Campervaning in the USA.
Campervaning in the USA.
In
the US they are "RV's" (Recreational Vehicles), to the rest of the
world "Campervans".
Copyright not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without
written permission of the author. Email
There is a lot of criticism
of the USA in this file, so if that offends you, bug off now. In my opinion
it is urgently needed!
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is force." - George Washington [1732-1799]
2/4/2002 Phoenix AZ
Final roof sealing is completed and I dash over to Wal-Mart for a spare cartridge of silicone, just in case. I also need some bolts and washers to adjust the refrigerator door which isn't closing properly, and it looks like the solution is to stand the door off its mountings by maybe 3mm to avoid squashing the door seal at the hinge side, which is making the door hard to close properly. Something weird must have happened to it, or is it just a bad design, cant be sure. In any case the minor modification seems to greatly improve the door fit and the seal looks evenly compressed on all sides.
So, yet another fix completed, we decide to get under way to the aircon savvy man, but on starting the aircon seems to run normally, was it just a loose belt?. I crawl under Bounder, wearing my old green denim jacket, which I bought for such purposes in an English charity shop for 50P, for our 2000 trip, and find the belts seem properly tensioned. I hope I never have to change one, so hard to get at.
So now the aircon seems to work, and we decide to postpone doing anything about it and start off at 11.30AM on the first leg of our tour, to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, on the Mexican border and about 140 miles SW of Phoenix. I can't say that it is a very interesting drive. A few small towns Gila Bend and Ajo that seem of no interest. Images of untidy houses and junk discarded along the roads are just as other foreign tourists have described in their Internet reports. The area generally looks poor, and the countryside is reminiscent of parts of central Australia. I guess a lot of deserts look alike.
Petrol prices vary greatly. In Mesa we filled up at a Wal-Mart "Ministar" unmanned petrol station, where you can get 3 cents per gallon discount by buying a Wal-Mart gift card, (a prepaid in house debit card) and using that to buy the petrol (gasoline) for $1.18. Only an hours drive out of Phoenix, not far off the main interstate highway at Gila Bend and gas is up to $1.59, then another 20 miles further off the interstate in Ajo it's down to $1.39. These variations can't be due to either transport costs or wholesale price rises, this was all within two hours drive. Fill up up main towns, or along the interstates, but even there look for BIG variations in price, even just across an intersection.
As it gets hotter the aircon starts to fade, and by the time we get to our destination has greatly diminished, it must need re-gassing, but we can get this done at leisure, its not that hot that we can't manage with it working at only 30% capacity. When we stop for lunch we start up the generator and run the roof aircon, which works OK and keeps us comfortable, but I suspect that it too could use a recharge. I didn't see any mention of the aircon being worked on in the numerous receipts in Bounders filing system, so it's probably been some time since they were re-gassed.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument AZ
Sharon comments that she hopes the scenery improves, as we approach the Organ Pipe Cactus NM, but apart from the now numerous large Saguaro cactus, it doesn't. There has been a very dry period in the desert last year and this, and perhaps it isn't looking its best.
We purchase our National Parks Pass ($50 entitles us to 12 months admission to all US national parks) but not the additional hologram for BLM, and National Forests as the ranger says it's better to just buy the extra add on, if and when you need it. The ranger advises against taking an RV on the scenic drives, and also that the Mexican border town of Sonoita which is several miles from the actual border crossing, is not worth visiting, and we would be better off crossing over into Mexico at a larger town such as Nogales. If I had known that before we may not have bothered to come here.
The NP Canpground at Organ Pipe Cactus NM, AZ.
After exploring the visitors center, and concluding from the visitors book that we must be the first Australians to visit in a long time, we decide to explore the camp ground, and if it's not too bad stop the night. No one is on the gate to collect the $10 nightly fees, so after religiously observing the Stop sign, we proceed and select a vacant pull through site. It is quite well done for the RV tourist, with all sites having easy drive through access, hard standing concrete pads to park on and each site has its own BBQ and table and seats. However you need to bring your own wood or a gas BBQ, as none is provided, and you aren't allowed to collect firewood. We resolve to collect some wood when we come across it elsewhere, and store it in one of Bounders ample under floor storage bins, so we can have a BBQ where it suits us.
The camp ground abounds with Organ Pipe Cactus as well as the large Saguaro and other species of cactus, and is on a slight rise with an outlook to the surrounding barren hills. Peaceful, and to ensure that it stays that way, generators are only allowed between 12PM and 4PM. The cacti are interesting and we plan to take a couple of walks tomorrow, and see the sights, but I can't say that this is an really inspiring place to visit. I think that to many Americans, anywhere that is relatively natural and peaceful is a wonder to behold, whereas to us as Australians, it is little different, except for the Saguaro, from the desert we have in abundance back home.
Back to work, I strip off all the cushion covers from the table seats, and wash them in the bath tub, there is water nearby at a tap, and a dump station, and I can rinse them on a washing up basin in the nearby ablutions block. It is the last major cleaning job.
3/4/2002 Organ Pipe Cactus NM, AZ.
I have a recurrence of flue like symptoms and Sharon too has a sore throat, lassitude and feels really poorly. America must be full of exotic germs! By the time we finish washing and cleaning, it's mid morning and neither of us feel like walking over 2 kilometers to the visitor center, to do one of the walks. There is a road, scenic drive, from the campground but they don't recommend it for RV's. Sharon wishes we had got a smaller unit, I tend to agree, even though I am now quite comfortable with driving Bounder, the reasons why I originally planned to get a "little" class B or smaller class C are very clear.
We have found before that you can't make a success of "multi purpose" holidays, mixing visiting relatives with a true holiday always has its complications, and this time too. I wish I had sent Sharon off on her own to visit her decrepit aunt last year, and not tried to combine it with our RV holiday. If we had come to Phoenix, as we planned and searched for an RV, instead of spending three weeks in Washington, we would probably have ended up getting a vehicle more like we planned. Not that Bounder isn't a very good vehicle, and runs well, but for us it's size is restricting, and we knew that before even setting out. Loosing out on the 23 footer on Ebay, being sick, having seen so many crappy vehicles around Portland and Vancouver, and being concerned that the way time was slipping away, did affect my judgment.
This Organ Pipe Cactus NM is also a dump of a place too to start our tour. OK, the big cacti are interesting in their way, but there's not much else here to come to see. I have visions of being "deserted to death" in the US instead of "Cathedraled to death", in Europe. True this is not one of the major attractions among US national parks, and maybe we should concentrate on the big name attractions. While such areas may have legitimate conservation value, unless you are really into cactus, they can get bloody boring very quickly. Even the drive here was uninteresting.
Border patrol officers drive around the campground several times. We are only 5 miles from the Mexican border, they are looking for illegal immigrants. Seems to me there are so many Mexicans already here, I wonder why they bother.
Back home in Australia they have taken to branding every bit of rubbish desolate bush land, often rundown worked out uneconomical ex cattle stations as "National Parks", seemingly with little regard for what really interesting features it has, probably for no better reason than some greasy politician can brag about what a wonderful job of conservation his government is doing, while they rip the guts out of the country, flog off our better forests cheap as wood chips to the Japanese (who won't touch their own forests), and sell off everything else in the way of national assets to overseas corporations to privatize. Bastards, they should all be hung! Perhaps it's the same here in the US. Maybe that's what National Monuments are in the USA, second rate National Parks, that no one, not even a greasy politician, was crass enough to actually call a "Park"!
We decide to stay a second night mainly because we both feel too off colour to leave any sooner, but if I'm up to it, were out of here in the morning. The Wal-Mart car park was more interesting, and it didn't cost $10 a night!
Opinion - Organ Pipe Cactus NM:- For Australians accustomed to deserts - Not worth visiting, give it a big miss. Others, marginal or special interest only.
4/4/2002 Organ Pipe Cactus NM
If you get the impression that we aren't really enjoying this trip so far, that's right. It has been pretty much a disaster, and so far the places we have been to have been about as interesting as watching grass grow. If you are planning a campervan tour and can't make up your mind to go to Europe or the USA, take my advice, go to Europe. Thank goodness our vehicle is at least reliable, if an overgrown monster. Bigger is better, that's the way America thinks, and they just can't comprehend that small is beautiful, and that elegance and functionality of design outweighs size.
Yet the people are great, friendly, good hosts, no complaints there (except for Greyhound, and they should have theirs by now) strangers come up and talk to you. SO, what's our problem? I just think we started off in a rather barren area, and hope that things will improve. After all it was the perception of the landscape beauty of America that inspired us to do this trip, and it just has to get better.
Sharon feels no better, I am slightly improved, after an uncomfortable night with every flu symptom imaginable. We find the dump station to empty our tanks, and fill up with drinking water. As we have now washed everything in the van, we won't be using so much water, and our big tanks should last us at least a week, maybe more. We have to back track to Gila Bend, a thing I don't like doing, but there is no other road we can take.
On the way we notice that there are plenty of places by the side of the road (AZ85 about 7-8 miles S of Ajo) where you could simply pull off the road to boondock for the night. It would be a very quiet road at night, and there is no reason to pay the $10 a night to stay at the NPS campground. The entry into the campsite is not manned after 11 AM and you could just drive in to use the dump station located at the very far end of the campsite where there is also fresh drinking water to refill your tanks, and drive out again.
The rangers do an early morning check at around 6.30-7.00AM and come looking for fees before 11 if you haven't checked out.
If the gate is manned, I suggest you just say you want to check out the sites before deciding if you want to stay, dump and fill, then leave and boondock along the road. Or better still, don't come here at all!
Interesting to note the cheapest petrol is in Ajo, $1.39, 20 cents per gallon less than Gila Bend on the Interstate or anywhere along it.
Leaving OPNM we head for Yuma, and don't see gas that cheap again, Eventually filling up in Yuma for $1.43. $100 and it still isn't full. We also locate a Propane agent "AmeriGas" on 16th Street and take on 14.4 gallons on propane at $1.25 a gallon.
LPG is often cheaper at the distribution agents than at gas stations.
Our aircon needs attention, and despite the presence of thousands of RV's around Yuma, there doesn't seem to be any district where there are a lot of RV service places.( Lots of RV dealers along the interstate west of the town). At least the locals don't know of one, but then locals often know nothing! We find a place that says they can't do anything till Monday, but when I say that I simply won't be in town then, they say to bring Bounder in at 8.30 next morning, and they will check the system and re-gas it for about $40 plus materials, if that's all it needs, or give us an estimate if something bigger is needed. The Amerigas people say we can boondock in their yard, and as it's close to Bob's Auto Service, we accept happily, and head of to Fry's Supermarket for some shopping.
Sharon is suddenly feeling so ill, while shopping, that she has to sit on the floor and pewk into a plastic produce bag I hastily grab from the nearby dispenser, in the fruit and vegetable section of the supermarket. No one asks what is wrong, Americans are friendly, but seem to look the other way at the first hint of trouble! After five or ten minutes of intermittent chundering into the bag beneath the bananas stand, she recovers sufficiently to stand up, and we, and every one else, gets on with business as usual. The Business of America is Business!
We had taken the precaution of bringing with us from Australia some prescribed general antibiotics, just in case we needed to use them. When Sharon was in hospital in Vancouver WA the doctor also gave her a prescription, in case any bacterial complications of the flu such as pneumonia or pleurisy should develop. There is no point in taking antibiotics for general flue symptoms, as it is a viral infection, only if bacterial complications develop. While we bought some cough mixture and sore throat spray in a Fry's Pharmacy, I asked the pharmacist about the relative merits of our antibiotics and the ones prescribed by the American doctor. It emerged that while both would probably do the job, the American prescribed ones were a very modern type, but for 20 capsules would cost us US$121. No wonder Americans take trips to Mexico to buy their drugs!
Bring a supply of any medicine you need with you, generally with the exception of very common things like cough mixture, aspirin, and the US drug acetaminophen similar to paracetamol (Panadol) modern drugs are horrendously expensive. Pay up or die! It's the American way!
Water Quality - An emerging opinion.
One of my original concerns, raised by American RV'ers themselves discussing it on the Internet, was water quality in the US. So far we haven't found it to be an issue. Bounder has a water filter system, and we have drawn all drinking and cooking water through the filter, and it seems fine. In fact the water we have put in our tanks (Phoenix and Organ Pipe NM so far) has always tasted good, even without additional filtration. I have found many Americans tend to be a bit alarmist, about any possible threat to their safety, even regarding the driving habits of European drivers, who are generally as good, or in the case of Germany, far better, than the Americans, or regarding driving into Mexico, where experienced travellers report minimal problems. Perhaps all the hype and discussion about water quality has a similar hysterical basis, urged on by the marketers of bottled water. Obviously Americans are easily swayed by marketing, otherwise they wouldn't be killing themselves, and half the other dumb peasants of the world, with their abominable junk fast food diets, which are primarily the product of "marketing".
Rather like Phoenix, but worse. RV towns, concrete pads, with electric and sewer hook ups, side by side line the interstate highway approaching the town. The town itself is sprawling, modern but featureless. Boring, sameness, lack of character or interest, lacking a soul, are terms that come to mind to describe Yuma. Houses like little boxes all in a row. I remember this sort of thing from my visit to the USA in 1978. Yet I must be a minority opinion, hundreds of thousands of Americans come to this area in their giant RV's to park for months in the desert, on what are known as Bureau of Land Management lands (BLM), what we would call Crown Land in Australia or the UK. That is land that is so useless that nobody wanted it years ago when land was up for grabs, so it remained vested in the ownership of the state.
What do they do, these myriads of visiting Americans, watch television? Why do they come to this desolate place, is the rest of America even worse? Snowbirds they call them, they come I understand to escape the bitterly cold central northern winter, but to what, utter desolation, and TV! American TV being in the main as intellectually desolate as the landscape of southern Arizona.
The sheer numbers of RV's on the highways of southern Arizona is staggering, it seems that every second vehicle is some kind of RV. Many of them are huge 40 footers and enormous fifth wheelers. Bounder is only a modest middle sized unit in comparison.
This must all be bullshit I'm writing, this MUST be tourist Mecca, and I, a dumb foreigner, just can't see it, surely such a vast majority can't be wrong, can they?
Although I haven't found much to like about the parts of America we have seen so far, apart from the friendly helpful people, we have found much to wonder at, if not admire. We wonder, why what is, is, but obviously we don't properly understand the country yet. Will we ever? Do Americans themselves?
On the way from OPNM to Ajo, we stopped at a border patrol road block. The officers said "Hi", "How ya going?", and waved us through. They are checking for illegal immigrants from Mexico. The irony that struck me, was that both of them appeared to be of Mexican origin. They made it somehow, and now have jobs preventing other Mexicans following them!
Mexico must be a bloody awful place if people are jumping the fence in hundreds every night to get in here!
Armed with a Fry's roast chicken for my dinner, Sharon is too sick to cook, we return to AmeriGas on 16th Street to boondock. There simply isn't any point in paying camping fees when you are fully self contained.
5/4/2002 Yuma AZ
The AmeriGas parking lot is quiet enough once passing traffic dies down. We are early at John's Auto for our aircon check. The "mechanic" tries to inject some oil with fluorescent dye in it into the system to both lubricate the compressor and trace any leaks, as it glows under UV light. He has trouble, and can't force the oil into the system. Oil goes everywhere, but where it is supposed to, over the hot exhaust manifold, and starts smoking. After struggling with it for 30 minutes, he eventually remembers that he has to open a service valve to inject the oil on this models system. Opens the right valve, oil goes in easy. I comment that he has wasted half an hour, and I'm not happy to pay for this time because he doesn't know his job.
He is a bullshit artist and prattles on with the most idiotic techno babble about air conditioners if I ask him anything. His explanation of the significance of the three pressure gauges readings he is using leaves little to Einstein's general theory of relativity, combined with the instructions for a medieval witches spell! I have serious doubts that he is anything more than a mechanics arse-hole, and far short of an auto air expert. The oil finally in where it's supposed to be, and some up in smoke, lucky the fool didn't set fire to Bounder in the process, he begins to add more refrigerant. The old R12, which is common in older systems but has been banned in most countries is still available in the US, but at a price of $4 an OUNCE! He uses two 12oz cans $96. I ask if he couldn't have completely changed the refrigerant type to the newer much cheaper one, but beyond some comments that in older systems it isn't as efficient I can't get a clear explanation.
I later found that you can buy a complete kit to change the refrigerant in older auto air-conditioning systems from R12 to the newer type R134 for only $28 in Wal-Mart, (same kit in K-Mart $35) complete with fittings and hoses to do the job, two cans of new refrigerant, lubricating oil to go into the system, and leak sealing compound to also add. Therefore any honest and competent aircon mechanic should have advised me that the best thing to do was remove the old R12 and fully refill the system with new refrigerant (which only costs about $5 a 12 oz can), and offered me the option of having him do the job that way, at far less cost.
These dishonest incompetent bastards should have known this was the proper way to go. My impression, after this and subsequent dealing with American auto mechanics is that many of them are nothing more than con-men!
He then proceeds to look for leaks with a UV lamp, but he has spilt so much fluorescent oil in his inept attempts to force it in through the wrong valve, that half the engine compartment glows under the UV!!
We conclude that, as there was still some refrigerant in the vehicle, and it was still working in a fashion, that there probably aren't any leaks. Well, couldn't be sure with all that spilt dye oil could we, bloody fool! He is finished, John presents the bill $181, including $129 for R12. I point out that he stated it was $4 an ounce, and they used 2 twelve ounce cans. John sullenly grabs the invoice, "I made a mistake, I'll fix it", he says angrily, with no hint of an apology. So with $35 for labour, $96 for R12, oil, (I wonder if he charged for all that was spilt or went up in smoke too) and tax it now comes to $151. That's close on A$300 for nothing more than an aircon recharge.
Within two blocks from John's the aircon stops working, nothing. Back I go. The expansion valve has frozen up and they blame it on a faulty thermostat. What's a new one cost? Half an hour later we still don't know. In the meantime I decide to take out the thermostat to have a look for my self, and in doing so discover two clearly labeled adjustments for the cut in and cut out temperature, on the back of the unit.
I also adjust the cut out temperature to be bit higher, as per the direction arrows on the thermostat, as it seems from observation supported by the mechanics statements, (well he must know something, and if it agrees with my observation of facts I will take it as possible) that the compressor is running too much and freezing up the expansion jet valve.
Suspecting that the "mechanic" knows didily shit about the specifics of my system I ask him if we really need a new thermostat, couldn't it be adjusted in some way, to see if that worked, and shouldn't he have checked that before doing anything else?
He assures me in his most confident manner that no adjustment is possible, there are no adjustments, all accompanied by more techno babble of the most excellent quality, this time involving the periodic table of the elements, the special theory of relativity and what I may have interpreted wrongly as the Egyptian Mummy's curse. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit! After all this crap, I confront him with the fact that I have just removed the unit, and found the aforesaid two operating adjustments. More bullshit, but I don't believe any of it by now, it's just a meaningless anthology of pseudo technical terms strung together in random order.
The price of the thermostat is finally discerned, $66 for the part. Seems outrageous. I say can he be absolutely sure that is the problem without testing. Yes, but I don't believe the bastard. I tell him I need to go shopping for groceries and will come back after lunch, when they have the part in, as he says they have already ordered it. All I asked was what it would cost, not for them to actually order it. I drive off and then seek out another aicon mechanic, to ask a second opinion, but cant find one easily, and opt for an auto parts store, to check the price and availability of the part. They don't have it in stock, they can get one in, but it is $36, not $66 as John wanted. They confirm the price of R12 is near $4 an ounce, so I at least know I wasn't ripped off for that.
Also by now the frozen expansion valve has thawed and perhaps also because of my adjustment the aircon is working much better. I ask if there are any auto air specialists in Yuma, after all it's a fairly big town and there are literally thousands of RVs around. Well they don't know of any at the auto parts store. It's just general mechanics that do it. Well no thanks, if I get any second opinion I want it to be from someone that probably really knows his stuff, not another techno monkey.
I decide not to get the part, and not to go back to John's for the doubly expensive one. We decide to head north out of desolate southern Arizona towards Quartzsite. The aircon performs faultlessly all the way
This sort of incompetent auto service was a feature I first noted in several Internet reports by other foreign RV tourists in the USA. Now I have some first hand experience of it, I can only conclude that there must be plenty of it around in the USA. Be warned!
I am also convinced the bastard made no mistake, but was just trying to rip me off for another $30 with the attempted overcharging for the R12 refrigerant, his gruff reaction was reminiscent of a child caught cheating.
With the aircon apparently working OK, we head out on AZ95 to Quartzsite. The scenery is marginally more interesting, just boring desert, instead of bloody boring desert. The aircon runs OK, doesn't freeze up or stop blowing cold. We stop for lunch in one of the many informal roadside pull off spaces.
You could park almost anywhere along this road overnight. We start the Onan 4KW generator and run the roof mounted aircon while we have lunch. At least that is one of the advantages of a bigger van, having a generator and roof air, but you don't have to go to a 28 footer to get it.
Quartzsite - Boondocking Hell or Heaven?
I heard about Quartzsite on the Internet, as a place that is a boondockers heaven. Approaching Quartzsite we spot the BLM long term visitor areas and turn into the La Posa area to see it close up. RV's are parked randomly in the desert among the scrubby undergrowth, nothing big enough to call a tree, or give any worthwhile shade. This late in the season there are literally many dozens of them, maybe hundreds, not the myriad thousands found here in mid winter.
La Posa BLM Long term Visitor Area near Quartzsite AZ. Thousands of RV's spend winter here.
It is really unattractive, barren country, though ringed with low rocky mountains that add a bit of interest to the skyline. Yet every winter hundreds of thousands of RV's come here to spend months parked in the desert. When I heard about this on the Internet, I thought there must be something special about the area, but there isn't! The only points I can see why they come here are it is cheap, and it isn't freezing cold in winter. Other than that I can't see any appeal in it, certainly not for the international tourist, unless you wanted to visit the flea markets and RV fair which are in Jan-Feb.
We drive a way into LaPosa and soon turn around and head out. I wouldn't want to even spend the night here, never mind living here for months. Snowbirds must be crazy, but then they are Americans, and I am beginning to see that I simply don't understand their outlook. I have to say I was disappointed, I had expected that a place where hundreds of thousands come to stay would have more to offer. Maybe my earlier sarcastic comments were correct in reality, they sit in their RV's and watch television.
The magnificent city of Quartzsite AZ. Brimming with history and culture, one is awestruck by the unparalleled magnificence of the architecture. The main street abounds with quaint shops selling everything from hamburgers to French fries. A place everyone should see, so that you will have first hand experience of just how revolting same parts of the USA can be.
Quartzsite town is like a scaled down version of Yuma, but even lower down the scale of attractiveness in my view, and we don't even stop, but head on to Interstate 10 west towards the California border intending to follow the Colorado river northward, in the hope of finding some more appealing countryside.
We notice a Flying J truck stop at the exit (No 1) we want. I had wanted to take a look at a Flying J as they are potential boondocking spots, and places to connect to the Internet, as they have table phones and some phone jacks in the restaurants. We also fill with petrol for $1.459, the cheapest since Yuma.
The Flying J is a huge concrete parking lot for trucks with restaurant shop and motel facilities, they sell fuel and LPG, the latter for $1.09 a gallon, cheaper than in Yuma. After checking the restaurant for phone facilities and jacks, which they have, we decide to stay the night as it is 4.30 and Sharon is still feeling really sick and isn't up to having a late night looking for a better place to stop.
We select a back lot at the end of the parking lot, not many trucks, but if fills about 6 PM as trucks stop for dinner. They leave engines and generators running. I'm glad we picked the end of the lot, at least they can't surround us with noise, and it's not too bad. Wal-Mart is better, but this was handy. We checked rest areas along the road too. As long as you are not close to any large city they would probably be safe enough, but read up on different states restrictions and security precautions.
The interstate's traffic goes all night but we are back about 100 meters so it doesn't bother us much. We seem to be spending our holiday in paved parking lots, haven't found anywhere nice to camp yet.
Trucks come and go all night and several park beside us running their engines. Truckstops are definitely well down the list of preferred places to boondock.
As an international tourist, I would advise giving all of southern Arizona a big miss. Arizona has the Grand Canyon, in the north, and the Indian lands in the NE, and that I am beginning to think, is its lot, as far as real tourist attractions go. The SW corner is crap, leave it to the Snowbirds.
"God Bless America". So say the signs that you see all over the country. Why do they put them up? This is a strange place, are they really that religious, or is it just some sort of propaganda? Why does America need special blessings? What makes Americans think they deserve any special blessing? And if there were a God with any brains, why would he bestow additional blessings on such a group of people as these? Don't they already have enough, inequitable distribution is the problem, not insufficiency of blessings, or anything else.
I hear radio preachers exhorting the masses to be thankful for whatever little they receive. Religion is the opiate of the masses it was said. I get the impression it is used here, like in the middle ages, as a means of control of the common people.
I am sure most Americans have little idea how they are perceived by the rest of the world, and the best part of those perceptions are illusions. America is not what many foreigners perceive it to be, they believe the illusions, the Hollywood legends, the manufactured ideals. When you begin to explore the USA, the reality is for too many Americans, nothing like the myth. It is poverty, trailer parks, thrift shops, low wages, poor public services, unaffordable healthcare, dust and rural backwardness. Contrasted with the cutting edge of technology and extravagant wealth. An image of desirable glitter, of opportunity, which fails to materialise for so many.
There are two Americas. I think too many Americans have lost sight of why America was founded, and the ideals of the founding fathers. They pay them lip service, but look at the reality, it's not the same.
My observation is that the more noise any country makes about it's democracy and freedom, the less is the reality of either.
"They hate our freedom!" George Bush
6/4202 Saturday, Flying J Truck Stop, Ehrenberg AZ
After resting until 9.30AM we set out north to follow the Colorado River, via Parker, Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City and on to Las Vegas NV. We cross into California and take highway 95 north because it looks to follow the river on the map. We hope it might provide some river access or scenic highlights. While the country is a little more varied than further south, it's nothing spectacular and there is no river access. Crossing back into AZ to Parker, we stop for some more cough mixture and to phone our ex hosts about sending on our vehicle insurance papers that have to be signed and returned to Progressive Insurance. We pick Henderson NV, because it is on the outskirts of LasVegas, and figure we should be able to occupy a few days there milking the casinos for free drinks and cheap meals and entertainment.
Petrol (gas) is noticeably dearer in California than in Arizona, by about 20 cents a gallon. Different state taxes apparently. You know what to do.
Reaching Parker, it is a small town, pleasant enough and easy to navigate in, Even has a tourist information office.
We find a spot along the Colorado River to stop for lunch a few miles north of Parker. Lots of noisy speed boats, jet skis etc., and some with obviously deliberately loud exhausts. River yes, peaceful no, as several times reported on Internet by other foreign tourists. Americans are deaf it seems! The area is unattractive and littered with rubbish, even black garbage bags full dumped by the roadside. You see signs along the roads that various community groups have adopted the next X miles of road, to keep clean. There are also other signs threatening a $500 fine for littering the highway. There must be a lot of active litter bugs in the USA.
From Parker the scenery is far more interesting, rugged rocky hills along the Colorado and Bill Williams River. I even stop to take a photo, it must be improving. The mountains are clouded with a thick dust haze from the desert as we climb slowly towards Lake Havasu City. The road AZ96 is marked as scenic in the Rand McNally Road Atlas, and relatively it is, although I don't rate it as worth coming a long way to see. About 3 out of 10 on this travellers world scale. Plenty of places to boondock for the night in roadside pull outs.
In Lake Havasu City, Bounder takes 35.55 gallons, and we have come 117 miles, so obviously yesterday, it wasn't really full, or we are now getting 3.3 MPG. If we average the two days figures we get 43.7 Gallons and 237 miles or 5.4 mpg. That's too wild a variation and I will have to take an average over a longer period to take account of the difficulty of telling when the tank is really full, as it seems to get airlocks and today seemed to be full after 8 gallons, but went on to take 35. Well I knew it would be a thirsty beast! At least it isn't lacking power on the hills!
Some nicer houses in this town, must be some money here. This is where the old London Bridge (yes from across the Thames in London UK) ended up when some eccentrically rich American bought it, shipped all the stone blocks to the US, and had it re built in Lake Havasu City. Now I ask you, is that a weird waste of energy and effort, that surely could have been put to better use?
So far today we have passed many "RV resorts", some barely more than a barren rocky parking lot with a dilapidated sign, half falling down, where obviously people come, and pay, to stay. Some have the benefit of being near the river, but many have, to me, no saving graces at all. I haven't seen anywhere that makes me want to stay, not even overnight.
BLM free "campsite" north of Lake Havasu City. Some poor Americans actually seem to live in desolate places tlke this!
You can stay here for 14 days, free, then have to move on 25 miles, dat's da law boss. Fourteen hours will be more than enough for us, will we ever find a really nice place to stay? I mean "stay", because we want to enjoy and explore, instead of stay because it's late in the day, and we don't much mind where we sleep. As Bounder is fully self contained, all we really need is firm ground to park on, but you need some better reason to visit than the fact that the ground is solid!
OK, OK, it's a bloody desert, I know, but it looked a lot better in the tourist photos, and obviously a lot of Americans, maybe lacking any knowledge of the outside world with which to compare it, think it is a great place to come and watch television. If you don't believe me then come and see for yourself.
Maybe I got it all wrong about America, maybe I should have come to see Disney Land, the Space Shuttle and The Smithsonian Institute, instead I go looking around in the back blocks of the west, and all I find is dusty rocks, and thousands of Americans in RV's, who seem to love living among them.
7/4/2002 N of Lake Havasu City, BLM free area. AZ
Now I hope you lot reading this are getting the picture about boondocking in the USA. So far we have only paid for two nights camping in a National Monument, and strictly speaking that was only because we were too sick to bother moving on. There is so much space in this country, that you can find places to boondock almost anywhere you want. Shops have parking lots so big you can hardly see the store from the road in some cases (slight use of "poetic license") but get the picture. Perhaps we have the advantage of the experience of boondocking in Paris and Rome etc., to rely on, but here there just isn't a problem. It is almost a non issue.
The problem, so far, has not been finding a place to boondock, it has been in finding any place attractive enough to want to stay there at all!
Now I remember Bryce Canyon, The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons etc., from my last tour in 1978, as absolute gems, so I know America has its high points, but so far we aint found them on this trip.
The road to Kingman is vastly more interesting than the flat boring country of southern Arizona. We had intended to take highway 93 to LasVegas but there are signs saying no trucks, buses or RV's are allowed over Hoover Dam, so we had to go via Bullhead City on roads 68, 183, & 95, considerably adding to our mileage. (This may be a new security precaution to stop people from driving a large vehicle full of explosives on to the dam and detonating it.)
Although there are quite striking views of the mountains, there are no viewing points provided to pull off the roads. You just have to find a wider spot where it is reasonably flat and the ground is solid, often not where the best views are.
Dry barren mountains but scenically interesting, although we are longing for the sight of some trees. We are soon in Henderson and proceed to locate the Post Office where we have arranged for our insurance papers to be sent. They should arrive on Tuesday, and being only 10 miles from LasVegas we figured it simpler to collect them in a small town without the hassle of parking Bounder near the PO in Vegas.
LasVegas NV.
Vegas has certainly grown since we were here in '78. Freemont Street has lost its crown as the center of activity to LasVegas Boulevard where now most of the action is.
Now why pay if you don't need hookups? You can believe me that in these super luxury "don't leave home without it" American RV's, you don't really need hookups at all. It is just a testimony to how dependent on "luxury" the average American has become that many of them seem to think boondocking is "primitive", unless you are connected to electricity, running water and sewer, despite the fact that the vans have all this built in and can go for a week with out filling with water, if you conserve it, and without having to dump waste.
Maybe tomorrow we will tour the town, but tonight we need rest. Sharon is over the worst, but is still tired and weakened by the worst flu either of us can ever recall.
LasVegas has a real resort character in the casino strip, although the outskirts are indistinguishable from any other western city of the US. I guess that's one of the things I find strange, the lack of individual character of the towns, you could be anywhere, they are all much the same so far, except for LasVegas. Although Sharon will occasionally play a couple of dollars on 1 cent poker machines, neither of us is into gambling and it is mainly to observe the sights and see what Americans do at play that brings us to LasVegas It is by far the most interesting town we have been to so far, and one that should be on your itinerary, be you a gambler or not, just to see how America spends it's leisure time. Some will hate it others admire it.
8/4/2002 LasVegas NV
A short walk around to several of the big hotel casinos, and Sharon's energy fades, but not before she plays a few 5 cent slot machines, and looses $1.25, she finds it fun. I'm so bloody bored I just watch her, and all of the other people having such wild exotic fun! They look just as bored as the poker machine players back home in Brisbane, which has also been overrun with "one armed bandits"! It seems a world epidemic of them has swept the globe. Must be part of the ultimate plan of the NWO to divert the attention of the masses from reality. Well, can you think of a more plausible explanation for such a coordinated global outbreak of stupidity?
The architecture of Vegas is an odd mix of the modern and synthetic plastic classical reproduction Greco Roman, with a very kitsch medieval castle in the Excalibur, a pale shadow of Disneyland's Fantasy Land castle, itself modeled on Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria. It is interesting and impressive in a way, but to me the overwhelming impression is of the falseness of it all, everything is pretend, there is no real history or culture here, it is just a money making fantasy town. Parts of the town are all hotels and casinos, no real city at all, few shops unless you go outside the tourist center to the suburbs where the real life of Vegas goes on, where it is just the same as any other featureless US western city. But I wanted to see it again, although I think it was more fun when it was smaller and the Golden Nugget Gambling Hall on Freemont Street was the center of attractions with the brightest lights of all.
Deciding where to go next has been a problem, the high Sierra Mountain passes in California are still snowed in until May or June, so we think we will head NE towards Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon North Rim, then work around Utah's many National Parks and a few of the highlights of North Eastern AZ such as Monument Valley and canyon DeChelly.
9/4/2002 Las Vegas NV
Unfortunately the Treasure Island show which features a mock battle between a pirate ship and the British Navy is only staged at 5.30PM, 7,30PM, 9.30PM & 11.30PM, and we didn't want to stay another full day just for that. The area south along Las Vegas Boulevard from the Treasure Island Casino seems to be the epicenter now and features a number of impressive lakes and artificial waterfalls, and an almost full size reproduction of buildings from StMark's Square in Venice, including the Doges Palace, the Bell Tower, and the Rialto Bridge, which spans the Grand Canal in Venice. One of the hotels is in the shape of a pyramid, and comparable in size with the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Cairo, and another the Luxor is in the style of the temples of its namesake. A strange fascination the Americans seem to have to recreate the world in their own country, I wonder what Sigmond Freud would have made of it.
I can't see the Italians digging a "Grand Canyon" on the outskirts of Rome, or the French building a full size replica of the Empire State Building in Paris, American's must have special needs to do all this?
Vegas also has its sexy side too, with dozens of mainly black young men handing out cards and brochures advertising the services of mainly white young women "nude dancers" who with a phone call will be in your room in 20 minutes for anything from $99 up, to dance naked for you. How much extra services are, I don't know.
I priced a Minolta Dimage 7 digital camera at a store on Las Vegas Boulevard, they wanted $1199, (not much cheaper than the A$2450 at home) and despite the fact that BestBuy sell them for $999 and also Amazon on the Internet, with some other Internet sellers offering them for $799 and less. Some Internet retailers in New York have a bad reputation for only wanting to sell it with overpriced accessories and freight charges, making promises they don't keep, delaying shipment etc., so you don't save anything. The retailer claimed he couldn't buy it for $999 and wouldn't budge, but I'm not going to pay any more than that. After all its a high price to pay for a camera, as they are now selling 35mm Nikon and Canon SLR's for around $250. (I subsequently bought one in Salt Lake City for $899.)
Am I being dense, but having developed the 35mm camera to such an extent, why don't the manufacturers just adapt the digital technology and integrate it with the existing lens systems, and through the lens metering systems etc., using the long proven flip up mirror. Seems to me that all 35mm users would be much happier with digital technology if that were done instead of trying to completely reinvent the wheel as the camera makers are doing.
After a tour of several more glitzy casinos, where Sharon satiated her gambling instincts by surrendering about $2 in 5 cent pieces, one at a time, to the one armed bandits, we headed for Henderson to collect our mail. It included her hospital bill from Washington of over $1,000.00 for a couple of hours treatment, tests, X-Rays, ECG etc. See what I mean about having some health insurance in the USA.
10/04/2002 Henderson NV
The Henderson cops must have had better things to do as the six or so RV's in the Wal-Mart car park were left alone to enjoy a peaceful night. We checked out the "Dollar Store" for any items that we might need for our van, but nothing suited. You can get quite good value in the dollar stores for some items, but you have to be selective as they also sell a lot of cheap junk for a dollar, that you could probably buy for 50 cents elsewhere. Shops seem to rely on some people being a bit dumb and not shopping around, because you see such large variations in pricing here, apart from the 20% variations in petrol at adjacent service stations.
We headed north from Henderson along Lake Mead Drive towards Overton to rejoin I15 at Glendale and thence head into Utah. It is a modestly interesting drive, through barren rocky hills with occasional views of Lake Mead. I can't say that this is a "beautiful" lake, as the setting is so stark among the dry brown hills, but it is very popular with locals as a water sports area. I suppose any large body of water would be popular in this desert area.
For the international tourist, unless you want to go water skiing or something similar, Lake Mead has little to offer scenically, and is better left to the locals.
"Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many." - Eric Hoffer [1902-1983]
More photos yet to be added. For this part of the trip they are on 35mm film and are being progressivly added after being scanned now that we are back home to Brisbane. In later sections of the tour, after I bought the Minolta Dimage 7 in Salt lake City, photos were added as we went along.
