At Home in Pahrump - A Trip to Las Vegas & Busy Around the Park

Hello again. Our last episode concluded on Friday, October 22^nd, when we arrived back in Pahrump after a five day outing in Arizona with our camping club. Saturday we started getting ready for our trip tomorrow to Las Vegas. Jackie life long friend Helen Reilly is coming to Las Vegas tomorrow and staying at the Mandalay Bay Casino. She is considered a high roller by the casino and they always comp her a suite and all meals when she comes. She normally comes out on her birthday, which is late October and in February for the Super Bowl. She has invited us to stay with her on several occasions and we are looking forward to three nights of fun in Las Vegas. We did some packing in the morning and I finished work on getting the motorhome settled back into our spot. After lunch we went to the nail salon so Jackie could get a pedi. I also got my toes clipped. After the nail salon we went to the UPS store to pick up our mail, which included the new step assembly for the coach that I ordered on Amazon. We stopped at the bank for some cash, then headed back to the park. We spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up getting ready to leave tomorrow. We did some pork chops on the BBQ for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, October 24^th, we left Pahrump around 2:30 and headed over the hump to Vegas. We arrived at the Mandalay Bay Resort about 3:45 and waited for Helen to arrive. Her flight from Los Angeles, where she had been visiting family, was delayed. We had a tough time getting into the parking garage for the resort. Alligient Stadium, where the Las Vegas Raiders play, is right across the freeway from the Mandalay Bay and today the Raiders were playing at home. Half the streets around the area were blocked off and traffic was a nightmare. We finally found a way into the garage and got parked. By 4:30 Helen arrived, checked in and we went up to the room. As in the past she got a nice two bedroom suite that overlooked the airport and some of the Vegas Strip. We had some cocktails and snacks and talked for a while before going down to the casino for the evening. Neither Jackie nor I had much luck, but we had fun and lots of cocktails as we were mostly playing at one of the bars. By 10:30 we were done and went back up to the room, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Monday, October 25^th, we relaxed in the room most of the morning, finally going down to the casino for lunch about noon. We had lunch in the Sea Breeze Cafe, one of the many casino restaurants. Helen doesn't normally eat lunch, so she went to gamble while we ate. Jackie had breakfast and I had a chicken sandwich for lunch. As with all the food, our lunch was comped by the casino. After lunch we went to the casino floor and spent the rest of the day gambling. I did walk around the indoor shopping mall between the Mandalay Bay and the Luxor casinos for a while when I got tired of playing. For dinner we went to one of the resort restaurants called House of Blues, a Louisiana themed place. Helen and I both had the baby back ribs and they were excellent. Jackie had jambalaya. We actually had leftovers that I took up to the room and put in the mini fridge. We went back to gaming and played until about 11:00 or so, after which Jackie and I went up to the room and went to bed.

Tuesday, October 26^th, our morning routine was the same as yesterday. Again, around noon, we went down to the casino and had lunch, this time going to a cafe called Citizen's. This one had a sort of urban city motif. I had a beef dip sandwich which was probably the best I have ever had. Jackie had fish tacos which she said were also very good. After lunch we joined up with Helen and spent the rest of the afternoon gaming. For dinner we ended up in the French themed restaurant called Fleur. We had wanted to go to the Italian place, Lupo's, but we couldn't get in. We barely got into Fleur because there was a convention of gastroenterologists in the casino conference center and the resort was jammed. The food at Fleur was mediocre at best, and extremely expensive. It was a good thing the nearly $400 meal was comped. I had a Maine lobster tail which was very small, probably three ounces at best and had to get a $13 bowl of mashed potatoes because it came on the plate with nothing. It didn't even taste like lobster. Jackie had a little piece of Halibut and a side order of brussle sprouts. Helen had roasted chicken, which was the only dish with a reasonable amount of food. Would not recommend Fleur even if you could afford it. After dinner we gamed again until about 10:30, then went up to the room and to bed..

Wednesday, October 27^th, we did our usual morning routine, then went down to the casino for a last lunch. Today is the day we leave and head back to Pahrump. Today Helen went to lunch with us since she is staying tonight and leaving early Thursday morning to fly back to Massachusetts. We went to House of Blues again and had another great lunch. We had packed our stuff before going to lunch, so after we ate we said goodbye to Helen and thanked her for the great weekend. She went off to game some more and we went up to the room, picked up our bags, and headed for the car. One nice point is that all the big casinos are now charging for parking in their garages, but the MGM Group, which owns Mandalay Bay, provides free parking for veterans. Yea! Saved $45 for the three nights of parking. On the way back home we stopped at a Great Clips so Jackie could get a haircut, but we were still back in Pahrump by 4:00. We had leftovers from Monday night for dinner, watched some TV and went to sleep in our own bed.

Thursday, October 28^th, the RV repair technicians arrived early, about 8:00, to take care of some issues. Today they were supposed to install new faucets in the shower and vanity and install a new toilet. They couldn't do the toilet because they needed an adapter for the newer toilet and had to order it. They got the faucets installed in a couple of hours and left. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and doing chores. I finished putting Jackie's bike together and she rode it briefly. It will take her some time to get used to it. Our friend Len came over about 1:30 and we played guitars in the shed for a couple of hours. We had happy hour with Millie and another friend, Jane, who also lives here in the park. After happy hour we had dinner, then watched TV until bedtime. Friday, October 29^th, we left the coach after lunch to take Jackie to the doctor. She has been experiencing lower stomach pains for the last month or so and decided to go to the doctor. We couldn't get into our regular doctor until next year, but she got an appointment with a Nurse Practitioner for this afternoon. She examined her but was unsure of the cause without some tests, so she scheduled her for an ultrasound of the belly next week. This is very similar to an issue she had back in the 2013 in the summer. Very similar symptoms and in that case she had every test under the sun and a cause never was determined. It just went away on its own in about four months. After the doctor we went to Walmart for some supplies, then headed back home. We stayed in the rest of the evening with the TV.

Saturday, October 30^th, we were up early and on the road by a little after 9:00, headed north about 70 miles to Beatty, Nevada, for Beatty days. Beatty is a town of about a thousand in the Nevada desert, 120 miles North of Las Vegas and 90 miles South of Tonopah. It was founded in early 1900's to support the many gold and silver mines in South central Nevada. Unlike many of the many other mining towns in the area, Beatty survived because it was about half way between the big population centers of Las Vegas and Tonopah and on the main route between the towns. Every fall they celebrate Beatty Days with a weekend long fair. We had been up here in 2007 for the festival, when we were first establishing our selves as Nevada residents and enjoyed ourselves, so when we saw it advertised in the paper we decided to go back again. We got there about 10:30, just in time to watch the last half of the parade through town. We then got a parking place and spent a couple of hours walking around, looking at booths and also a pretty decent car show at the city park. We went to a local cafe for lunch, and it was good. After lunch we went back to the

park for the bed races, which was what we remembered most from the last time we were here. It is run by teenagers, for the most part, because they have to push a large, steel framed hospital bed on casters, down a full city block. The race starts when the kids make the bed with at least a top and bottom sheet, one of the kids puts on a hospital gown, and then they push it down the block. When they get to the end, which was where we were standing, they have to change “patients” with one of the other kids putting on the gown, change the bed sheets, then push the bed and patient back up to the start line. It is a slight up hill on the way back and you can see the kids start to fade about half way back. Unfortunately this year they only had two participants. In 07 they had a half dozen. I guess kids now have too much other stuff to do. It was still fun to watch. After the bed races we went back to the car and did a couple of geocaches in town, then we started back towards Pahrump. We made it back home around 3:00 and spent the rest of the day relaxing. We spent the evening with the TV and went to bed.

Sunday, October 31^st, Happy Halloween. Today was a stay at home day except for going out first thing in the morning for the Sunday paper. After lunch I tackled the repair of the lock on the front door of the coach. About three weeks ago the latch on the outside of the door broke and would no longer unlatch the door. Fortunately when it happened one of the living windows was open so I was able to climb in through the window and open the door from the inside. I disconnected the two latches which meant the only way to keep the door closed was to use the dead bolt. I contacted REV parts, which took over for Monaco when REV bought the company, to get the part, which was the entire outside door handle assembly, and for a mere $170 had the part shipped to me. I was waiting for the RV tech guys to come out to fix it, but I decided that I could try it on my own. It turned out to be easier than I thought in a less than two hours it was fixed and all put back together. Yea! Saved a couple hundred bucks. We went over to the clubhouse about 4:30 for a Halloween party. The park provided pizza and snacks for dinner and there was music and some karaoke. It was actually a fun party and there were probably 40 people there, most with some sort of costume. The party broke up around 7:00 and we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, November 1^st, we left the coach about noon and went out to have lunch before heading off to the laundromat to do laundry. We first drove to a new Mexican restaurant that recently opened in the Northwest part of the valley, however, when we got there we found it was closed. Turns out they are closed on Mondays. We then went to Romero's Mexican near downtown for lunch. Romero's used to be our go to Mexican place, but for some reason we got out of the habit and hadn't been there for six years or so. We had a great lunch, the food was quite good, as was the service. Not sure why we stopped coming, but we will be back. After lunch we went to laundromat and did our laundry. After a couple of hours we were done. We went to the UPS store to pick up mail, then headed home. After we got the clothes put away and the bed made we relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening. Tuesday we went out about 1:30 and both of us went to the dermatologist for our annual checkups. I had a few things I was concerned about, but he checked me over pretty good and didn't find anything too concerning. He did use the liquid CO2 freezing agent on a dozen different little spots, but didn't find anything that needed further action. He also checked Jackie over and didn't find anything concerning. She also got a spot frozen, the first time for her. After we were done we went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the day. We had cocktails at 5:00 on the patio and Millie, as well as our neighbor Evelyn and our friend Jane, came over for a while. Jane has a spot here at the park and Evelyn is on the list to get in. After they left we went in the house, had steaks on the BBQ for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, 3^rd, I left the park about 11:30 and went to the dentist to have a tooth extracted and some work done on my partial plates. I had gone to the dentist here in Pahrump back September when we first got back here for a cleaning and he found several issues that needed to be taken care of. I had an appointment to start the work in early October, but the doctor had to cancel the appointment because of a family emergency. When they finally rescheduled I couldn't get in until today. This would also be the first dental work, outside of the cleaning, that I have had done by a U.S. dentist in probably ten years. We always went to Algodones, Mexico, outside of Yuma, for our dental work because we had no insurance. Medicare doesn't cover dental. However, the new insurance I have through my Arizona State Retirement System pensions includes dental, so the cost ends up about the same. I had to have the remains of a upper tooth removed, basically just the two roots. At the September appointment the xrays showed that one of the roots had cracked and split, weakening the tooth. That tooth already had a root canal done and a crown installed, so it didn't hurt. As a matter of fact, the tooth itself broke off a couple weeks ago, leaving only the roots in my mouth and, since there was no pain, I just left it be. Before the doctor took out the roots the assistant did a bunch of mouth molds so they could rebuild my two partials after the tooth was removed. These partials are at least 15 years old, maybe even longer, and have been modified a couple of times over the years. Then the doc came in, gave me some shots, and pulled out the two roots, which were really quite small. By 1:30 I was done and on my way home. I had a small infection in the root area, so the doc gave me a prescription for antibiotics. About 3:30 I left home again and went to pick up the prescription and go to Walmart for some soft food to eat for the next week. They had to keep the partials, so I don't have much in the way of chewing surface, so I have to go soft until next Wednesday when I go back for my partials. I also couldn't have alcohol for 48 hours, so happy hour was kind of a bummer. The good thing is when I went to bed the anesthetic had worn off and I only had very minor soreness, no pain.

Thursday, November 4^th, was a stay at home day. We got a few chores done and relaxed for the entire day. Millie came over for cocktails and after cocktails we had a light dinner (soft of course) and then watched TV until bedtime. Friday was the first day of the Welcome Home Rally here at the park. They call it a rally, but it is just the activities they put on around the Annual Meeting of the Co-op, which is always in early November. Like all community organizations, the park has to have an official annual meeting to elect board members, adopt a budget and some other legal niceties. We went over to the clubhouse about 12:30 for the Bingo. I actually won $9 in one game, which had three winners. Since I only paid $6 for the packet of cards I ended up ahead. It was a good time and we finished around 3:00 or so. We went back to the coach for a while, then around 4:30 went back over to the clubhouse for dinner. Tonight was lasagna, salad and bread, which was quite tasty. The lasagna was Costco, the same as we normally buy for ourselves. After dinner they gave away some door prizes and Jackie won a nice wine basket. They had some music and dancing and we finally left around 7:00. We went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, November 6^th, we up, dressed and on our way to the clubhouse by 8:45 A.M for the annual meeting of the Co-op. The meeting went for a little over an hour and was pretty mild. Only a few public comments, the announcement of the new members of the Board of Directors, adoption of the budget and we were done. We went through the room where the silent auction items on display and updated the bids on a couple of things we are going for. The silent auction is an annual fund raising event for the Silver Seekers, which is the club that takes care of the clubhouse and arranges for most of the activities and entertainment. Over the year people donate items to the club and then on the weekend of the annual meeting they put the items out and people bid on them. Last year the auction had some controversy in that one person was apparently allowed to come in at the last minute and buy up most of the stuff. The Silver Seekers board at the time didn't seem to care much since they got the money regardless of who won the bid, but a lot of people who were bidding on stuff, including us, were a little pissed that it took all the fun out of the process. That didn't seem to be a problem this year. We went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day, then went back to the clubhouse at 4:30 for another dinner. This time it was BBQ, either pulled pork or chicken, with beans and potato salad. It was OK, but not as good as last night's dinner. After dinner they had some more door prizes and the 50-50 drawing, neither of which were we drawn for. They then had a three piece country band called “Ear Candy” who played for a couple of hours. They were pretty good and kept the volume down to a reasonable level, but we still left at the first break. We went back to the coach, watched some TV and then went to bed.

Sunday, November 7^th, I got the Sunday paper in the morning, which was delayed by an hour thanks to the change in daylight savings time. I went out in the morning to take down all the lights and decorations in our front yard because sometime this week we hope the landscapers will show up to do the beautification project we contracted with them to do. After lunch we went to the clubhouse for root beer floats and then I had a brief meeting of one of the committees I serve on, the By Laws and Rules Committee. After everything was done at the clubhouse we left the park to do a Walmart run. By the time we left Walmart a little after 4:00 and started home it was already getting dark. By 5:00 happy hour the sun was down and the lights on our patio were on. We still went outside because it was nice and we were joined by our neighbors on either side, Barbara and Evelyn. After cocktails we went in and had dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, November 8^th, we left the coach a little after 11:00, picked up Millie, and headed to the Mountain Falls Country Club for the monthly dine-out with the Lucky Rollers, which is the camping club here at the Escapees park. There were probably 30 or more people at the lunch, more than we have had in a while. We had a nice lunch, after which we went back to the park and into the clubhouse for a business meeting of the club. After the meeting was over the three of us left again to run some errands. We went into town to the Dollar Tree, then went to the jewelers where Jackie had dropped off her big diamond ring last Spring to be put on consignment. Since we hadn't heard from the jeweler we assumed it hadn't sold, but when Jackie went in she learned he had sold it and, after the fee, she got $5,600. Yea! That will go a long way to paying for some of the repairs we have been making to the motorhome. We then made a stop at Goodwill, mostly because Millie wanted to shop there, but I ended up getting a really cool looking three foot Christmas tree to use as an outside decoration this year in Yuma. The tree is bright purple with white lights and will look great outside. After all our errands we went back to the park, dropped Millie off and relaxed for a while. At 4:00 we did happy hour at the clubhouse. We decided that since it is now dark at 5:00 we would start most days at 4:00. We had a nice visit, after which we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, November 9^th, the glass company from Las Vegas arrived about 8:30 to replace the driver's half of the windshield on the coach. During our summer travels we got a second, larger crack in that section, so I contacted the insurance company to get it fixed. We have no deductible on our windshield coverage, so it was no cost to us. They guys from Simpson Glass were good, they had the old one out and the new one finished in a couple of hours. After lunch we went over to the clubhouse to help with moving in some new, round tables and also taking the older, oblong tables to the storage area. Once we were done with that we went out to run some errands. We stopped at the bank and deposited the money we got for Jackie's ring, then we went to Walgreens to get our annual flu shots. We got there before our appointment time, but they got us right in. We will get the Covid booster next week or when we get to Yuma. After our shots we headed back to the coach. At 4:00 we went to the clubhouse happy hour again and stayed there until about 5:30, after which we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, November 10, Happy Birthday United States Marine Corps! We had a busy day today. I had a meeting at 10:00 of one of the committees I serve on here at the park. After that meeting I came back to the coach and had lunch. Jackie went over to the clubhouse at 1:00 to play Pokeno with some of the other members. I didn't go because I had to leave about 1:30 to go to the dentist. I wasn't there too long because the only thing they were doing today was giving me back my refurbished dentures, which they fitted and adjusted. After the dentist I ran some more errands. I first went to the Sheriff's Office to turn in my paperwork to renew my CCW permit. It turns out that their computers were down, so I have to come back next week. I then went to pick up mail and did a quick Walmart run. On the way back home I stopped and picked up some KFC for an early dinner. We ate early because at 6:00 we went back over to the clubhouse for an evening performance of a band called Status Crowes. They are a couple who are full timers and Escapees and are staying in the park for a week or so. They have also put their names on the list to get a lot here. They are members of the Escapers group, which is mainly the younger Escapees who may still be working, at least part time and/or remotely. They put on a two hour show and were well received. The park has recently got a number of new members who are a little younger than the current demographic, so I look forward to more activities like this in the park in the future. At 8:00 the show was over and we went back to the coach where we watched some TV and went to bed.

Thursday, November 11^th, Happy Veterans Day. We got up and out early, a little before 9:00, to go to another meeting at the clubhouse. This was a meeting of the board for the Silver Seekers, the committee that takes care of the clubhouse. After the meeting we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. After lunch we went back to the clubhouse for the monthly town hall meeting, which is an informal meeting held to give members a voice regarding goings on at the park. After that meeting we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the day doing chores and relaxing. We had leftovers for dinner, watched TV and then went to bed. Friday I was out at 9:00 for another meeting, this time the Safety and Security Committee. This is the committee that does evening patrols of the park and locks everything up for the night. They have other duties related to looking for issues in the park. This was a short meeting and I went back afterwards so Jackie could go to a 10:00 meeting of the Lot Appraisal Committee. This is the committee that puts the lease value on a lot when a member gives up the lot back to the Co-op. The reason we are having all these meetings is that the Board of Directors changes at the Annual Meeting in November and all of the committees are reestablished at that time and have to have organizational meetings. While Jackie was at her meeting the RV tech arrived and installed the new toilet and the new entry steps on the coach. This is the last of the big jobs that came up over the summer, so now the coach is ready to travel again. When the tech was finished we went out for a late lunch at a new Mexican place called 5280 Mexican. We had tried to go a couple weeks ago, but it had been closed then. It is an old bar and the new people didn't do much to change the atmosphere. It still is mostly bar, with bar top slot machines, a couple of stages, pool tables, and some restaurant tables in the open areas. The couple that owns the business used to run a food truck in Las Vegas and decided to come up to Pahrump and open a fixed operation. The menu was not real extensive, but what we got was excellent. Both the food and service were great and we will be back later in the year. After lunch we stopped and picked up mail, then went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the day. We went to happy hour at the clubhouse at 4:00, then went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

We are now three weeks into this episode and it is time to get it published. We have another ten days or so here in Pahrump before we start South to Yuma. Until next time, remember the words of comedian Woody Allen. “You can live to be a hundred if you give up all things that make you want to live to be a hundred.” See ya soon.