Monday, March 9th

Well a bit late again, but ran out of time to make two posts last night.
  It was another nice day with temperatures in the 20 C range.  Everyone was a little slower out of the feathers this morning, so I went down to have a coffee and bacon egg grill cake at the MacDonalds in the hotel.  It was like a sandwich using pancakes, very good.   The group were tired with both Cassie and Daniel feeling a little under the weather.  I am certain it is the pollens and dust they are not accustomed to causing problems with their sinus as I have had the same thing in previous years.
  When everyone was mobile they went to Subway in the hotel for a breakfast something or other.  While they were occupied, I moved the truck to a closer parking space so there were fewer steps for Marg.  While she is doing pretty well, thanks in part to the walker, we all keep trying to keep the steps down as much as possible.

  Our first stop was Gold & Silver Pawn, a shop that is featured on the television show Pawn Stars.  We were early enough that there was no line to get in, something I have not previously seen.  The 3 musketeers were a bit disappointed not seeing one of the TV personalities, but we have never seen them.  Marg did inquire and was told Chumley was in the building but was busy so not coming out.  They spent a bunch of time looking around and as is always the case could not believe how small the shop was, it is a working pawn shop after all.  By the time we were leaving, the line to get in had already formed and was almost the length of the building.  There is no charge and they even provide free parking.  Its right on Las Vegas Blvd aka the Strip.

  From there the guys wanted to see if we could find Counts Kustom.  Danny from Counts does a lot of evaluations on old cars for the Pawn Stars show and is a reputed expert on building hot rods and bikes.  He also had a TV show featuring his business and explorations for project vehicles.  It was easy to locate using gps and was in a non-descript warehouse/industrial area.  Considering it is basically a body shop that was no surprise either.  They have a well laid out show room with a few dozen vehicles.  The boys were most impressed with two Lamborghini's that were done up and a Cadillac hearse with a huge engine complete with blower and pipes.  Really amazing they do not charge any admission and even have staff organizing the free parking around the place.
  Leaving Las Vegas we went the old highway thru Boulder City down to the Boulder Dam.  Before the dam we went through a security check where they asked if we had any firearms.  I said we are Canadian, we don't have any guns.  We still got pulled over so they could see what was in the back of the truck.  Drove over the dam and they got to see the impact of the drought in this area from the water levels behind the it.  From the dam there is also a great view of the new bridge where it is built from the tops of the canyon and just how impressive it is.
  Made good time to Kingman where we had lunch.  Stopped at the TA where we usually get fuel.  Turns out the restaurant there is amazing.  The food was good and in quantities that no one leaves hungry.  Daniels burger was the largest I have ever seen.  Funny we had never eaten there before, but it will be on our list now.
  The drive down through Wickenburg was uneventful, but there was a lot of traffic on it.  With it getting a bit later we opted not to take our usual route and instead stayed on the road until we reached the new 303 loop route.  I wanted to check it out for when we bring the motorhome down and it was a great route to the #10 highway that goes through Phoenix.  It also gave our travelers an opportunity to see the city center and turned out to be a shorter route home.  When we got home we just had some finger food for our final meal as no one seemed to be hungry yet.  Played some cards, finishing up the game of golf we started on Saturday night and that was our day.  The weather was starting to cloud up, so we know the hot weather has passed for this week.