"...God made life a gamble And we're still in the game.

Hey Guys!  We made it to Nevada!  We're currently parked at the Railroad Pass Hotel and Casino.  We're only about 14 miles from the KOA that we have booked for the rest of the week.  Yes, originally we weren't supposed to be there until Tuesday, but we made great time so we called and added an extra night to the reservation.  We'll be heading there tomorrow.  We stayed here for "free" for tonight.  Of course, we gave a donation to the casino so not really free. :)  I can't complain.  I played for a few hours at the roulette table for $20.  Great entertainment for less than a movie at the theater.

Let's catch up.  Last we left you we were in Amarillo.  We had great weather there. Nice breezes, cool mornings and warm days.  We got to watch some stealth bombers take off from the near by airport so that was cool.  Something to consider when booking your campgrounds;  apparently, many of them are close to airports and train tracks.  Trains are everywhere out west!  LONG trains!  Sometimes there must be about 200 cars going.  We have not had a problem with them.  Our Dutch Star is very sound proof.  I'm not sure about other brands, but even the dogs don't seem bothered unless we have the windows open.  Speaking of the dogs, they are still doing well.  We picked up another dog bed for $5 at walmart and they sleep in them side by side on the other side of Jay while we're driving.  There's just enough room on his left side for them there.  They are getting their places down when the engine starts now.  It was nice having a walmart to be able to pick up some familiar things like their dog food and not have to worry about that being new too.

New Mexico was beautiful.  Really.  I couldn't stop snapping pictures.  The rock formations and the colors were amazing.  It made crossing into Arizona a bit dull.  The landscape was fairly flat and plain for the first several miles. I 40 has been a pretty good road.  The quality has mostly been good, with not too much construction.  The only challenge has been the crosswinds.  sometimes they come out of nowhere and really take Serendipity for a gust!  After seeing all the rigs at Newmar we now know our Fat Bottom Girl is actually quite trim and svelte coming in at 40 ft 11inches.  The most popular model sold is their 43 foot Dutch Star, but they also do quite a few 45 foot ones also.   Many of the RVs on the road out here are larger but we they also have many sensors and gadgets that can go wrong so we're pretty happy with our girl.

We started climbing a bit yesterday and reached the Arizona divide. Over 7000 ft and quite a bit of green around.  Views were much more spectacular.  Also, coming down today the scenery wowed us as well.  I would really have liked to stay tonight at the welcome center in Boulder City with the spectacular views of Lake Mead, but sadly it was posted no overnight parking.

It's a bit surreal that we are here in Nevada.  This week is exciting because of the R+F convention and then next week we head to our new winter home in Quartzside.  What an amazing life we have.  We keep looking at each other and saying can you believe it? ;)

We happened to be in the right place at the right time to help another couple that got locked out of their rig.  That's the second couple we've been able to help.  We often talk about how blessed we are that life has led us here.  We hope that we can pass on fortune as we go.  After all, life is short, live in the moment and make it count.

So here's to all the soldiers 
Who have ever died in vain 
The insane locked up in themselves
The homeless down on Main
To those who stand on empty shores
And spit against the wind
And those who wait forever 
For ships that don't come in.

Here's to you and we hope you are all following your dreams whatever they may be.  Thanks for following along. 

~Mikki