Laughlin, NV
This is a different place. Casino strip along the river and I might take in TRUE GRIT or go see Diamond Rio tonight. Windy as heck; I left Karen and Bob Budan's lovely graciousness this morning around 9 and arrived here 2:30 AZ or 1:30 NV time to go to the DMV to figure out the paperwork on CoCo. Turns out this is a mess, so it's time for the detective Suzi Drewalot to get to work. I pulled into the Riverside parkinglot, made up a soda/Stevia root beer, and tried to get online... funny parking is practically free (8 hrs to start free), rooms are $25/night or less, but 8 hrs of WiFi is $8.25. So... I spied a Starbucks not far and will meander that way soon.
Wind buffets again; can't turn to face into it, but hope to take my camera out for a stroll in a few minutes to see what the river looks like in both directions. I will definitely make my way to the Hoover Dam on Saturday or Sunday, since I'm really quite close, and maybe spend a little time in LV tomorrow. I'm thinking MAYBE I can find something to paint here today. We'll see.
The nice dentist gave me 3 gift cards for Starbucks... turned out to be $10 each! so that was awesome nice, and if anyone is coming this way or wants his name, I'll be happy to provide that. Very nice, capable dentistry.
If I catch a movie now, I can get out in time for sunset. Tata!
Saturday morning, 2/5/11
Yesterday afternoon I saw TRUE GRIT - liked it - then went out to the rv for a little cash and returned for a 7:00 p.m. Diamond Rio show. Less than $40, big name many years ago. 6 old dudes (but probably all younger than moi) up there on the stage; the drummer was behind a lucite screen... guess he was too loud. I felt like a youngster! Lots and LOTS of "OLD" people here, in this audience and in the casino; I sat with 2 couples, one lady next to me had NOTHING to say to me; the other couple across the table were very nice, from Wisconsin, out to beat the winter, 4 days including air for $279. I asked if that was apiece or for both and he said yes. Pretty unbelievable! but certainly a nice break from winter. If we Mendonesians were closer to an airport, I'll bet we could fly out to Laughlin for oh $697 EACH for 4 days in July. But I speculate...
Then I wandered through the casino, upstairs and down. The lights everywhere, the dinging and din of slot machines, talking and drinking, smoking and laughing, fat people, skinny ones, mostly appearing over 75. A lot like Wal-Mart shoppers! I watched people win a few, lose a few, saw one guy make $65 on a penny machine while I sat there eating some stir-fry veggies and having a glass of water. Maybe tonight or tomorrow night in Vegas I'll have a steak in some casino for oh probably $12.
The casino noise is still reverberating in my ears. I managed to drop a couple $20s in slots because I didn't find the blackjack tables until I was on my way out; free rv parking for 8 hours and my time was almost up and I didn't want to drycamp in their parking lot, so I left for a hook-up park across the river for $14 for the night.
I drove through the riverside park and found an empty slot next to a long 5th wheel with a checkered carpet, and matching Harleys. Here's a picture from this morning; See CoCo reflected in the gas tank! I heard their truck pull in around midnight. If I couldn't hear the occasional freeway noise now, it would be extremely quiet here. Last night was calm and quiet, and it's much warmer than AZ. It's probably almost 70 out there now, at almost 7:30 a.m.
Made my coffee and got back into bed to catch up on my ejournal blog. No WiFi here but I'll download pictures to share later.
It's like a mini Las Vegas here, the "strip" has casinos along the street only on the river side; parking lots or empty lots on the opposite side. For about a mile. Then about 2 miles away is a shopping mall next to the housing developments. I'll try to reconnoiter today or tomorrow as I drive toward Henderson and the Hoover Dam. Actually, I'll probably leave today but after a whole day of driving, it's nice to take a whole day of rest and if I settle in to a painting, well, I'm stayin' right here!
Well, it's 8:30... let's go see what's happening outside! See you later!
This is a motif from the glass panels at the Painted Desert. These designs were all just incredible.
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A day got away. Now it's Sunday morning, I'm at Starbucks in Boulder City, NV at Lake Mead. Kinda like it here except for the high voltage wires everywhere! The dam and bridge at sundown was a great experience... but I was yakkin with a local woman and missed (if it even happened that way) the shadow of the new bridge on the dam face. Probably a fig newton of my imagination.Happy SuperBowl Sunday... a year ago I crashed. History will NOT repeat itself!
xoxo suzi
And since I'm unable to upload any more photos in this present location, I'll get on the road to Death Valley now.
Glad you are alive and well. Didn't sound too impresssed with Laughlin........
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