Yesterday morning, we dropped off our rental Beetle. What a great deal, at $205 USD ($266 CAD) for two full weeks. Taxes included. Then, it was time to get on the road.
It's just Ruth and I in the motorhome now, and back to our normal lifestyle. Good thing too...we got our monthy expenses up to date, and we spent as much in the last two weeks as we do in a normal month. The next two weeks are going to be pretty frugal! No more campgrounds for us. And no more restaurants! But, it was a fun two weeks and we enjoyed our time with Helen and Tony.
I'm sure it took us an hour and a half just to get out of the urban congestion. Once we got on to the Interstate 15, it was busy but traffic moved along quite well. The I-15 goes directly to Las Vegas, and although we don't like traveling on the Interstate highways, there is really no other logical route.
A little smog on the horizon?
Big interchange.
And then we saw the sign.
"Gusty Winds Ahead".
I had checked the weather forecast ahead of time, so I knew that there was a wind advisory for sections of the I-15. We got through the pass, and when we got close to Barstow, I thought we'd pull over, have lunch, and take a break from the winds.
As we had lunch at the Home Depot parking lot (with their free wifi!) it was about 2:00pm, and I decided I had enough of the windy driving. It's not fun, and with gusts up to 50 mph (80 km/h) it also a little dangerous. Not worth it, so I went in and asked if we could spend the night in the Home Depot parking lot, and they said "no problem". Kind of a last resort for us, but still better than a Walmart!
Heading through the pass.
Lots of traffic on the I-15.
And so we simply stayed in the motorhome for the rest of the day. Played some backgammon, and watched some videos...and used the fast free internet from the Home Depot.
We're able to do this and get five bars of signal strength from the far end of the parking lot by using our BearExtender wifi antennas. We were so happy with the first one that we bought a second one for Ruth. They work great!
You can buy one here...
Today, we're heading to Las Vegas. Just passing through, on our way to Utah.
Yesterday's drive, 131 miles (210 kms).
Sherman, parked up at Home Depot for the night. Nice blue sky this morning!
Good call! Safety first.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to visit with Croft and Norma in Vegas?
DeleteYep, we sure did! Spent the afternoon and evening with them and had a wonderful visit. :-)
DeleteI've never been to San Diego but it looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWe really enjoyed the city, it is just a nice size and for us their are lots of places to hike in the area.
DeleteNo sense fighting with the wind, relax and take it easy.
ReplyDeleteYep, fighting the wind just isn't worth it!
DeleteThose winds blew my small tables and Emma's water dish across the patio yesterday.
ReplyDeleteYes, those winds sure were strong and they weren't a whole lot better the next day either. :-(
DeleteAnd I thought our 23mph with gusts to 35 was horrible. Hope Home Denton didn't have delivery trucks in the middle 9f the night like others do. Great price on the rental. Must be a lot of competition our there.
ReplyDeleteHome Depot was so quiet, no problems with delivery trucks at all, don't think any even came in during the night.
DeleteYes, it was an excellent price on the rental. I don't think it had anything to do with the competition here because it seems that the rental company is super busy. Kevin starts looking on the internet weeks before for a good price. In this case he found out that Palm Springs was super expensive, the same with LAX airport but some of the smaller suburbs had much better pricing and then he just kept looking each and every day until he saw that great price and then booked it. After that he never saw the price go that low again.
Oh my goodness!!! I can't believe the deal deal you got on your Beetle rental for 2 weeks. I work for Enterprise and they just quoted me $108 for a 4day rental.I can't recommend going with Enterpise if other companies have a much better rate. What company did you get that rate from? I am in Seattle , but I think Calif would have comparable rates.
ReplyDeleteJan, that deal was from Enterprise in Yorba Linda, California! You have to check the suburbs of a major city, and watch the prices closely. They can change hourly.
DeletePaul hates driving on windy days. His hands ache after the drive.
ReplyDeleteWe try not to drive on windy days but sometimes it can't be helped, having said that we stopped when the wind started getting too strong. Not fun driving in that and like Paul, Kevin finds it hurts his hands as well.
DeleteI thought about you two driving in that wind yesterday. Glad you found a safe place to stop and hang out. You make good decisions! Lake Mead has some free camping. Have fun and hopefully the wind is gone today.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... maybe not free camping but I'm sure you've already go it figured out!
DeleteYep, it just isn't fun or safe when the wind gets as strong as that. Staying in a parking lot isn't our first option but sometimes, like in this case it is the better option.
DeleteThanks Grace, I do believe that there is some free camping near Lake Mead but we wanted to visit some friends of ours in that are staying in Las Vegas and then we were going to head on north but ended up staying for supper so we spent the night in Vegas.
Yep, you did good! Lots of free parking in Vegas, too.
DeleteYes there is but we ended up at the Walmart, only because it was walking distance to our friends, Croft and Norma's park.
DeleteNo we didn't know about the China Date Ranch. Too bad because we half thought of stopping in Baker as the wind started getting really strong again right around there but instead we pushed on to Las Vegas.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Eulaione, we will try to remember to check it out next time we are in that area. The going from the desert to a hidden oasis sounds a bit lit a couple of the hikes that we have been on recently. ;-)
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are enjoying our blog.