West from New Orleans

We have til December 2nd to get to Las Vegas for our annual Fantasy RV Tours "advanced" training.  Looking forward to seeing all of the ambassadors that we have met and meeting the ones we haven't. This year Fantasy is only having one Advanced training so we will all be together from all across the country. Should be fun ! !  These pictures are all on our travels from New Orleans to Las Vegas. We decided that we couldn't go home since the weather was being so unpredictable with ice and snow.  

Ohhhhh, Mandy thinks she has found a new friend, don't think it would have ended well if she hadn't been on a leash.  

So many deer in camp... Lake Medina in the hill country of Texas is now our favorite Thousand Trail Park. It is 300+ acres and wildlife everywhere.

There are cotton fields everywhere in the Southwest, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona were where we sure saw the farms, some right in between houses, looked to be 5-10 acres and some huge.

 Saguaro cactus are amazing plants. Most are so old and majestic.

Crazy rocky areas too

More saguaro's, thought that they were only at higher elevations but found that

not to be true...

While in Las Vegas we realized that our friends from home, Debi and Gale Francis were in town.  They picked us up and took us out to a Nevada State Park called Red Rock Canyon..  Thought we were back in Moab!!  LOL  It was an amazing area, see if you can find the petroglyphs... 

 We stayed two weeks at an Encore Park through the Thousand Trails, Trail Collection Program. Loved staying at the Golden Sun resort in Apache Junction, Arizona. The people here were so friendly and inclusive. Made us feel really welcome even tho we were not staying for the season, only two weeks. We realized that we still had a turkey roaster in the RV so we volunteered to cook one for the Thanksgiving dinner. Turned out great!

Actually very happy with the way our Christmas decorations turned out.  We had nothing with us so off to Coscto I went...  LOL

From Apache Junction we traveled to Blyth, California to a RV Park right along the Colorado River. Reminds us of home. Is great to just watch the river. Last rest before training ! !   LOL

Into Las Vegas for training and staying at Sam's Town.  The best training ever, very interactive and much emphasis on team. Loved it. Ended with the Fantasy RV Tours Christmas Party with a DJ and dancing.  Very fun times ! ! Here is some of the scenery on the way and then the long look at the city of Las Vegas. Surprised at the amount of smog.

 These rocks are amazing to look at !








The smog into Las Vegas was very surprising. It rivaled Phoenix. Not in a good way either.

Tonight we are taking Uber into the city and going to watch a Bee Gees Tribute Show with dinner.  Can't wait !  

Australian Bee Gee's were not as good as we hoped, they were also super loud in a fairly small room.  Seats were great but the noise level was horrible. Darn it!!

The other day we realized that friends from Salem were also here in Las Vegas..  So, yesterday, December 14th we road with them out to Valley of Fire Nevada State Park.  Amazing ! !  Reminded us a lot of Arches National Park in Utah.

 Those spiral kinda grooves are referred to as beehives

 This is the visitor's center, about four miles into the park. They have bird feeders out back which seem to feed the birds and the desert chipmunks.  The also provided a grain block.

 This is the seed block and a friend filling his cheeks !!  LOL.  They are so cute!!

 These holes are very interesting, very smooth...

 This formation is named "The Elephant". Little hard to see in the photo but very clear in real.

 Petroglyphs are everywhere... Would be very interesting to know exactly what they meant. Some are pretty clear but others, huuuuummmm.  In the Visitor's Center they do have some ideas.

So happy that we got out to that park. Was really spectacular ! !  Ended the evening with another dinner at Lindo Michoacan with Debi and Gale Francis. Was sure fun finding out they were here in Las Vegas and having some time with them.!!

We are leaving here Sunday and going to Cathedral City where we are putting our Thousand Trails Trail Collection membership work for us again. We will be staying at the Palm Springs Oasis RV Park for a week and then head to San Dimas on Christmas Eve to work the Rose Parade for Fantasy RV Tours. 


Here is our Christmas Greeting that we put out on Facebook tonight...  Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from our home to yours.

Driving from Las Vegas to Cathedral City. We will use our Trails Collection Membership for another "free" week here. The following photo's were so amazing to me. How the mountains just came out of the desert. This was just over the border into California from Nevada.

wonder if that is smoke or fog. Didn't smell it but sure looks like smoke.

 We are all settled in at Palm Springs Oasis RV Park...  part of the Thousand Trails Trail Collection.