Just a more elaborate post (especially picture wise) of the previous two.
Picasa dump:
Day 0-5: LA, campervan and roadtrip
Day 6: Death Valley
Day 7,8: Las Vegas to Camp Verde
Day 9: Renaissance Fair
Day 10: PEMA
First off: back to the trip from Death Valley to Las Vegas. I took the south route all the way to the end of Death Valley because I wanted to see the devil's golf range. When I turned back from there (lowest point in the US) Garmin said it would be a 2h20min drive to Las Vegas: this would work quite nicely: in Las Vegas around sunset. However, when I checked the timing again about an hour into the drive it was at 03h! What probably happened is that it chose some completely unlogical route while I was stopped, or turning. This happened another time in town as well. I had to stop the current route and input the new one (2h50min drive back to 20min which it was again). Completely stupid. In the future I'm gonna be alert on this. This time I ended up driving a very long time that day and was totally tired while driving the evening rush hour into Las Vegas. Luckily no incidents took place.
Since it was a thursday evening hotel prices in Las Vegas were quite low. I chose Circus Circus, because it was dirt cheap and still on the strip. First thing on the list: shave my hair and get a shower. After that I explored the Casino a little, but this really is not my place: everyone is allowed to smoke everywhere, so it's a nasty stink hole. For the rest it is full of 'worn out' people. Eyes looking dead, clothing unkept, fat, and either drinking or gambling... blegh. Since it was already late and I was totally worn out I got something to eat and went back to the hotel room to get some sleep.
Second flashback: camping between camp Verde and Tucson
The area around the Renaissance fair was quite developed, so to get to some remote area some driving was necessary. To find a good place I thought it would be nice to take a side-route of the provincial road. It looked quite promising, but as I had aready seen in other parts of Arizona: there's ranches everywhere, so about 5m from the road there's barbed wire. This area was no different, and even worse, there were also houses and farms. I took another side road, which after some time turned into a dirt road: good news. However, the first exit was to a trailer camp... two exits after there was a 'for sale' sign next to the fence and no lights to be seen (it was dark already). I parked the van and checked for tire marks. These didn't look to fresh, so I thought it would probably be a piece of land for sale, not me blocking a drive way. I cooked dinner, took some nice pictures, and went to sleep.
The next morning at 07:00am I am woken up by a 'Hello!?' and a guy standing on the other side of the fence. Since I am still in my boxer and the door were locked we communicated by shouting. I apologized for being in his driveway (apparently there was a house there). He was walking his dog, and had to get out in an hour or so. So, no breakfast for me, but a quick change and a drive off to a possible next stop. I found multiple of these at the side of the highway: the ranch area was further away there and each exit area ('pechhaven') came with two or three loops around trees and shrubs: perfect place for breakfast, a shave and also to wash my hair (using a pan as a waterholder). Man, that felt good. I finished by removing the final sea-urchin needles from my foot and by noon I continued with my travel to the PEMA museum.
More posts will follow later on. There is very limited internet access in the areas that I am in now. This is the route-update however:
Picasa dump:
Day 0-5: LA, campervan and roadtrip
Day 6: Death Valley
Day 7,8: Las Vegas to Camp Verde
Day 9: Renaissance Fair
Day 10: PEMA
First off: back to the trip from Death Valley to Las Vegas. I took the south route all the way to the end of Death Valley because I wanted to see the devil's golf range. When I turned back from there (lowest point in the US) Garmin said it would be a 2h20min drive to Las Vegas: this would work quite nicely: in Las Vegas around sunset. However, when I checked the timing again about an hour into the drive it was at 03h! What probably happened is that it chose some completely unlogical route while I was stopped, or turning. This happened another time in town as well. I had to stop the current route and input the new one (2h50min drive back to 20min which it was again). Completely stupid. In the future I'm gonna be alert on this. This time I ended up driving a very long time that day and was totally tired while driving the evening rush hour into Las Vegas. Luckily no incidents took place.
Since it was a thursday evening hotel prices in Las Vegas were quite low. I chose Circus Circus, because it was dirt cheap and still on the strip. First thing on the list: shave my hair and get a shower. After that I explored the Casino a little, but this really is not my place: everyone is allowed to smoke everywhere, so it's a nasty stink hole. For the rest it is full of 'worn out' people. Eyes looking dead, clothing unkept, fat, and either drinking or gambling... blegh. Since it was already late and I was totally worn out I got something to eat and went back to the hotel room to get some sleep.
Second flashback: camping between camp Verde and Tucson
The area around the Renaissance fair was quite developed, so to get to some remote area some driving was necessary. To find a good place I thought it would be nice to take a side-route of the provincial road. It looked quite promising, but as I had aready seen in other parts of Arizona: there's ranches everywhere, so about 5m from the road there's barbed wire. This area was no different, and even worse, there were also houses and farms. I took another side road, which after some time turned into a dirt road: good news. However, the first exit was to a trailer camp... two exits after there was a 'for sale' sign next to the fence and no lights to be seen (it was dark already). I parked the van and checked for tire marks. These didn't look to fresh, so I thought it would probably be a piece of land for sale, not me blocking a drive way. I cooked dinner, took some nice pictures, and went to sleep.
The next morning at 07:00am I am woken up by a 'Hello!?' and a guy standing on the other side of the fence. Since I am still in my boxer and the door were locked we communicated by shouting. I apologized for being in his driveway (apparently there was a house there). He was walking his dog, and had to get out in an hour or so. So, no breakfast for me, but a quick change and a drive off to a possible next stop. I found multiple of these at the side of the highway: the ranch area was further away there and each exit area ('pechhaven') came with two or three loops around trees and shrubs: perfect place for breakfast, a shave and also to wash my hair (using a pan as a waterholder). Man, that felt good. I finished by removing the final sea-urchin needles from my foot and by noon I continued with my travel to the PEMA museum.
More posts will follow later on. There is very limited internet access in the areas that I am in now. This is the route-update however:
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