Friday February 7th 2020

The weather continued to improving today. It was a calm, sunny day with the high temperatures in the mid sixties. Tomorrow is forecast to be a little better, before the bottom starts to fall out on Sunday afternoon. The possibility of rain in the valley and snow in the mountains is part of the weather threat.

Today was a day full of minor water oriented calamities. The first started with a sink that wouldn’t drain. My first thought was that my holding tanks were full. That was wishful thinking since it would mean an easy fix. Unfortunately, the problem persisted after I drained the tanks. I found a length of stiff wire that I could use as a snake and started to work on the problem. The wire couldn’t turn a right angle about a foot from the drain and still provide enough leverage to clear the clog, so it was back to the drawing board. A quick run to Walmart for a three dollar plunger and I was back in business. I got the clog cleared and everything draining successfully. What caused the clog remains a mystery.

The second minor calamity was simply spilled water. Putting my dinner plate on the table I knocked over my water glass. Sixteen ounces of water and ice spilled onto the table, the credenza cabinet front and the carpeted floor. A few minutes with paper towels and a sponge and I got back to eating. When I sat down I found another spot the spilled water accumulated. I sat in the middle of a nice puddle of ice water. The water on the chair got cleaned up by the seat of my pants. After a wardrobe change I finally got to eat my dinner.

I took two walks around the RV Park for exercise. The good weather was evident throughout the park. More people were outside their RVs sitting or working on one thing or another. At the pool for the first time in a long while I saw people in the water. There is still only one bush in the park with flower blossoms, but today it had a lot of visitors of the bee variety. My second walk was at sunset. There wasn’t much beauty to tonight’s sunset, but in the other direction the moon was rising in the sky. It will be full tomorrow night.

Thursday February 6th 2020

The temperature was down in the thirties again last night, but it managed to warm up into the low sixties this afternoon. The next couple of days are forecast to be above normal before the temperature crashes again on Sunday afternoon.

This afternoon I was in the area of the Ethel M Cactus Garden. It was a perfect opportunity to see the Valentines Day lights on the Cacti. The only issue was it gets dark later than I though. I got there just before 5PM and had to wait half an hour to get the full view. During that time I wandered through the garden, but paid more attention to the airplanes in the landing pattern overhead and the setting sun to the west.

Once it was dark enough the red, white, pink and purple lights on the cacti really stood out. It isn’t as heavily decorated as it is at Christmas time, but they still decorate most of the trees and bigger cactus. The number of wire frame light displays is smaller. Instead of reindeer they have unicorns for Valentines day, but the same peacocks they use at Christmas are on display in a different area for this holiday. I spent an additional half hour wandering through the gardens taking pictures after it got dark. They never enticed me into the building to buy any chocolates, so I guess I’m a bad visitor. Never the less I enjoyed the decorated cactus garden.

Wednesday February 5th 2020

The day started cold. The temperature got down below freezing overnight. The bright sun with the assistance of very little wind allowed the temperature to climb to just over fifty. It was about two degrees warmer than yesterday, but still almost ten degrees cooler than the norm.

Once again my day started slowly. I didn’t sleep well last night. Shortly after I got to sleep I got a new neighbor across the street. For some reason the motorhome arrived after 12:30AM. They woke me up and kept me awake for most of the next hour as they got set up. I never really got fully committed to sleep. Around 5Am I was listening to people departing for the start of the work day. Somewhere around 8AM I turned the heat up before I got up nearer to 10AM than I would have liked.

This afternoon while I was out of the RV park I stopped at the Clark County Wetlands park to get some exercise. The mid week day and the cooler weather kept the number of people in the park down. I only saw a few people while I was walking the trails. In their place I saw a few of the more shy members of the wildlife family. I saw a couple of rabbits and the elusive road runner. Getting a picture of the fast moving bird is a challenge, but today I had some success.

The only downside to today’s excursion was the trip home. I got caught in the traffic from a school getting out and the end of the shift at the water treatment plant and public works. It took about twice the normal time to get home. I should have spent another half an hour wandering around the wetlands park.

Tuesday February 4th 2020

Today was a slight improvement in the weather department. It was still windy, but the temperature improved by a couple of degrees. The high temperature for the day was just under fifty or about ten degrees below the average for the day.

I had a reasonably productive day for a change. One of the tasks I needed to accomplish before I began this years travels was getting a new set of tires for my Honda CR-V. The current set have over eighty thousand miles when you combine the towed miles with the actual driven miles. The front tires were also showing signs of alignment issues. I stopped at the Firestone Service Center with the intent of getting an appointment. Three hours later I left with four new tires and an alignment.

While I was waiting for my car, I got my hair cut at the Great Clips in the nearby strip mall. I look like a human again. The last time I got my hair cut was in Oregon. It had grown to a length I haven’t seen since my college days. I just haven’t been at the right place at the right time since I got to Las Vegas.

I didn’t get back to the RV park until after dark. Getting sunset pictures was out of the question, so I took a picture of one of my new tires to illustrate this blog entry. Publishing a new blog entry without a picture seems wrong. The other alternative was a picture of cooking sausages on the gas grill, but I did a version of that over the weekend with the brat picture.

Monday February 3rd 2020

The weather has been the center of attention in the Las Vegas area over the last twenty four hours. Sunday’s high temperatures in the seventies gave way to highs in the forties today. The thirty degree change in temperature came with a lot of wind. There have been sustained winds in excess of 20mph with gusts up to 60mph.

Neither the sustained wind or the gusts are particularly new. I’ve experienced both in my RV home many times. The difference was the long duration and the irregular wave pattern to the gusts. When the wind started late Sunday afternoon it was out of the south with continuous gusts. As the evening progressed the gusts got stronger, my RV home shook and the awnings and roof top items rattled loudly. By bed time a new pattern emerged. The gusts died down or even stopped for periods of time. As the night continued the downtime got longer, but you could always hear the steady roar of the sustained winds. The pattern continued all night and through the day today. The only change was the wind direction. Today’s cold weather was ushered in by a north wind. It wasn’t until late this afternoon that the gusts were below the shaking and rattling level.

The inconsistent wind pattern prevented me from getting a good nights sleep. I’d get to sleep during the lull in the gusts, but the next RV shaking gust would wake me up. I lacked energy all day and even fell asleep a couple of times. My first excursion out my RV home was at sunset for a walk around the RV park. I was well bundled up against the cold, but the wind on my exposed skin was uncomfortable. Up north in similar conditions I’d be commenting on the nice sunny February day. Here it isn’t expected and down right unwanted.

Sunday February 2nd 2020

The day began calm and bright, but ended windy and dull. The bulk of the day was beautiful with a high temperature in the mid seventies. About 3PM in the afternoon the forecast cold front arrived. The wind started to blow and the clouds moved in. It wasn’t long before the wind was blowing steadily over 20mph from the southwest. As I’m writing this blog entry the gusts are rocking the rig and flapping the slide out room toppers. The overnight gusts are forecast to be as high as 60mph. It’s going to be an interesting night.

I pretty much got caught up in the Super Bowl programming on TV. It wasn’t just the pre-game and game I kept watching, but some of the creative counter programming too. Five or ten minutes of the Kitten Bowl or the Puppy Bowl were fun diversions. Watching much more would have been just a little too sweet. I also watched some of the golf tournament from Phoenix before settling in to watch the football game and commercials. The game was just OK. I would have been happier if the 49ers won, but the Chiefs are explosive. Some of the commercials were cute. I can’t say that I’ll remember any of them a few days from now.

While I was watching all of these things on TV, I finished my photo printing experiment from early last week. I stuck the 8×10 print of the picture I sent to CVS for printing into a cheap plastic frame. It looks pretty good sitting on the credenza beside my dinning table. If I continue to like it over the next few weeks I’ll give it a better frame and hang it in place of the art work that came with the RV. The other option is to print a few other pictures and try them.

Saturday February 1st 2020

I got up on time this morning, but not because I was ready to get out of bed. There was too much noise outside to stay in bed. One of my rear neighbors were getting their RV washed and my front side neighbor was leaving this morning. The lack of any real separation between sites is one of the down sides to this RV Park.

After breakfast and my morning internet reading, I was out of the RV park for the days errands. The best part of the day was a stop at the Wetlands park to visit the birds. The day was sunny and warm in the low seventies so the park was busy. Families, groups and a few other solo walkers were all over the park. I went out to the back of the park away from most of the people and sat on a bench in front of a pond with a couple of pairs of American Coots and other swimming birds. Watching the birds dive under for a piece of vegetation then come up and chew on it for a bit was a little mesmerizing.

I spent about half an hour with the coots before continuing my walk through the park. There weren’t too many other close up wildlife encounters. I saw several interesting birds in the distance and fish and turtles up close. It was a nice way to spend a couple of hours on a very nice day.

When I got back to the RV park, I still didn’t have a new neighbor. I’m surprised most of the other sites in the park are occupied and the site next to me hasn’t been empty overnight for more than a month. At least I won’t get woken by a departing neighbor tomorrow. It will be the last of the nice days for a while according to the forecast. Heavy winds and a twenty degree drop in temperature are forecast for tomorrow afternoon.

Friday January 31st 2020

The temperature was a few degrees cooler today, but otherwise the weather was the same as Thursday. It was another beautiful day. Tomorrow is forecast to be even warmer peaking around seventy.

I got a very slow start this morning, but the pattern was a little different. I got up before eight long enough to turn the heat up, but returned to bed while the RV warmed up. It was around ten the next time I was awake. The only problem with the late hour is it doesn’t support the things I thought about doing today. The end result was another slow day today and more things put off until another day.

This afternoon I setup my new towed car auxiliary brake. It’s a little more difficult to get it attached to the brake peddle, but the rest of the setup is easier. I did find that I need to run a new power line from the battery to give the brake a steady supply of power. The old one had a lower power draw. I’ll get the parts I need over the weekend.

I took two walks around the RV park. During the first walk a few sites were available, but during the second walk it looked like a full house. I didn’t think this park was impacted by weekends I thought the number of long term residents isolated it from lots of short term stays, but it clearly seems to get weekend guests. Figuring out the occupancy pattern of an RV park is confusing, but this one seems to be down right mysterious.

Thursday January 30th 2020

Wednesday’s wind was a thing of the past today. There was only a gentle breeze. The sky was back to bright blue and the temperature was in the mid sixties. It was a beautiful day.

I stayed at home today waiting for an Amazon delivery. Mail and packages are delivered to the club house office every day. You can pick up items between 1PM and 5PM. Tracking my package showed it arrived around 11:30, so I drove down to pick it up around 2PM.

My new towed car auxiliary brake was there waiting for me. It will replace my 8 year old unit that is malfunctioning periodically. Getting the old unit fixed professionally required it to be shipped back to the factory. The cost was going to approach more than half the price of a new unit without any guaranty that it could be fixed. The new unit is several generations newer and should provide more reliable braking while I’m towing my Honda CR-V.

The new auxiliary brake represents one more item checked off my check list for getting back on the travel road for 2020. I started working on the list shortly after I arrived in Las Vegas, but I still have more than a dozen items on the list to complete before I depart for Arizona at the end of February. It is much easier to complete the items when I’m in one place for an extended period.

I got to sit outside and enjoy the day for a while this afternoon. The clear blue sky was interrupted by a noisy jet every now and then, but overall it was nice to enjoy the afternoon sun. I made good use of my gas grill while I was outside by cooking a couple of Brats for dinner. With plenty of sunshine and some good nourishment, it was back inside for a long dark night of watching TV.

Wednesday January 29th 2020

It was a windy day. The TV weather talkers reported average wind speeds between 15 and 20 mph with gusts in the thirties for the Las Vegas Valley. Outside the valley the wind gusts were much higher. The day also started with a very brief shower, before the wind became dominant and the clouds cleared out. Most of the precipitation didn’t reach the ground. The mountains to the west gut a fresh dusting of snow. The temperature still managed to reach the mid sixties.

I stopped in at the Clark County Wetlands Park on my way home from some wandering about the Henderson NV area. The park was quiet today. Most of the people and the wildlife were staying out of the wind. I got in a good walk and took a few pictures attempting to capture an image of the wind. Playing with my camera has become a real diversion lately.

Back at my RV home, I have a new back neighbor for a few days. The park is filling up with people in Las Vegas for the big football game in Miami this weekend. There is an absolute obsession with avoiding the NFL trademark term “Super Bowl” in the area. The NFL got very upset a few years ago and brought legal action against groups using their trademark to make money. They were particularly concerned with casinos using the trademark. Now, even the TV sports reporters don’t use the term. I haven’t seen as strict a moratorium on using the term in other parts of the country.