay telescopes found at places like that and they finally got their wish. We stopped along the rim for more spectacular views at Moran Point, Duck on the Rock, and Mather Point, although at Grandview Point we were unable to park because cars were using the few RV spaces. Michelle was more impressed with a squirrel at Mather Point than she was with the canyon. Crowding was not as bad as we had feared and the canyon is better seen from the south side although the north has its charms as well.
We left the park on Arizona 64, taking it to US 180 to Flagstaff past snowcapped Humphreys Peak through a vast pine forest. We stayed at the J & H RV Park in Flagstaff which was a nice park but was adult-oriented so the kids weren’t allowed to roam around without their parents. They naturally thought this was a terrible rule. We had to back in our site which was quite narrow but were successful. Tired of cooking, we ate dinner at Pizza Hut instead. Scott kissed a wishing rock, then flipped up a door to read a hidden part of the sign that told the unwary smoocher he had just put his lips to fossilized dinosaur droppings. The J & H used crushed red cinder for the sites and red dust was soon everywhere on the RV.
Thursday, June 11 – 44 degrees at dawn under clear blue skies. We discovered our dump tube had a crack in it and had to wait until the camp store opened at 9:00 to replace it. Despite the omen of this start to our day, we headed up US 89 through dust and construction to Wupatki National Monument. We were the only ones at the Lomaki Ruins and took our time exploring the 800 year old structures. At the visitor center and the larger Wupatki Ruins there were more people. Michelle got a brochure and acted as our tour guide through the Wupatki complex. Both kids were ecstatic when Jim pointed out a pickup truck with a license plate that read “OBI WAN”. The loop road continued past Wupatki and climbed steadily from the grasslands to a pinyon and juniper forest and later Ponderosa Pines before arriving at Sunset Crater. The crater is an 800 year old volcano with a black ash cone that turns red towards the top. We drove past lava jumbles on our way back to 89.
In Flagstaff we ate lunch at McDonald’s and bought some more groceries at a Safeway. I-40 eastbound took us out of the mountains to the desert and Meteor Crater, a depression with rims that rise 150 feet above the surrounding plain. The crater is 3400 feet in diameter and 570 feet deep measured from the floor to the highest point of the rim. It was created 50,000 years ago when a 150 foot meteor slammed into the earth. Scott was very impressed but Michelle didn’t care much. The wind was very fierce on the crater rim. We returned to I-40 and headed for Holbrook where we were among the few camped at the KOA. It was a very nice desert site with a pool and playground. Their cowboy cookout had to be canceled because of the wind. Michelle quickly made friends with three girls and spent the evening playing with them, even going over to one of their “houses” for s’mores.
Friday, June 12 – US 180 took us from Holbrook to Petrified Forest National Park. Michelle did not want to get out of the RV and refused to see the museum and the Giant Logs area. We made her get out to walk to the Agate House, and Indian dwelling made of blocks of petrified wood several hundred years ago. Both kids refused to get out of the RV to see Agate Bridge, a petrified log spanning an arroyo. Most of the park was an unremarkable expanse of rabbitbush, saltbush and sagebrush. We saw some pronghorn on the way to the park but only a few lizards in the park itself. Michelle wanted no part of the Painted Desert and had to be forced out of the RV to see it. The rest of us were impressed with the range of hues and tints stretching to the horizon. The insects were terrible however so we ate in the RV rather than having a picnic outside. I-40 back to Flagstaff was interesting because of high crosswinds.
We stopped briefly at Walnut Canyon National Monument to see some cliff dwellings from the rim of the canyon but opted not to take the trail with its 240 steps to the bottom . We caught I-17 in heavy construction and headed down 89A through Oak Creek Canyon. At an overlook we found that our route into the canyon was via a series of tight, narrow switchbacks. We threw the RV into low gear and growled around the horseshoe curves gaining a large following of happy motorists behind us. Once on the canyon floor we pulled over to let everyone pass so we could enjoy a more leisurely drive. The canyon was very pretty with trees lining the banks of Oak Creek and high towering walls to the sides. The walls turned a brilliant red as we neared Sedona. Despite the town’s reputation for tackiness due to unregulated growth, we found it picturesque as most establishments were built in adobe architecture style. The many small shops, trolleys cruising the streets, and lines of tourists gave the town the feel of Gatlinburg. South of town we saw the Chapel of the Holy Cross, a church constructed between two large red sandstone pillars. A large cross springs from the base of the pillars and rises above them to form one end of the church. The chapel is one of the best examples we had seen of architecture working with its environment to benefit both.
Our stop for the night was at the Sedona Pines RV Resort. It was under new management and the previous caretakers had evidently let it run down. The woman at the office gave us a discount because the pool and spa were being renovated and weren’t available. She was a master of understatement as the pool and spa were only large holes scooped out of the red soil and didn’t even exist. We were able to play a round of miniature golf and shoot some baskets before night fell. The stars were very bright but the night was cold so we didn’t stay out late. The park had warned us about javelinas but the kids were disappointed when none came around.
Saturday, June 13 – We discovered that the new dump hose we bought did not have the adapter on the end to fit the RV. From Sedona we drove south on 89A to Cottonwood, then north on Historic 89A to Tuzigoot National Monument. Michelle stayed in the RV while Scott, Lynne and Jim walked around the ancient pueblo overlooking the Verde Valley. Tuzigoot was a large structure made of red sandstone. Plaques on the walkway around and through the ruins explained its construction. We backtracked to Cottonwood where we found an RV park that also sold parts and got the adapter for our dump hose. A small road took us through the town of Cornville as we tried to find Montezuma Well. Our map was not quite accurate and the road dumped us on I-17 heading the wrong way. We turned around, decided to pass on Montezuma Well because of the time we had lost, but did stop at Montezuma Castle National Monument. The castle is doubly misnamed; it is a five story cliff dwelling, not a castle, and had nothing to do with Montezuma or the Aztecs.
Just past the town of Bumble Bee we started seeing Saguaro cacti. The rest area north of Phoenix was closed so we ate lunch at a restaurant, Kasha’s, in Phoenix when we stopped for gas. Between Phoenix and Tucson we were slowed by a traffic accident that had cars stopped in a line two miles long. There were many dust devils in the valley around Phoenix but very few Saguaros until we got closer to Tucson. By this time the kids were clamoring for KOA’s at every opportunity so we bypassed Saguaro National Park for now and drove to Benson on I-10. It was the slow season for RV parks in the south half of the state and there were only a few other campers. We met some folks from North Carolina who were taking their grandchildren across the country with them. Lynne was concerned when some bikers rode in but they turned out to be three senior citizens who ended up helping Michelle learn to do handstands in the pool. After swimming and a dip in the spa we turned Michelle loose to play with some new friends, pulled out the lawn chairs, and watched the sunset. The stars were even brighter in Benson than they had been in Sedona and we spotted all the constellations we could remember (the big and little dippers).
Sunday, June 14 – Necessity is the mother of invention and Lynne found she could make almost satisfactory toast to go with her bacon and eggs by holding the bread over the stove using the two-tined fork. From Benson we headed south on Arizona 80 to Tombstone to see Boot Hill Cemetery and the OK Corral. Both kids got really caught up in the events of October, 1881, and gunfighters in general. Admission to the corral was $10 for the four of us. There really wasn’t much to see but the kids enjoyed it so much we didn’t complain. Tombstone has kept much of Allen Street looking like it did in the days of the Earps and Clantons with its false front buildings and wooden sidewalks. We continued on 80 southeast through small hills and vast stretches of desert to Bisbee. Just outside of town we encountered a tunnel that was not on our map, and advertised a height of 14 feet. Our RV was 12 feet 6 inches so we drove down the center of arched tunnel with the kids pointing out that we weren’t in our lane. Bisbee clings to the hillsides much like the town of Deadwood, South Dakota. There is an overlook where 80 crosses the Lavender Pit Copper Mine, a huge open pit on the south side of town. Just past the mine we went around a rotary.
More alternating hills and desert brought us to Douglas where we wasted half an hour trying to find the border crossing into Mexico. Although it was never marked, we finally figured out Pan American Boulevard was the street we needed. We parked the RV a block north of the border and walked past a stockyard to the crossing. The Mexican customs official in his little red shack gave us an indifferent wave and asked us no questions. Agua Prieta is described in the tourist guides as a charming border village with quaint shops and cafes. We found a rundown town and the armed soldier standing by the customs shack did not leave us feeling rosy. We took a couple of pictures of the kids so they could prove they were in Sonora and walked across the street and back to the border. The US customs officer is in an air conditioned building. We answered a couple of quick questions and he waved us through. Unlike the Canadian border which is wide open, the Mexican border has a high fence running its length. The armed soldiers on the Mexican side, barbed wire atop the fence, and cruising border patrol vehicles on the American side were a whole new world for us. We drove the RV back up 80 stopping at a K Mart to replace some of the kids’ clothes that had ripped or torn while they were playing back at the RV campgrounds and stopped for lunch back in Bisbee at the mine overlook. In Benson we put $52.00 of gas into the RV and headed west on I-10 to see the Titan Missle Museum in Green Valley south of Tucson. We were pressed for time because the museum was only open until 5 that afternoon and was closed the next two days.
A traffic accident on I-10 torpedoed our plans. We sat for 45 minutes unable to see the cause of the delay. However, while other motorists had to put up with the heat, we turned off the engine, started the generator, and ran the rooftop air conditioner while dinner defrosted in the microwave. This was one of the times we really appreciated having an RV rather than a car. Once the road was clear, we drove to Tucson and headed south a few miles to see Mission San Xavier del Bac, the White Dove of the Desert. The mission is a striking blend of Spanish mission architecture and Moorish influences and its whitewashed adobe gleams in the desert sun. Inside the church was decorated from floor to the crown of its arched ceiling with paintings, murals, statuary and gilded artwork. I-19 took us back to I-10 in Tucson and on to Marana. We checked ourselves in to the Valley of the Sun RV Resort. The water in the swimming pool was as warm as bathwater and only marginally cooler than the spa. The kids made some friends at the pool and spent the evening thowing foam missles at each other.
This was everyone’s first visit to Sonora and to Mexico.
Monday, June 15 – Our propane tank kept reading three-quarters fulls in the RV but the gauge on the tank read under half so we asked at the campground’s office. We were told the fellow who takes care of the propane was off to his chiropracter and wouldn’t be back for an hour so we left unfilled. We took the scenic route from Marana south to Saguaro National Park via Sandria Road. After a long conversation with the ranger at the visitor center, we set off through the forest of giant cacti for a six mile loop tour that turned out to be a one lane dirt road. As a consequence we did have a lot of time to look at the Saguaros. These “sentinels of the desert” have to be 75 years old before they grow their trademark arms and can live to be 200. Even Michelle was impressed. The loop road wound us through the Tucson Mountains. We were possibly the happiest people on earth when the washboarded road finally ended and we returned to asphalt. Lynne and Scott saw scorpions skittering across the road as we headed north.
Back on I-10 we started looking for someplace to get the oil changed in the RV but weren’t having any luck. In Phoenix we stopped for lunch at a Marie Callender’s and on a hunch, drove down the road looking for a service station. There was a place called Grease ‘n’ Go and we were able to fit in the bay by folding the mirrors in. We took I-10 through Phoenix in fairly heavy traffic and continued west heading for Ehrenberg, a town just on the Arizona side of the Colorado River where our guidebook said there was a brand new KOA. When we got to Ehrenberg there were no signs or ads for the campground. When we finally found it, we found out it was so new that there was no water or sewer service, the pool wasn’t open, and most other amenities weren’t completed. We continued across the Colorado into Blythe, California, and stayed at the Riviera RV Park right on the river. Their pool was nothing special but their spa had the hottest water of any we had yet encountered. This was Scott and Michelle’s first visit to California.
Tuesday, June 16 – We drove into Blythe and had breakfast at a restaurant called Judy’s. After gassing up and shopping at Albertson’s we headed north on US 95 through the California desert. Many empty miles later we reached the former town of Vidal, now just some empty buildings by the railroad tracks. A few miles north we came to the very much alive town of Vidal Junction and it was evident the town had moved to the highway junction as cars had replaced the trains. We crossed the Colorado back into Arizona and drove north on Arizona 95 through the scenic hills overlooking the lakes of the lower Colorado to Lake Havasu City.
Michelle had picked the London Bridge as the one attraction she had to see. When we got there, she refused to come look at it because she had seen it from the RV when we drove across. We continued north to Bullhead City where we had hoped to take a picture of Michelle but she lived up to the city’s name and refused to cooperate. After seeing the casinos of Laughlin across the river we turned east on Arizona 68 to Kingman where we made the kids happy and stayed at a KOA. This campground featured tall hedges of flowering bushes between sites and was probably the prettiest park we stayed in.
Wednesday, June 17 – From Kingman we drove north on US 93 through mile after mile of flat, shrubby desert. A few Joshua Trees appeared as we neared the hills that marked the border of Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The road wound down to the canyon via a series of switchbacks and we crossed to Nevada over Hoover Dam. On the Nevada side we discovered that the parking area for RV’s was on the Arizona side so we turned around and crossed back. We parked and walked back across the dam on the upstream side, marveling at the size of the overflow tunnels and the deep blue of Lake Mead. The visitor’s center on the Nevada side was jammed with tourists and the line for tour tickets was stretching out of the building onto the sidewalk. We turned around, walked back across the dam on the downstream side to look over the side and marvel some more at the size of the structure, then drove back across again to the Nevada side and continued north through Boulder City and Henderson. We took the tunnel under McCarran Airport and followed Russell to Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip) so the kids could see all the casinos starting with Mandalay Bay and the Luxor on the south, past Excalibur, New York, New York, the MGM Grand, Bally’s, Caesar’s, the Mirage, Treasure Island, the Stardust and Circus Circus. We took Sahara back to the Boulder Highway and turned south to the KOA. Swimming inevitably followed.
Thursday, June 18 – After a leisurely morning we headed north on Boulder Highway and turned west on Charleston Boulevard. When the buildings of Las Vegas ended, we passed several miles of cleared land with new streets and utilities laid out for more subdivisions. These continued right up to the base of the hills that marked the start of Red Rock Canyon Natural Conservation Area. We drove into the hills through a Joshua Tree forest to Bonnie Springs. Along the way a quail darted across the road in front of us and Lynne spotted a pair of wild burros in the brush. Bonnie Springs was originally a stage coach stop and now features a petting zoo, horseback rides in the desert, and a collection of old buildings arranged into a town called Old Nevada. Most of the buildings are authentic and date from the 1880’s.
We watched a melodrama in the saloon and a bank robbery, trial and hanging in the town square, all done with a touch of humor and much audience participation. Lynne’s stomach wasn’t up for horseback riding but Jim, Scott and Michelle saddled up for an hour in the scorching desert sun. Michelle got a horse named Lucy, Scott was on Dundee, and they gave Jim Diablo. The desert was very pretty with many cactus blooms. The only wildlife we saw other than birds was a lone rabbit. One of the other horses had a gas problem which provided some amusement during the ride. Back at the KOA we filled the propane tank and Michelle went to watch some kittens we’d spotted that morning.
Friday, June 19 – It was pig out time at breakfast. We ate as much as we could and threw out the rest, cleaned the RV as best we could, and dumped the tanks in preparation for its return. At the RV wash next door to the KOA we scrubbed it down and discovered a leak where the cab connected to the shell. Although we had dumped the tanks twice at the KOA we still had some nasty looking stuff drip out at the RV wash. The check out at Cruise America was quicker than we expected. We rode over to the Luxor in a cab which dropped us off under the 10-story Sphinx in front of the 30-story glass pyramid. Our room in the Luxor was on a corner of the eighth floor and gave us a view of the Strip and McCarran Airport. We rode up the corner of the pyramid in an inclinator, an elevator that climbs at an angle and plays tricks with one’s balance. From the balcony outside our room we had a view of the entire atrium which encompassed the entire interior of the pyramid. We ate lunch at the Pyramid Cafe and admired the statuary and artwork which was all taken from ancient Egyptian designs.
After lunch the kids hit the video arcade and we all went through an Egyptian museum featuring a re-creation of King Tut’s tomb as Howard Carter discovered it. After a little souvenir shopping and some sightseeing inside we took the moving sidewalk above the street to the Excalibur next door. Excalibur is another huge casino complex based on a King Arthur theme. We ate dinner there at Sir Lance-a-Lotta Pasta which was excellent despite its silly name. Back at the Luxor the kids reacquainted themselves with television while Lynne and Jim watched the Strip light up. Scott finally talked us into gambling. Jim won 20 cents on a dime slot machine and Lynne won 50 cents. Our losses for our six nights in Las Vegas totalled just over a dollar. After Scott, Lynne and Jim walked outside to see the lights of Las Vegas Boulevard, we returned to our room, made our arrangements for airport transportation, and turned in.
Saturday, June 20 – At 4:30 the alarm went off and we gathered up all our luggage. By 5:30 we were standing at the north entrance of the pyramid waiting for the airport shuttle. It was a sedate ride compared to the taxis we had been taking. We checked our bags at the curb and had breakfast at a Burger King in the now much quieter McCarran Airport. Our America West 737 left the ground about 15 minutes late for unexplained reasons. We had a good view of Lake Mead as we flew to Phoenix. At Sky Harbor Airport we were kept on the ground waiting for a gate because “unruly passengers” were creating a disturbance at our intended disembarking point. We watched the minutes tick by anxiously because it was almost 9:00 and our flight to Indianapolis was supposed to take off at 9:08. Finally we were directed to a gate at the International section which put us in a different part of the airport from our connecting flight. We sprinted through the airport and made our flight with a few minutes to spare. Luckily we were on an Airbus A320 for the final leg. It was wider and newer than the 737’s we had been on and had wider seats. About an hour from Indianapolis we hit some turbulence and had a bumpy ride the rest of the way to the airport. Our bags were among the last to be unloaded. Midwestern humidity was a shock after the dryness of the desert and the car was like an oven after two weeks in long term parking. I-465 and I-74 took us home where we finished up our trip eating dinner at Skyline, by the kid’s request.
Milestones on this trip: Scott and Michelle’s first flight on a jetliner, the Grand Canyon, and everyone’s first trip to Mexico.
States and provinces we visited: Indiana, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Sonora, and California
Capital cities we saw: Indianapolis, Phoenix
