“Don’t Read That Book To Yourself Anymore”, Las Vegas, NV

The drive to Clark County Shooting Complex, Las Vegas, Nevada was nice. There is a good campground here. Right in front of us is the shotgun range. So fun to watch. The shooting complex is only about 9 minutes from my cataract surgeon’s office and hospital. This made it easy for my follow up and last check up appointment after the surgery. The view of the Las Vegas valley is breathtaking! You can see how the Strip is only a very tiny part of this whole area/valley. At night we love seeing the lights from the cities here. We are way up a hill on the north side.

We went to breakfast at the shotgun building, just a short walk from HOWE (footnote 1). We saw they have a restaurant there and a breakfast combo of bacon, eggs, hash browns, bagels, and a drink for $10.00. It was very delicious. All of the workers here are so friendly and happy. We knew from road signs coming in yesterday that there is the big Las Vegas Marathon today. I looked up the route and yes, we won’t be able to go to Mt Charleston. (Mt Charleston is 11,918 ft above sea level.) That is fine; another time. 

Knowing this, we drove to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area but went on past to go to Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. We had driven past this ranch a few years ago. $15.00 to get in. We got to walk around and inside the ranch house. It is a U-shape but with very narrow sides so there is a view for each room out both sides. Great idea!

This is along the Old Spanish Trail and with the springs and mountains, it was a cooler place to be. In 1876 someone bought 160 ares and made it a ranch. It changed hands a few times. The second owner told the Wilson grown sons they could continue to live there the rest of their lives and they did. Later a movie star we haven’t heard of bought it. She had a huge ring stolen from here. The three bad guys tied her and her guest up. The ring was later found and then Elizabeth Taylor’s husband bought it. It was 33.19 carats! (Not a typo). Then Howard Hughes bought the place but he never came here. A local guy bought it next and planned to build condos here. Local people protested and the land was sold to the state. Whew!

It is beautiful here and with the snow on some of the mountains and the red rocks and lines, it sure stands out. A tiny mountain separates this area from Las Vegas valley. We then went on a hike. We climbed it and enjoyed the overlook. Along the hike we came upon the Wilson family cemetery. 5 of the Wilsons are buried here. I quickly pulled out Find A Grave (footnote 2) app and saw they had the headstone pictures already. But not the GPS. So I did the GPS for all of them. 🙂 

We headed back to Red Rock Canyon to the entry gate. And we were turned away. Why? It is so popular and busy that we needed a timed ticket. Everyone was being turned away. Oh well. At least we got to drive through it a few years ago. We drove on past the ranch, up and around and then back to Las Vegas. 

We decided to eat late lunch/early dinner at Bob Taylor’s Original Ranch House Steakhouse. I had seen it from the freeway yesterday. Oh goodness, wow! As you walk to your table, you can see the cook and the mesquite wood fire and grill is right there. You could reach out and touch it. But, not a good idea…it is hot! Kevin had steak bites and I had chicken parm. Rated: “it is sort of expensive but worth it. We will come here 1 time every time we camp here. 🙂 “ It has been here since 1955 and you see pics of famous people who have eaten here.

We saw a big red semi truck that pulls a 5th wheel down some rows from us here at the campground. I thought it was Suite Travels, one of our favorite YouTube channels to watch. But Kevin said it wasn’t them because this semi had a side window in the cab area. Well, tonight when we were watching our Sunday Night Youtube Tradition, the truck turned and there was that window! We were giddy with star-struck-ness! Kevin sent her a Facebook message, since he follows them on Facebook. Kelly responded that they would love to meet us (they love to meet everyone) and it was set to touch base with them tomorrow afternoon.

My 3 week post cataract surgery follow up was today at 9:50 a.m. We continue to be so grateful for Dr Brett Brimhall and his staff. Everyone is so very nice. He said my eye is looking great. Painful antibiotic eye drops are no longer needed and I can get glasses after 4 weeks post surgery. I only will need them for distance. Wahoo! Stopped at Arby’s for early lunch. We marvel why we don’t go to Arby’s more because we really like the food, the variety, and usually very consistent.

Suite Travels come over and sat in HOWE with us for a 2 hour visit. Would you believe…It turns out that we actually talked with them briefly, back in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 2022. It was at the fairgrounds and they were there for a big “semi truck that pulls trailers” or HDT rally. There was plenty of sites for us to stay there, too. Anyway, he is the one who said to us, “Do you know what we call your truck? LGT, Little Girly Truck.” We had just laughed and laughed over that. Mind you, our truck is a long bed, king cab 3500 Ram. HAHA

I always look to see if my most favorite place to eat out is. It is called Costa Vida Mexican Grill! Now Las Vegas has one. I was extremely excited to find it. They have a lot of them where we are from. Of course we just had to go there. It took a long time to get through the road construction and of course, we remember how Las Vegas stop lights are so long red. We got there right at 5:00 p.m. and were the only ones there. It looks like the building is brand new and even looked like some employees were being trained. The food – excellent as always. Rated: “I still could eat it every day.” We drove north on 1/2 the strip. We always just get a kick out of looking seeing the lights, colors, craziness, and people. It was a lot less crowded today but we realized we are usually driving here during Decembers. Saw what I guess is a Hard Rock hotel – the hotel is being built and looks like the bottom of a guitar standing up. So creative. Kevin wanted to go to Fremont Street; he said we had such a great time walking through there with my aunt and uncle. I had found on maps a parking lot that didn’t have a garage – our truck is so long and we are fearful of taking in to a parking garage as we remember the problems and scraps in Austin. But we passed the parking lot and kept driving. Turned down a road and saw it was permanently blocked for space. Kevin decided we wouldn’t stop and I supported that decision. I think it would be better to be down here in daylight.

I did some more Exploring Cards (researching places to see and things to do) and am excited for some things I found to do in a few weeks. One is George W Bush Presidential Center (we like presidential libraries) and the other, I forgot about. It is where Kennedy was shot The 6th Floor Museum. So then I thought I should look up a book. Boy did I find on! The Day Kennedy was shot, a Minute by Minute Account, by Jim Bishop. I could hardly put it down!

The drive through Las Vegas was great with only a few slow downs where interstates merge. Kevin did great driving. I decided to start reading the Kennedy book out loud, but where I had left off. Kevin said he really likes it when I read out loud because it is interesting and plus it makes the time go by faster on our Travel Days. When we got to campground, he told me, “Don’t read to yourself anymore of that book! I want you to read out loud to me on our upcoming longer Travel Days.” OH thought that was hilariously awesome!

We stopped in a fabric store.  I immediately saw the fabric made for this area – it has the names of state parks of AZ and NM. I got a yard. I thought it would be fun to find little 5th wheel buttons and sew on the state parks we have been to. 🙂 There was a older man working. He told Kevin he and the lady are not married, he is a worker. He had a t-shirt on from Wagon Wheel restaurant. Kevin said something about the delicious food there and he said he had never eaten there. What? It is just down the road in Needles. HA He said someone gave him the shirt. That cracked us up!

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

2. Find A Grave – https://www.findagrave.com/about