Nov 07, 2018
Starting to head South
Yesterday we started our trek South by taking more roads new to us. It was a short drive, just over two hours and we set up at the Zuni Village RV Park in Kingman, Arizona, a town that we have never been to. When I booked here last August it was part of the Passport America system but no longer is. They honored my 50% off price even though I had not prepaid. Very kind of them.
We drove exactly 108 miles.
There is a new interstate I – 11 out of Las Vegas towards Kingman.
Nice new highway but it is only 15 miles long at this point.
As you come around a corner there is a breathtaking view of Lake Mead. Note the two helicopters in the sky.
Hard to miss that we are near the Hoover Dam what with all the helicopters and electrical towers. The red helicopter is just waiting to take off.
You would think that those driving in these vehicles would have helmets on, but they don’t.
Good to be back in Arizona, our last US state for this year.
Stunning views.
Always nice to get 97% green setting up the dish. We did it this time in a record 90 seconds.
We discovered that we have a problem with our water pump. It leaks, something about a valve not shutting off. The pump is way in there.
Not easy to replace the pump due to its location.
Fortunately we always carry a spare.
We found a mobile RV tech with available time to come out a few hours later. Young muscles were needed to deal with the exchange of pumps.
Not an easy task as he had to take off the entire fibreglass panel in order to reach the pump. To the left of his left hand are the black and grey tanks.
It was a good thing that we opened up that area, as there was this large mouse nest that needed to be cleaned out. No apparent mouse damage was found.
The new pump is in.
Before closing it all in again. Normally we would not have had to do this as long as we stayed in an RV Park. But because we would be dry camping next week we could not have the water pump draining our water tank by leaking. Our water tank is the white one on the right.
Ross the tech was gone by 5PM and we were able to sit back and relax. We watched CNN for a few hours but it was obvious that there were many more hours of vote counting to be done before the final results would be in. So we did a few other things and eventually called it a night.
Our last Las Vegas sunset.
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Nice to get the water pump fixed before you dry camp. Where are you crossing into the Mexico? Yuma would make a could last night stop 🙂
We are crossing at Nogales which is 300 miles away from Yuma. The only other crossing we could use is Lukeville which is 200 miles away. Much to far. We camp as close to the border as we can get the night before as the first day is a very long one as we also have to do all of our paperwork for us and for the car.
Just got to tell you a story. After I got home from working at the polls Tuesday night, I came home and propped up my feet in the recliner and was going to try to keep my eyes open until the polls closed and some results started coming in out west where you were. Particularly, I was interested in this Democrat US Representative from Nevada, Jacky Rosen, who was running for the US Senate against incumbent Republican US Senator Dean Heller. Well, she won 50.4 percent of the vote in Nevada to Heller’s 45.4 percent.
Human interest stories during elections are a lot less boring than continuous election statistics. So, late into the night or early morning new Senator-Elect Jacky Rosen walks into a ballroom at Caesars Palace and stops to speak with a television journalist. The journalist asks her how she feels about defeating a sitting US Senator from Nevada. She said not much different as “I just walked into a Caesars Palace ballroom where I was a cocktail waitress years ago while putting myself through college and now I’m back in the same room at Caesars.” As humor, she asked the journalist “Do you want your drinks straight up or on the rocks?” She said “But first, I need to give an acceptance speech as the new US Senator representing the great state of Nevada.”
What a gal!!
Good story Dee. I bet you were worn out Tuesday night. Did everyone get to vote in your polling station by closing or did you have to stay late?
Contessa, in all precincts in SC, voting starts at 7:00 AM (eastern time, of course) and officially ends at 7:00 PM. The rule is that if a voter is in line at 7:00 PM, he or she will be able to vote; we station a poll worker at the end of the line at 7:00 PM, and if someone shows up behind the poll worker, we have to turn them away. Sad, but the line has to stop somewhere. Got home about 10:30 PM and was glad to get off my feet. In many years past, we used paper ballots, and tallying the votes was a grueling process; during the Reagan/Carter presidential election, I remember being at the polling precincts to count ballots until 3:00 AM in the morning; I was a lot younger then and could handle it. Now, there are a number of arguments against electronic voting machines, but I like them, and since (I think) the year 2000, SC has used them. The only argument I’ve made to the SC Election Commission is that the electronic machines should have paper back up, but that got shot down, as the commission said there is no need because the machines are not connected to the internet, just to an electricity outlet with a surge protector. I stopped short of explaining that after polls closed, we run a cassette on each machine for voting tallies, but after the machines are carted off to a warehouse and locked up, a lot could happen to the machines (and cassettes, if altered somehow). Just thought they could figure that out for themselves. So, if the machines gave me paper printouts, that would be a second backup.
No problems at our precinct; we expected long lines as SC does not permit “early voting” like in the state of Georgia. However, we do permit absentee voting and provisional voting if you are eligible for those type of ballots. I did hear that another nearby precinct had a problem. The poll manager was missing the cords to connect the voting machines to electricity; that is so hard to believe for such an important event!! He will have a hard time living down that one!! In the meantime, the voters in line were not happy campers. So, an official extension was granted to allow that precinct to stay open an additional 45 minutes. Now, it is all over for these very, very close races, closer than I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Nice to get that water pump replaced quickly. We always keep our old one that still works as a spare. Plus we use it to transfer water into of tanks when boon docking as well. Enjoy you time there. If you have time a trip to Oatman to see the Burros on the street is fun.
Yes we will be keeping the old pump as a backup spare or for parts as needed.
Good to get that fixed, especially when you are about to cross into Mexico. I know you have a great tech once you get there but between now and then it could be tough to have it leaking.
Yes we might have run out of water. One week from today we will be there, can’t wait.
Those darn water pumps. The boater community has been lamenting about those leakages too and a spare pump was a must!
You’ve seen and done so much already since you left Canada I would almost turn around and go back home but you guys are just starting your winter vacation in Mexico. Bet you cannot wait to get down there to your familiar place. It is your home away from home, I’m sure. I’ll follow along but have to apologize for not having being faithful lately. Too much going on. Have fun!
I mentioned to Colin the other day that we have had a full six weeks with another week to go. I am ready for a rest. Can’t wait to get back home to the Isla. Hopefully there won’t be too many adventures. Time for a break. You have been going thru a difficult time with your Mom and I totally understand you lack of free time. Take care and travel safe.
Great article recently on Lake Meade and the low water levels. Everything is coming up from the bottom, or should I say the bottom is starting to appear. There are all kinds of great finds.
That would be an interesting article to read. I’ll see what I can find on Google.