Week ending Apr 4, 2019 Laughlin to Cathedral Gorge

Friday we walked along the river, and then up the road to the top of the dam, just over 6 miles return.

bunnies along the river

view from top of dam

Saturday morning, we got an oil change and some groceries before watching the beginning of the World Men's Curling.

Sunday we went for a walk looking for an restaurant ad for gumbo we had seen on the riverwalk, without any luck, despite checking for it going out, and coming back.   After curling and nascar, we walked to Bubba Gump, on the riverwalk.  After waiting for about 10 minutes, we asked one of the servers if anyone was responsible for our table.  She took our order.  Joan ordered the coconut shrimp.  John asked if there was any fish in the jambalaya, and was informed there was, so he ordered fried chicken.  The coconut shrimp was good, but the fried chicken was a bit dry, not surprising since shrimp is specialty of this chain.  When another server cleared our dishes when we were done, we asked for our bill, which she brought, and said she would let our original server that we had our bill.   A while later she checked to see if the other server had handled the bill, and took care of it herself when we said 'no'. 

Monday, we packed up and headed north. We stopped in Searchlight for breakfast at McDs.  Lots of Canadians heading north. When we were walking in, one fellow asked where we were headed, then we figured out he saw our plates and was a fellow Albertan.  Then sitting in McDs eating, another couple came over to the table next to us.  They were from Edmonton area, and we chatted for quite a while about our experiences this winter.  One of their most exciting was being in a car crash in Mexico.  It was an older vehicle, and damage was enough that they just sold it for $500.   After getting through Vegas, we setup in a boondocking area just off the Valley of Fire Road north of the state park, where we stayed last spring.   We parked in the closest spot to the road, or at least we thought it was until after dark a little class C rental parked beside us.  We were concerned enough about what they were doing going back and forward near our truck, that John went out to see if they needed help.  They said 'no, we are just trying to get it as level as possible'.

Tuesday morning we drove over to the Bitter Springs Trail, which goes from the interstate into Buffington Pockets.  We drove a lot closer to the Pockets than we did last year, so were able to hike all the way through to the south end of the pockets, a total of just 4 miles return. 

Wednesday, we drove north.  We stopped at the Sinclair's in Alamo for coffee and cinnamon buns.  Then we continued to Caliente to another Sinclair's in Caliente for diesel and John picked up two hot dogs for $1. Finally we arrived at Cathedral Gorge State Park for a three night stay.  We had called earlier, and they recommended that we arrive before 2:00 PM to get a site, since they get a lot of RVs at this time of year.  We arrived about 11:00 AM, so didn't have problems getting a site.  We were glad we arrived, as we figure all of the power sites were gone by noon, and there was a steady stream of units all afternoon.

Thursday morning, the temperature was 37F, a combination of moving north and higher elevation.  After watching the morning World Men's Curling, we went for a hike through the gorge on the 3 mile Juniper Draw Loop.  The formations created by erosion on both sides of the gorge are quite scenic.
 

Utah Juniper