Photos of Hoover Dam bypass bridge

The bridge is called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge on US Route 93 and will provide a new method to cross the Colorado River just down river from Hoover Dam at Lake Mead.

The length of the new bridge will be 1900 feet with a main span of 1080 feet. This will be the first steel-concrete composite bridge in the United States. Pedestrians will be able to walk and cross the bridge. When the new bridge is completed in the fall of 2010 we will no longer be able to drive over the Hoover Dam. The bridge will improve travel times, be safer for tourists and drivers, and safeguard the dam from accidents and attacks.

What did we forget to bring?

We made it to Las Vegas safely and the traffic was light. The motorhome drove like a dream! The wind was blowing a 'little' during the last half of the 6 hour drive and here in Vegas it's blowing at  38 mph. The next couple days are supposed to be very windy so we're very happy to be settled for awhile.

Everything is in the motorhome and I wonder why we keep the few items we left behind. If we didn't bring it, do we really need it? Rick and I agreed that the good thing about moving in and out of the moho is that we realize how much we've accumulated. If you have to move it from here to there a couple times a year, it makes you stop and think it over.

We were very fortunate to have friends in our community who let us park on their lot while we took a couple days to load the motorhome. It was so convenient to not have it parked on our narrow street and I didn't worry about someone crashing into the Cayman. We were able to take our time and store everything in it's place before we got on the road. On the last day we were finished by 5PM and after checking everything 3 times, sure we had everything we needed, we locked up the house and went over to the motorhome. It worked out so well that we thought we'd sleep in the motorhome that last night and get an early start. Around 10:30 PM we were more than ready for sleep and we pulled back the bedspread to find NO SHEETS on the bed! We'd brought our pillows, but had forgotten to take the matching sheets. Since it was 10:30 at night we decided to use one of the spare sheet sets and make a quick trip to the house in the morning. No big deal! Rick thought maybe we could just use the bedspread, no sheets for one night, but we've got extras of everything in the motorhome. In the morning when I made breakfast I realized that I'd  removed the small skillet from the motorhome so I got one from the house. Could have done without it, but nice to have it.

Pretty good packing I thought, just a set of sheets and a small skillet. As our neighbor said, if you forget anything, buy it or do without.

Road to Vegas

I'm looking forward to driving over the Hoover Dam one more time. Not sure how much progress has been made on the new bridge since last year, but we know there will come a time when we won't be able to drive over the dam. And we understand the reason. Tomorrow we'll have to pull over for the inspection station, but we understand the reason. I don't even mind the slow traffic. The view is nice.

All Systems Go!

We're loading the motorhome for our next trip. Rick's been flushing the water tanks and has cleaned the batteries. All systems go!

I was worried that we would be loading the motorhome in 100 degree heat, but the weather has been absolutely gorgeous and in the 60's! At least a dozen more motorhomes left the resort today and soon we will be on our way also.

(The cliche 'all systems (are) go' means everything is ready and was originally used when preparing to launch a rocket. "All systems go!")

Recorded TV shows

It was only a few months ago that we agreed to try a DirecTV HD-DVR. We had no experience recording TV shows and felt we had no need. I didn't like to think that TV was important, but there are shows we like to watch and even look forward to. So we got a DVR with an upgraded HD satellite dish. Unfortunately I've come to depend on the DVR. I've become accustomed to rewinding the interesting conversations, the scenic views, muffled words or something we miss. We're able to record 2 shows at once and it's sometimes hard to keep up with all the recordings. The best thing about a DVR is that we get to skip through all the commercials. I've come to totally dislike commercials.

Even when I listen to the radio I sometimes get the urge to rewind. I asked one of my brothers and he said the same thing, you get used to having it. Too much. I've almost filled up the DVR with movies and we'll take it with us and maybe we'll have a chance to watch them this summer while living in the motorhome. Or maybe we'll be too busy fishin!

These past 2 weeks it seems that TV has been on to pass the time. Too much TV time which has made me feel guilty for not doing something more productive. Even though I always do something else while it's on.

I wonder what you can tell about a person based upon their favorite TV shows? Any indication of their personality? I need to get away from the TV and get into the RV. Too much TV, not enough RV.

Slow Mo to Fast Forward

Sunday was very relaxing, almost in slow motion compared to what we're going to accomplish on Monday. Monday we'll move the Cayman out of storage and start to load it. Yipeee! Action time! I'm soooo ready!

We're both getting our computers ready for the move into the motorhome, so we've been synchronizing files and I've moved what I don't need on my laptop to DVDs. I've removed more than 6 years of photos to DVDs and made copies of the DVDs for off-site storage. In addition to the DVDs, we also back up to other hard drives.

Along with loading the food and clothes, we'll go over the "on the road again" pre-flight checklist and then we'll be on the road. Most of our snowbird neighbors are on their way north already. Although we've had fabulous weather in the southwest, its supposed to be in the 90's next week and hotter temps are right around the corner. I can't wait to get my bare feet in the cold river.

Happy Easter!

We hope this Easter is happy and full of joy.

Think it over & over-think it

This is something new for me, this rut feeling. I've always been the one to embrace change, look forward to it, even suggest "upsetting the apple cart." But I'm also one who likes to have options, another course of action, Plan B to fall back on. So I am a planner. I'm also one to want quick action. Maybe it's the waiting that's putting me in a funk.

Lately I can get myself in a rut when I'm "contemplating" a big change. I think it over and over-think it. I plan and plan. And when the change is weeks away, I plan and over-think. And it puts me into a rut of sorts. I don't want to start any new projects, but yet I don't want to finish the current ones. I'm in limbo. I make to-do lists to prepare for the anticipated change, and check the tasks off as we get them done. I want to be on the road like our other RV friends, but I want to see family one more time.

I want to make the change because it means we are on our way to a summer spent fly fishing! Fishing and freedom in retirement is what we eagerly looked forward to for years. I avoid thinking about the change because it means we will be far away from family for months. The young ones seem to change and grow up each week. I know we will see them in a few months, but by then one will be babbling, another will be walking, another will be potty trained, and another will advance to the first grade. Phone calls, email, postcards, and webcams will be our means of communication from the motorhome on the river.

I tell Rick what keeps me up at night and he says I should live in the present, not the future. And certainly not the past. I don't dwell too much on the past, for I learned long, long ago that it is impossible to do it over. I don't regret the past, but learn from what's done. I spend more time thinking of the possible future than on the already done past. Sometimes, when I lay my head on my pillow and try to sleep, my mind races in anticipation of what might happen tomorrow. I play out scenes, have conversations, rehearse events, decide on yet-to-come choices and do a lot of "what if's." And it keeps me from sleeping. When Rick said I should spend more time in the present of course I did a couple quick Google searches on the subject. I've found some insight into how to deal with my Midnight Madness and I'm sleeping better. I have ways to deal with the thoughts racing around in my head late at night.

And now that we're closer to our departure date I'm taking action and getting the stuff done that needs to be done in order to go fishing. Opening day is a month away and we'll be in Montana before then. It will be a good summer. I rehearsed it in my dreams.

Friendly mention of a friendly guy

Last summer while fishing one of our favorite rivers, we started to notice some of the same fisherpeople day after day. One of the guys who was very courteous and always gave us plenty of elbow room was Brad Terrell from Alaska and Colorado. It didn't take long for us to strike up a conversation with Brad and get to know a little about him. He'd fished Alaska for years and it was apparent he knew fly fishing tactics. And he practiced good river etiquette, both for other fishermen and for the fish. We swapped flies and stories and I even took a couple photos of him with his fish.

Brad's been a fishing and hunting guide and we enjoyed discussing the river, the fish, and techniques. We exchanged emails with Brad a couple times this past winter and he told us about his new website, Dream Drift Flies, and we'd like to share it with you. Through Brad's website you can order from the entire inventory of Montana Fly Company (MFC). If you're interested in fly fishing I think you'll like the site.
http://www.dreamdriftflies.com/index.php

If you're going to Alaska to fish and you need flies for Alaska, Brad also has a website called Flies For Alaska http://www.fliesforalaska.com. Check them out for your fly fishing needs. Looking forward to fishing with you again this year!

Good Friends & Good Times

We've found that RVers are the friendliest and most helpful people! I guess that's because we all want to live in a home-on-wheels and travel. We have a lot in common with each other, dealing with the good and bad of it. And we try to help each other do this.

We're lucky to have gotten to know a few good folks in our travels. This week we've been visited by Mike & Sharon while they rented a RV lot in our resort community. Another couple who own a lot here, Tim & Crystal, have also had some free time and we've seen them a few times this week also.

Well, actually we first met them on-line at the website iRV2.com, but we've camped with them at Quartzsite for the past 2 years. It's been fun to visit with them this past week in our own communtity. We all went out to dinner one night and we had dinner with Mike & Sharon a couple nights ago in their motorhome. (We felt so comfortable in their motorhome and I can't wait to get back into ours!) Another night the six of us got together at Tim & Crystal's motorhome and enjoyed drinks and dinner on their patio.

The weather was warm and the sunset was a gorgeous orange and pink. Just as it was getting dark someone noticed a wild young bobcat at the end of the yard romping around chasing a rabbit. The young bobcat appeared to only be playing with the rabbit because we agreed that he could have easily caught it. The bobcat climbed a small tree and we could see it precariously making it's way to the end of the farthest branches. It chased some birds out of the tree and slowly made its way to the ground where it again played with one of the birds. We had heard that the residents in our community had complained about the bobcats and called AZ Game & Fish to remove them. It was a special moment to see the wild bobcat at play. It was even more special to spend time with good friends. Thanks guys and safe travels!

April Fools Day

No pranks or jokes here! And it seems the feared computer virus wasn't the threat it could have been. The Conficker worm has been around for a while, but if you've kept up with your Microsoft security patches you should be safe. The patch was distributed by MS last October or November and although the hackers have created variants of the Conficker worm, it seems the threat didn't come to fruition today as expected. I read that the criminals who created it are fairly smart (at least for hackers) and the threat could explode on another date, when we're least expecting it. I looked at the McAfee.com website and found that their Stinger.exe should fix this problem. If you cannot access McAfee, Microsoft or another security website like Norton, you might be in real trouble since that's one of the indicators that you might be infected with the Conficker worm.

I've heard that the largest number of computers infected with the worm are in Europe and Asia. The worm tracks all your keystrokes (passwords, etc) and reports back to the hacker domain, making your files and accounts very vulnerable.

No guarantees from me since all PC's are different (and I don't do this as a tech anymore), but keep up with your anti-virus software updates and with the Microsoft patches to try to be safe. Expecially if you send me email.

Photo Contest

The activities director in our community held a photo contest and residents could enter one photo during the week. The goal was to gather enough photos taken within our community so they can make and sell calendars next year. I thought about it and couldn't decide right away. I looked through my photos I'd already printed and decided on day 6 to enter a photo. There were about 40 photos entered and the residents voted on their favorite photos, with the top winners being choosen for the calendar.

This is the photo I entered. Its taken in our front yard at 5:30 in the morning just when the sun was rising, back in 2005. It's one of my favorites. I call it "A New Day".

After seeing the other photos entered, I decided that Rick could also enter a photo. This is the one entered with his name.

Its the state flower of Arizona, the saguaro cactus. Both photos were choosen for the calendar.