2023 - West - Las Vegas to home - Sept 15-30

 Sorry for the delay in posting this - 

September 16 - Left Kanab for Las Vegas. Beautiful drive through the gorge along the Virgin River crossing into Nevada. Had a wonderful buffet dinner at South Point Casino.

September 17 - Good friends Dianne & Burt got us VIP Media tickets to Jennifer Ramos new burlesque show Exxcite at the Rio casino.  We've seen her past show, Sexxy, a few times in the last couple of years and she never ceases to amaze. Local celebs all attended - Murray the Magician, Perez Hilton, John "Kats" Katsilometes, Khoree the Poet, and others I did not recognize.

Vaughan can never resist getting his picture with a pretty girl - 

Here is our hostess, Dianne, with Murray the Magician.

And Vaughan with Jennifer Romas.

September 18 - Had a fabulous lunch at a favorite of ours in The Linq - Hash House A Go Go. Later we met up with Burt & Dianne for football and hot dogs at South Point.

Here is Jill with their famous Chicken and waffles - 

September 19 - Dinner with Burt & Dianne and Tom & Kathleen had a big surprise for us. A friend we hadn't seen in many years and her new husband, Joyce & Jerry, surprised us.  Such a treat telling all the old stories from past vacations.

September 20 to 24 - We headed back to Georgia with stops along the way: 1) Twin Arrows Casino, Flagstaff, AZ,  2) Route 66 Casino, Albuquerque, NM,  3) Grand Casino, Shawnee, OK, 4) Southland Casino, West Memphis, AR, 5) National Indoor RV Center, Lawrenceville, GA.

Yes, we stop at lots of casinos along the way. You get to park for free, have fun, and have a nice choice of restaurants. One even had free ice cream.

NIRVC was a necessity for 2 reasons - we needed a new DEF head in the RV and it served as a good place to stay for a few days while we visited our favorite resort, Paradise Valley.

We went up most evenings to Paradise Valley for dinner, poker, bingo, and good friends that we have missed. 

Finally on September 30 we returned to our beautiful home in The Woods in Land O Lakes, Florida.

Over the last few months we drove 7990 miles on the RV (about 28 stops along the way) and 6640 miles in the Jeep. 

It's funny that most people go on vacation to relax. It seems like we never stopped moving. There were never any arguments between the couples even though we had never travelled together. We respected each other and gave space where needed. 

 

2023 - West - Kanab UT - Bunting Trail - September 15

 September 15 - Last hike (hopefully) on this trip. Seriously! Since July 15th when we started this adventure, here are the statistics:

        Vaughan did 35 hikes and 90.5 miles

        Jim & Jill did 34 hikes and 87 miles

        Me - 28 hikes and 64 miles

We are heading for a little downtime in Vegas tomorrow - just 4 nights. Then we will start heading east.

But today, they hiked Bunting Trail in Kanab. It was about 4.4 miles with an elevation gain of 1345 feet. Very challenging at times with beautiful views.

Complete with dinosaur track - 

At least they were smiling at the end.

2023 - West - Kanab UT - Mansard Trail - September 13

 September 12 - No hiking for me for a while. Slipped last night getting into the pool at the RV park and twisted my bad knee. I may have torn the meniscus. Extreme pain. In a brace now.

September 13 - Vaughan, Jill & Jim hiked the Mansard Trail here in Kanab today. Vaughan & I did it last year. Quite challenging in areas but the reward is an amazing panel of petroglyphs.

The stripes coming down the side are beautiful - 

Here are a few of the petroglyphs. I would love to know what some of them represent.

Did I say it was a tough hike? 

Luckily they returned home before the big storm hit. Heavy rain and a bit of hail here at the RV but the town was flooded with tons of mud. We went back to Escobar's for dinner. They had construction equipment moving all the mud from the streets and parking lots. Incredible!

2023 - West - Kanab UT - Wirepass Hike - September 11

 September 11 - We drove out Houserock Road to hike Wirepass to Buckskin Gulch. We had hiked this many years back. 

Years back you could walk all the way through - there was a little scrambling under or over some large rocks to get through but it was doable. Now there are large trees wedged in.

We used to be able to walk under this rock and through the canyon. Now the entire area below it has been filled with sand, rock, and wood. It was a 10 foot drop over the rock now, We spoke to others who said that someone had put a ladder there but it was washed away.

We had to come back out and up and over. 

 Not an easy feet. Here is Jill after climbing down the back side.

I, of course, stayed up top and took pictures.

This was the view from the other side of the blockage. Vaughan will always try.

Climbing back out - 

Along the way back there was a spot that was still damp from the rain the day before. The moths were gathered for a drink. In the desert you do what you can.

The drive back out Houserock Road - 

We made a quick detour to see the remains of the town built especially for the old Gunsmoke series.

Not much was left.

Back at RV Park - 

A beautiful view -