Tuesday, April 7th

Our last day in Las Vegas.  The wind blew strong and steady and the temp was cool this morning.  Not a beach day, so glad we went the other day when it was nice. 
  We got up early and organized ourselves, so we were ready for a prompt start.  I guess Bill got up early and went with the girls to a souvenir shop Just across the strip, but it was not open until later.  Had to wait around to check out and then for the rest of the family so everyone could say their farewells.  It was the last time for Bill's family & the Smith's to do that, so we all met in the lobby before leaving.  After some hugs we left for the highway to make our way back to AJ, while Bill & Patti with their group got packed to fly home.  We stopped in at the golden arches for a quick breakfast and then out on the highway towards Boulder city, so in the end got a little later start, but still in good time.
  We made our way to Laughlin where it was pretty quiet.  Stopped in to have a look at the Colorado Belle because of the unique design.  They have a moat around it to make it seem like it is a genuine riverboat and is on the water.  Katie took the opportunity to feed the fish in it.  Some of the biggest carp I have ever seen and when she threw the feed in they were very excited.  I would guess there are some of them that would exceed 20 pounds.   This is on the Colorado river, which is the state line between Arizona & Nevada and the drive down into the valley is very scenic.

 

  The stop was brief and we went over to Bullhead city where we made another stop at Safeway for a bag of carrots and then on to fuel up.  I left that until this stop as I knew fuel would be cheaper there than in Nevada.  Sure enough it was about 60 or 70 cents a gallon less and we never needed fuel considering the length of the trip from Vegas.  The carrots were because we were stopping in Oatman.  It's an old mining town that was abandoned and later the ghost town was revived as a tourism destination.  It is know for it's quaint character but mainly for the wild burro's that roam the streets.  They are descendants of burro's that were abandoned by miners and now roam the area freely and seem to concentrate in Oatman, mainly because they get fed there.  It was pretty exciting when Katie started feeding the carrots, in fact at times almost a bit overwhelming for her I'm sure.  After a few souvenirs and a gun fight in the streets, we left for the journey back.
  We went through Needles, CA, so it was the first time in California for the Smith family.  A point of interest was the fuel price $3.99/gallon when we had paid $2.37 in Bullhead city.  That is just one of the many reasons why people go to AZ rather than CA.

   From there it was back on the interstate east to Lake Havasau where we had supper and then toured the London bridge.  They have made quite a tourist attraction of it even to the point of constructing some buildings that look like they could be in an English village.  Then it was down highway #95 following the Colorado river until Parker.  From there the highway goes east and connects to the interstate that leads directly into Phoenix.  We got into Phoenix around 8:30, so it was a full day in the truck for all of us.