Most people come to Las Vegas for the gambling, shows, the glitter and glitz of the strip, and to vacation.  Here is the only place I park in a Recreational Vehicle commercial parking lot.  It’s $16/night, which includes hookups, so I can use the electrical outlets in my nest (slide-in camper on my pickup truck).  I can charge up my camera batteries and deep cell marine batteries that store the reddy killowatts captured by my solar panels (they do good, but a boost will help) and I can use my vacuum cleaner, the dirt devil.  Wow!  I can also switch the refrigerator to A/C power, save propane, and I could hook up to the water too, but I don’t.   I have an agenda when I arrive.  That word I rarely allow in my life, but Vegas is the point I stop going west and head east, so some things need to be done.  This is one of the few places I pass through where IRS tax forms are available, although today I had to stand in a line just to get into the building; No Thanks!
    I drive a lot of washboard-like roads to my nowherelands places, where nature puts on the performances I enjoy so much.  The bouncing, rattling, and constant vibration takes a toll on my truck, so lots of stuff needs checked out.  Tire condition and pressure is right up there.  They get my first check.  I have a pump that plugs into the cigarette lighter with a gauge, plus a couple 99-cent pressure gauges.  Both work fine for tires that require 32 lbs of pressure, but for my truck tires they say each tire is low and the pump won’t exceed what it says is about 40 lbs. of pressure.  I don’t believe it.  I’ll go to a gas station and see what their air pump says.  The oil, radiator,  and other fluids (transmission, brake, power steering, etc.) are easy to check and are alright.  I know it’s time to change my air filter, so I do it.  The other thing is the bolts that hold the camper in the truck’s bed.  They were fine when I checked them when I left Florida, then I drove the washboard rough roads in the oasis in the high desert surrounded by mountains, Cibola NWR south of Blythe, Ca. (www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/CibolaNWR) and Kelso Dunes N.M. (https://www.desertusa.com/mnp/mnp_kelso.html) in the Mojave Desert.  I got under the truck and checked all four and all four were loose.  I spent hours crawling under the truck after bracing the head of the bolt against the camper wall with a wrench, so the bolt wouldn’t rotate as I turned it.  I got confused and turned the nut the wrong direction many times; the wrench on the head fell off, I had to crawl back out, and climb into the camper and replace it.  After several hours the only one I could sufficiently tighten was the one I replaced last summer.  The others were tight, but not tight enough to hold my nest securely without bouncing on a washboard road.  That’s what ruined a set of tires!  I do have a saving grace though.  A friend gave me four straps last summer.  I put one at each of the camper’s corners and tightened them with turn buckle bolts.  Each is tested to secure a load of 2,500 pounds and the camper only weighs about 1,200 pounds, so they’ll hold the camper in place.  They’re my plan B (always have a plan B for things that are important), but I’ll stay on paved and smooth roads, and this summer I’ll replace the rest of the bolts.
    Mother nature hit a home run with what I was shown at Cibola starting with a side winder snake, big carp or catfish flopping in the shallow water of the marsh, and then I coaxed my truck carrying my nest to the top of a high hill overlooking Lake Cibola, the Colorado River, the Marsh, desert, with the surrounding mountains in the distance and perched it there.  What a view!  Then I stopped at Kelso Dunes with the biggest sand dunes I’ve ever seen, that catch the pink glow of the sun set and sun rise often.
    Here Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas puts on a show for St. Patrick’s Day.  I start with gorging myself on Fremont Casinos Paradise Buffet (prime rib, shrimp, sushi and more) for less than $20.  There’re musicians every hundred yards or so (one who is a one-man sax show has been there every year I’ve been), the largest light show on the planet is continually above, people fly by overhead on a cable, and it’s a great place to people watch. Wow, do they perform!  It seems like half the people had a green T-shirt saying they got Lucky in Vegas. I saw a woman nursing her young right amongst the crowd. There were lots of costumed people, and one old guy was dressed in Santa Claus suit amongst all the green!
    On the down slide, watchin’ and lovin’ it.  Ask me about a free photo.
 
Bob R  o.c.FotoGuy
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