We left Joshua Tree and headed North East to Lake Mead National Recreation Area. along Rte 95. This was the same road that we started from in Yuma, AZ through Blythe CA, and Havasu. This section of road took us through the Mojave Desert where we came upon an interesting section of Route 66.

 

The ghost town of Amboy which was home to Roys Hotel and Cafe, a popular stop back in the last century. Some has recently purchased the property here and plans to revive it back to its original lively state

Just into Nevada there was another huge solar array on Hwy 95

Our first view of Lake Mead on the road to the campground (pretty awesome sight)    

Lake Mead is the largest resovoir in the US in terms of water capacity. With Nevada on one side and Arizona on the other it serves as water source to both states plus California and parts of Mexico The campground we selected was Boulder Beach, one of many surrounding Lake Mead and National Park property. There are approximately 12 campgrounds on or near the lake, all either free or $10 a night and all first come first served. We found a nice little site facing the lake

 

Just along the road is a large marina with 2 piers and a restaurant at the end of both, very handy

Fish were taunting the fishermen walking by, but no fishing allowed here

Only 40 minutes from Vegas we headed in for (what we thought) a little tour around. Trying to drive into Vegas on a Saturday night was probably not the brightest thing to do, as it was night and not being familiar with the city.

Our campground is only 10 minutes from Hoover Dam. What an impressive sight

We took a tour of the Dam’s mechanical features

One of the reasons we came to Vegas was the new NIRVC Newmar/service dealership in North Las Vegas and we needed a yearly service. Finding the place was an adventure. North Las Vegas is going through a huge growth spurt and all roads around it were either newly constructed or being built. Hence, our GPS knew where we were going but couldn’t get us there.

We had a few items that needed fixing, so we camped in their parking lot for a few nights, it turned out to be for 5 nights.The first day is just diagnostics, then the horrific estimate, then the work begins.

We had some Nellis Airforce Base residents buzzing around, it was very entertaining watching their manoevers. They have a flight training school so it was always busy and very noisy

Went scouting for some boondocking sites around the Valley of Fire State Park while the coach was being serviced, as we were instructed to do by everyone in the camping world. Not scouting ahead was why we got stuck last time in the coach they said, so we were determined to do it right. Wrong, the scout got stuck in thick mud close to the bottom of a ravine and would need a winch out. So much for scouting

All we could do was look up at the “real” campers. “Now how did they get up there?”. We had no phone service, so Chris went in search for help or phone service. She came back with Preston who was camping nearby and then Frank appeared but no-one could help

We finally found a professional outfit fom the local town, who pulled us to safety

Beautiful scenery though!

Bath time for coach and car (after the ordeal the day before)

Went into Vegas again to catch The Mentalist at The V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops

Very entertaining show and a lot less than some of the other extravaganzas in town

We’ve now spent two evenings in Las Vegas and only lost $100. Not bad!! The service set us back quite a bit more than that, $1,600 in new batteries alone

Next its off to Utah, just for a quick look see, everyone we meet raves about Utah and we were so close, still really cold there, so just a couple of days