http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog Trawler cruising and RV trips in North America Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:20:26 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We left the glitz 30 miles behind as we drove south west out into the desert to the campsite at Callville Bay Marina on Lake Mead. This lake was formed by the damming of the Colorado River in 1936. Before that time and before the railroads steamboats came upstream to ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/10/march-10-day-31-wednesday-las-vegas-to-lake-mead-national-recreation-area/ We woke up to rain, high winds and cold 40 degree weather.  In spite of this we took the free casino bus to Harrah’s on the Las Vegas strip. How wrong I was to think we would have the place to ourselves. The crowds were huge and everywhere. There must ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/09/march-9-day-30-tuesday-las-vegas-nv/ We have returned to civilization and Internet access after 3 days in almost complete isolation. We now have 14 more days vacation to spend before our return to Nashville. Our strategy is to spend as much time in the warm parts of the west to allow the east to warm ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/08/march-8-day-29-monday-beatty-nv-to-las-vegas-nv/ We splurged on breakfast today at the old Furnace Creek Inn. After all the money saved with our Golden Age Passport that gets you into the park free and discounts the campsite by 50% we could afford it. The Inn was opened in 1927 by the Pacific Borax Company which ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/08/march-7-day-28-sunday-death-valley-to-beatty-nv/ We went ahead of Robert & Judith and had breakfast at the Crowbar Café in Shoshone. We all got together and drove the 72 miles to Furnace Creek in the center of Death Valley. The Valley is roughly 100 miles long about 13 miles wide and runs north & south ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/08/march-6-day-27-saturday-tecopa-ca-to-death-valley-ca/ We all went in the View today. We stopped in Tecopa at the elementary school where there was a water tank. The pressure was so low it was hopeless trying to fill our tank, so we went on to China Ranch. There is steep canyon with sharp turns to get ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/08/march-5-day-26-friday-tecopa-ca/ We took the Amboy Road from Twentynine Palms to Amboy. This was a famous stop on Route 66 in the Mohave Desert. Roy’s (see photo) was a restaurant, car repair, gas, and motel stop on this route from New York to LA and opened with the highway in1926.  In 1973 ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/08/march-4-day-25-thursday-twentynine-palms-to-tecopa-ca/ Judith planned the trip today which started with a visit to Coachella Valley Preserve where we hiked 2 miles to an oasis beside the San Andreas fault. There was a large pond in the Oasis surrounded by huge dense palms. We climbed up to 2500 ft and had lunch at ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/03/march-3-day-24-wednesday-la-quinta-to-twenty-nine-palms/ We left Rancho Santa Fe and headed northeast for the first time. I was surprised at the amount of traffic on the back roads. We climbed to 4,000 feet over a distance of 80 miles and then dropped south of Palm Desert to 40 feet in about 10 miles. The ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/02/march-2-day-23-tuesday-rancho-santa-fe-to-la-quinta-ca/ Phil had told me about the Rotary Club of Rancho Santa Fe which meets Monday noon at the Rancho Santa Fe Inn. This is an old 1923, posh inn built to provide accommodations for prospective land buyers in the early days of Rancho Santa Fe’s development. It’s one the Historic ... http://greatloopcruisingblog.com/blog/2010/03/02/march-1-day-22-monday-rancho-santa-fe/