On the Road Again - Day Tripping

We have lived in Las Vegas for just over 18 months and have yet to take a day-trip where we weren't going to visit family. We used to do that quite frequently in Indiana - just get out and go. Of course if we wanted to go to a real mall it was 70 miles away in Indianapolis and the temple was in St. Louis, 150 miles. When we went to St. Louis we mixed the temple with a nice dinner. Plus, Kentucky was only 2 hours away. It's interesting we drove across Illinois only stopping for gas.

Today we decided it was time to get out of town. There are a couple of places we could go, some with trees and green. We chose to go south to Kingman, AZ by way of Hoover Dam. It's only 110 miles, but getting across the dam takes a good 20 to 30 minutes, so it's not quick trip. It was a nice drive. The sun was out and the temperature on its way to 60 plus.

In fact, it was good just to get out. We stopped in Kingman and toured the Route 66 visitor's center. I use the term loosely, since it was an old powerhouse used as a visitor's center, gift shop, museum, and recreation hall. As I was walking around I heard what sounded like talking in the back of the visitor's center. I carefully stuck my head around the door and there was a full blown auction going on with a room full of people. As near as I could tell the auction was mostly of knick knacks, but probably antiques. It was an old town with some of their buildings made out of large stone squared off. I took a photo of the courthouse which JoAnn and I thought was neat.

From there we went west to Bullhead City, AZ, right on the Colorado river. I wasn't really impressed, but then we didn't really get into the city. It appears to be a retirement area. The river is over burdened with parking lots and other buildings, blocking good access.

Right across the river is Laughlin, NV which as near as I can tell is only composed of casinos. The road into Bullhead City was a 12 mile 6 percent downgrade with a stop light at the end. It was a pretty drive. It was a long climb up out of the river valley after we left Laughlin. And then it was back to the desert - of course it was all desert, but it varies and unlike I heard a person say on my last air flight, "It's a barren wasteland", it is not. In its own way, it is very beautiful and varied.

It was getting on to lunch time and after we left Laughlin I was afraid we would have to go all the way back home to eat, but we were saved by Searchlight and its two gas stations and McDonalds. Not our first choice, but it did taste good.

Yes, it was a fun day and we enjoyed just being out and on the road for no purpose other than to enjoy ourselves. We saw places we had not seen before, at least in the daylight, and now have a better feel for southern Nevada and northwest Arizona. We could see California, but stayed away this time.