Nevada, Las Vegas - Monday, November 3, 2014 - Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Weather was in the mid 60’s without a cloud in the sky.  We headed out mid-morning to go back to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the opposite direction from the Hoover Dam this time.

The speed limit in the park ranges from 35 mph to 50 mph.  We were cruising along at the speed limit most of the time, just enjoying the views.  Several times we were passed by cars just zooming by.  I wanted to yell “slow down and enjoy what’s around you!”.  I’m convinced that no matter how big your windshield is there is no way you can enjoy these views better than on a motorcycle.  You can see unobstructed 180 degrees and up to the sky.  You can feel the heat of the sunshine and the coolness of the shadows.  You can breathe the fresh air and sometimes feel the sand sting your face.

Our first stop was the Callville Bay Area.

 

 

There are lots of houseboats on this part of the lake.

From the outside it looks like a very nice hotel and restaurant here also.  Right now it is the slow season so not much was happening.

 

 

 

We drove on to the Echo Bay Area before turning back.

 

 

A couple of views of the Muddy Mountains.

 

 

This area is called Redstone.  You can see the Black Mountains in the background.  As we drove along today both of us noticed that the mountains were constantly changing, some would be silver and pastels, some would be gray and rolling, some would be black, others would be sharply pointed and others would be brick red.  The views we saw going out were totally different as we came back and the sun was going down.

 

 

More Redstone.

This is the Gale Hills area.

In the past few weeks we have seen so many of the wonders of God’s creations, they just leave us in awe--the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, the Grand Canyon and these beautiful views along Lake Mead.  And I can’t forget the amazing lightning storm we witnessed across the prairie in Kansas with son David.

We are leaving here tomorrow to head to Mesa, AZ for the winter.  We’ll be workamping there in food service so Greg trimmed his beard to get ready for work.  Over the past year it has probably grown to about seven inches long, he didn’t think the food service people would appreciate that.

Nevada, Las Vegas - Sunday, November 2, 2014 - Hitching Post RV Park

Lazy day at home today.  We did get some laundry done and found places to put all of the goodies we brought home from the John Force/Castrol dinner.

Courtney Forces’s Traxxus car found a new home.

 

 

Here is where we spent most of the day – NASCAR on the TV and NHRA drag racing on the computer J.

Tomorrow we’ll be riding out to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area again.  The weather is supposed to be nice and the scenery out there is so beautiful.

Nevada, Las Vegas - Saturday, November 1, 2014 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway

We waited until mid-morning to leave for the drag races.  Had to wait for some rain and heavy winds to pass.  Since we didn’t get home until 11:30 last night and I was writing the blog after that, I didn’t mind sleeping in a bit this morning.  Looks like temperatures are going to be in the mid 60’s all day today.  Not bad for us, but for these desert dwellers it is darned cold J.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway is just 5 miles from where we are staying.

 

 

NASCAR also runs here.

 

 

Since our favorites are the Force drivers, we stopped in there first.

 

 

Courtney’s team is getting ready.

 

 

So is John’s.

 

 

We had to check out the Harley Davidson booth in Nitro Alley

 

 

Greg thought I should try out the competition Harley – nope, too many people standing around.

 

Love this 2015 CVO Screaming Eagle.  Price is just over $39,000 – didn’t love it that much.

See the piece that is inserted between the back and the seat?  We had a custom piece done to fit into the same spot on our 2010 bike when we bought it new.  In 2010 Harley decided to tilt the passenger seat back thinking it would be more comfortable, maybe so for long legged people, but short legged people like me then had to have the foot rests raised.  The slant on the seat also meant that your butt slid back in between the backrest and the seat at an uncomfortable angle.  Looks like Harley figured out the same fix we figured out in 2010.

 

 

Force’s booth in Nitro Alley.

 

 

Harley crew hard at work.

We had great seats thanks to Castrol.  They were about half way down the track so we could see the start and the finish.  We had plenty of room, everyone wasn’t packed in together.

Brittaney Force getting ready to run.

This is the view across the track where there is RV parking, at a pretty price.

 

Make a wish foundation brought things together today with the help of some NHRA teams to make a wish of being a drag racer come true for a 17 year old young man named Aaron.  There were two double seater race cars that came out to compete.  Aaron was in one car with a professional driver.  Two professional drivers were in the other car.  Aaron’s car came out the winner at 146 miles an hour.  He was awarded a trophy and the crowd stood up and cheered.  I think they really made Aaron’s wish come true.

Courtney Force getting ready to run.

John Force in his “American Made” color scheme getting ready to run.

As the sun started to set this evening there was beautiful color in the mountains across the way.

 

I really enjoy watching the cars in the evening because then you can see the flames shoot out when they go down the track.  Unfortunately, when I try to take a picture of that all I get is a blur because they are going so fast.

Great day at the track.  Tomorrow we’ll be hanging around here.  We’ll be leaving Monday morning headed for Mesa, AZ.  We’ll probably make one more overnight stop before we get there so we’ll pull into our winter home on Tuesday morning.

Nevada, Las Vegas - Friday, October 31, 2014 - Dinner with John Force and Castrol

Our intention was to call a cab to take us into the Monte Carlo hotel where dinner would be this evening.  Nevada is a state that requires you to wear a helmet and I kind of wanted to avoid “helmet head” since this was going to be a nice evening out.  We found out that Las Vegas considers Halloween an official holiday and cabs were only going to be working downtown, not out where we are.  Our other option was taking the bus – not going to happen, we’ve seen some of the people sitting at the bus stops.  So, we were back to having to take the bike.  I curled my hair on the hot rollers then pinned the resulting curls with bobby pins and covered the whole thing with a silk scarf under my helmet and brushed it out in the parking garage of the hotel, it actually didn’t look too bad.

We had some time to kill before dinner so we played penny slots and ended up $30 ahead for the time we played.  I do have to say that if you haven’t experienced Halloween in Las Vegas you really haven’t experienced Halloween.  There will be no pictures posted but everyone seemed to be having a really good time.

Those of you who know John Force know that he is in constant motion so getting pictures was a bit of a struggle.  I did catch a couple as he was signing cars for tonight’s giveaway.  Greg and his friend Pete from Castrol were helping set out the cars so they could be signed.  And, if it wasn't John moving it was Greg.

 

 

 

 Other Force drivers, Robert Hight and Courtney Force were also signing cars.

 

 

The dinner was sponsored by Castrol with about 60 invited guests.  John had a good time with the raffle.

 

 

All of the guests ended up with lots of goodies to bring home.  Now we just have to figure out where to put it.

Nevada, Las Vegas - Thursday, October 30, 2014 - Lake Mead and Hoover Dam

Wednesday I tried a new recipe from Pillsbury.  They looked good and tasted good too.  It was suggested that these pot pies be baked in muffin cups, I opted for custard cups instead, glad I did they really puffed up.  You mix 1 c. chicken, 2 cups frozen vegetables (thawed), 1 can cream of chicken soup.  Press Grands biscuits into greased muffin cups, add 1/3 cup chicken mixture and bake at 375 degrees for 22-25 minutes.  I had a package of 5 biscuits and only 4 custard cups so I cut the extra one and put it on top.  The chicken mixture is meant to go along with one of the larger packages of biscuits so I had some left over, it should go well on baked potatoes.

 

 

Our destination today was Hoover Dam.

 

 

Our senior parks pass paid off again as we entered the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.  There are several scenic overlook spots along the way.

 

 

Nice picture of the bike at one of the overlooks.

After we left the overlook I decided to try to take some pictures while we were moving.  The mountains look even bigger when we are on the motorcycle.  Greg also mentioned that on a state highway there was no falling rock protection like there was on the interstate – well that made me feel betterJ.

This monument is one of the first things you see when you come in from the Nevada side.  Rubbing the toes of the statues is supposed to bring good luck – we’ll see.

 

 

 

 

 

This is Lake Mead formed when the dam was put up on the Colorado River.  We wonder what the division of colors on the rocks mean.

 

 

These intake towers pull water into the power plant.  One is on the Nevada side and one is on the Arizona side.  Each one has a clock on the tower.

 

 

 

 

This is the Nevada side of the dam.  It’s impossible to get a picture of the whole thing unless you are sitting in the middle of the Colorado River.  The enormity of this thing is just amazing.  See how small the people look at the top?  I was thinking about what the first day at work must have been like for the men who accomplished this --- “ok, now here is the plan”---what must have been going through their minds at that point?

View of the Arizona side.

 

A view over the edge, those are full sized pickup trucks down there.  Wonder if they ever think about the fact that they are wiped out if anything goes wrong with that dam?

 

 

The bridge over the Colorado River is an engineering miracle all by itself, see the semi that looks like a tiny toy?  It’s hard to show how big this is in a picture.

 

It looks like the visitors center area was updated in 1995.  We didn’t take any of the tours at $30 per person.  Even to get into the visitors area it was $10 per person.  It was a great day with any of the tours.

 

We had lunch at the High Scaler Café.  Good thing we saved our money by not taking the tours, lunch of two fish sandwiches, onion rings and small cokes was $34.  I have to admit the lunch was good, but I think that is a little pricey for a fish sandwich.

 

 

This statue was just outside the café.  Makes you wonder once again how all of this was accomplished.

 

On the way back home we drove through a nice looking RV park that is right on Lake Mead – Lake Mead RV Village, might have to try it next time we are out this way.