We arrived in Las Vegas on Monday morning after an easy 2 hour drive from Lake Havasu. We got an early start to avoid some of the heat and what we figured would be some Memorial Day traffic. We traveled on AZ 95 to I-40 to CA 95 which included some of historic Route 66. The rolling backroad was scenic and uncrowded.

As we approached Las Vegas we encountered acres and acres of solar farms. We’d seen similar farms along I-15 but these were fascinating. They were installed just above the soil and ran close to the bottom of some hills. There were people racing dirt bikes, dune buggies, and rock crawlers between a cleared area close to the highway. Unlike the ones on I-15, these didn’t blind us and they had some interesting little house-like structures every 50 ft. We figured they were management huts that housed monitoring gear.

We checked into the Oasis RV Park, got settled, and decided to run errands. We went to Camping World to get a new water filter for outside and we picked up some black tank treatment. We try to keep the black tank from getting stinky-no one wants a poo palace. We grabbed some tacos and picked up a few items from an outlet mall. While we don’t need clothes we read the venue information for the Sphere-which we will visit on Friday night. They have a no bag policy. I have clear stadium bags that we travel with but this says 6x6x2 inches. So, we got Clint some cargo shorts and he can sherpa anything that might have gone into a purse.

We have a busy work schedule this week. People try to fit 5 days worth of work into 4 days when there is a holiday. It’s also really hot. The RV park has patches of grass, which delighted Dani and Denzel. They also have gravel and sand doggy relief areas. We walked them early in the mornings and then again between 6:00 and 8:00 pm. We let them out to take care of quick business 2 to 3 times during the day and at bedtime.

After 2 days of that and not wanting their little paws to melt on the pavement, we made arrangements for them to go to Camp Bow Wow a day early. They were already going to board so we can do our entertainment adventures without worrying about them and this way they got an extra day playing in a heat safe environment. We get to watch them on the Camper Cam. Their play yard is called Circus Furcus. Very Vegas. Earlier today they frolicked. This afternoon they and all their friends were lying low. We pick them up on Sunday and will head to cooler weather on Monday.

Meanwhile we plan a little exploring today in prep for our fun weekend. Tomorrow we will do some chores while working and the meeting count stands at only 6 right now. I have another system upgrade going live tomorrow night for our outpatient facilities. Keep your fingers crossed and we will send more pictures from Las Vegas this weekend.

-Cheryl

Today we drove from Midland to Deming. We hadn’t driven a mile when we saw the first weird-ass thing. A bright orange little car was in the inside travel lane and it was up on jack stands with the front 2 tires missing. It looked like someone had started to strip it. We drove past and got on the highway scratching our heads. It was about 8:15. There weren’t any cop cars, traffic cones, flares, or anything. It’s as if a car missing its front tires should just be there.

We drove on through Odessa and Monahans. Lots of oil and gas out there. The next weird-ass thing we came upon was near Pyote. It looked like a junkyard where a bunch of colorful banged-up cars were on the frontage road. They were surrounded by shipping containers on stands. Then we saw what it really was-a train had derailed and this was the salvage operation. Many of the train cars were on their sides and all those colorful cars had been new and were being shipped. We googled “train derailment Pyote Tx” and found out 35 train cars derailed 2 weeks ago. No one was injured, which is amazing, and the debris was just incredible. Pyote is an hour from Midland, so it was an eventful start.

We saw hundreds of motorcycles riding in bunches. We also googled and figured they were heading to the Christian Motorcycle Association rally in Kerrville, Texas. We like this part of I-10 and usually see lots of moving trains. One was carrying military trucks of some sort. The drive reminds me of the Chris Rea song, Texas, “Warm winds blowing, heating blue skies, and a road that goes on forever.” The drive across western Texas is like that.

We made decent time. It took about 6 hours with 2 stops. We also had the benefit of transitioning into the Mountain time zone. We got to The Little Vineyard RV Park around 2:15 in the afternoon, set up, and promptly took a nap. The air conditioning was soothing and we needed a refresh. I started looking to explore Deming and found a little roadhouse that was a few blocks away. We saddled up the mutts and walked over to The Happy Camper Club House. If you were not looking for it, you would never know it was there. It is tucked in behind another RV park.

We sat on the shaded patio and Clint went inside to order. It was a local dive that was hopping at 5:30 pm on Friday. There were all sorts of characters including this ancient couple that walked out and got into a truly vintage black sedan they had probably owned for their entire lives. They were somewhere between 85-95 years young. In addition to them, there were blue-collar folks, people in scrubs, and a few who might’ve been school teachers. At 5:58 some music starts and lo and behold it’s Karaoke Night! We had dinner and a show! The song selections varied from P!nk to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to Robert Palmer and so on. Most volunteers couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket but they got up there and screeched for the crowd. It was great. We had a cheesesteak sandwich with some local flavors-the green chile. Yum and yum. Oh, and a little while before we left a guy showed up dressed like a pirate. Go figure. We walk D and D back, hop into the air conditioning, and are winding down. Tomorrow’s drive to Tucson is only about 3 hours. We will be there until Thursday. Looking forward to it.

-Cheryl

It is Thursday and the Midland adventure is winding down in a crazy way. My last meeting ended at 5:00 pm and the locals were concerned about an incoming storm. I left about 5:15 pm and got back to Althea in time to walk the dogs with Clint. Thunder and lightning was rolling in fast. About 10 minutes later the sky opened up. The storm clouds were grey-green and after about 10 minutes of pounding rain we got hail. We’re hoping that there is no damage as the pieces were between pea and golf ball sized. The power cycled on and off for about an hour. There are small lakes everywhere around us and when we take the dogs we will carry them over to the grass. Otherwise the nicely clean RV will be extremely muddy.

The rest of the week was SUPER busy with work but we did get to hang out with some of our local friends. We grilled fajitas here on Tuesday so we could just hang out with everyone. On Wednesday after work we needed to make a trip to Boot Barn for some work boots for me. Clint has some but since we are in the desert for a while I am tired of getting bit by things and the terrain is unkind to flip flops and crocks. I got a good pair and can even handle snakes-which we expect to see in Arizona.

I really like working for hospitals and working out here where they really need some attention is fulfilling. But it is super tiring as technology can only help so much. Clint got a lot done for his job and for his volunteer work. We are getting ready to take the dogs out for the last potty of the evening and in the morning we head to Deming, New Mexico. See you there.

-Cheryl

We left Weatherford this morning in the pouring rain. Eighty percent of the ride was rainy. With a few minor stops we spent about 4 hours on the road. There are some rolling hills for the first hour and then it flattens out. We saw various weird things moving down the road-much of it destined for the oil fields.

The coolest thing we saw was the welcome signs for Sweetwater, which are painted on windmill blades. They have embraced the big creatures and it was cool to see. The other famous thing about Sweetwater is they host the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup. This year it was held in early March. Having encountered enough snakes to last a lifetime, that’s not an event I’d make a special trip for. Since we will be in the desert for the next 20 days, I imagine we will see a few.

We rolled into Midland around 2:00 pm, got set up and I took Clint and the dogs on the tour. We ended up at an outdoor patio restaurant/bar and are now back prepping for the work week. I have been working for Midland Health since December. I was here for 2 weeks in January and 2 weeks in April. I am trying to avoid a summer trip so we are here until Friday morning. I assumed some more responsibility 2 weeks ago and need to meet with the team and some customers.

In addition to the infrastructure work-which is making forward progress, I am managing the ambulatory (outpatient) services team and I have miscellaneous applications for food services, HR, facilities, housekeeping, and marketing. They all need some love and I am bringing it. It is hot and dusty so we r chilling out a bit. The work week will not be that interesting so there may be fewer updates. Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate!

Soundtrack: Texas themed songs (many were country but we did get a Dead version of El Paso and listened to String Cheese Incident’s “Texas”)

-Cheryl