After I wrote in yesterday’s blog that we are at the Las Vegas Thousand Trails preserve, a blog reader said that they had only been here once, and left after two days because the RV sites are crammed in so close together, and this isn’t their idea of camping.
There is no question that this is a very cramped, crowded RV park, as these photos show. Yesterday I sneezed, and the folks in the motorhomes on both sides of us said “Bless you.” If I wanted to borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor, I could just open the window, reach out, and take it from his kitchen table. So no, this isn’t camping.
We are not campers. We are fulltime RVers. The day after I got out of high school, my uncle took me on an extended camping trip. It lasted fourteen months. I swore back then that if I ever got back home again, I’d never go “camping” again. I had my share of sleeping on the ground, in the mud, while the mosquitoes and leeches fought over my blood. Nope, I’m not a camper. My definition of roughing it is black and white TV!
And while we do prefer to have roomier campsites, we’re not here for the ambience. We’re here to visit Las Vegas. Compared to the close confines of a Las Vegas hotel room, and the high cost, we are living good! We have a 50 amp full hookup RV site, and we’re far enough away from the Strip and all of the activity to relax, but still close enough to go downtown and take in all of the sights.
Last night, we did just that. Greg drove while Jan, Terry, and I just enjoyed looking at all of the bright lights and the folks out having fun. You can see anything in Las Vegas, and whether you’re looking for a cheap wedding, a steak dinner at 3 a.m., or a 24 hour tattoo shop, it’s all on the Strip. When they ladies saw the name of this business, they told Greg and I that we take them to all of the finest places. Well, yeah! 🙂
After a stop at Dairy Queen for a much overdue milkshake, we returned to the Thousand Trails, where we watched the news reports of the American attack that killed Osama bin Laden, and I downloaded the saved favorite locations from our older Garmin Nuvi GPS onto the new Garmin 465T trucker’s GPS we bought a couple of months ago. The more I use the 465T, the more I like it. I’d recommend it to anybody who drives a motorhome or tows a big trailer. These days, the older GPS stays in our Ford Explorer, and we rely on the 465T when traveling in the Winnebago.
Once I was done with that, I had to relinquish the computer to Bad Nick, who just had to respond to the news of Osama bin Laden’s death by posting a new Bad Nick Blog titled Rest In Hell, bin Laden. Check it out and leave a comment.
Thought For The Day – If you don’t want the truth, don’t ask me. If you want something sugarcoated, go eat a donut.
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Nick Russell
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As you say we are living in our RV, we are not camping!!!!! There are some folks out there who are camping. I am glad they are doing what they want. But like you, I don’t sleep on the ground, I don’t do bugs, I don’t do lots of campfires, etc. Sometimes the campsite is not the best but if I shut my blinds, I’m home.
Good suggestion re: GPS. I am looking at upgrading my Garmin but keep putting if off because it still works, but now it can go permanently into car and I can work on gettting the new one. Again, thanks Nick for another great idea.
Nick – if you want a great milkshake go out to South Point Casino and have a Steak and Shake milkshake. You’ve probably had one back east but we think thy are just about the best ever.
On your recommendation we bought the Garmin 465T. Suzy shopped al over the Internet, finally settled on buying it from Garmin’s Factory Store, They made her jump through so many hoops, she finally told them to shove it up their behinds. She finally found one in a Love’s Truck Stop at a much better price, Since I am the navigator in the motorhome, it fell to me to learn how to use it (Suzy programs the one we use in the car), and it was a steep learning curve. But I’m getting to really appreciate it now, with all the special features including “Where am I?” If I could only use that feature to find my other pair of glasses, I’d be delighted!
Hi Nick!
This a day late comment but have to send it anyhow in regards to you
crossing bridges. Our son picked up our grandson from college in
the UP of Michigan yesterday. The wind picked up and by the time they
reached the Mackinaw Bridge they had to have an escorted convoy for
the crossing (they were towing a 5th wheel). I’m sure that would have
caused some snivels from you.
Enjoy Vegas.
Virg
Hey Nick,
How did you get your saved favorites from one Garmin to the other? I need to do this, but don’t know how.
Joe
We totally agree with you, Nick, on the distinction of being fulltime RVers vs ‘campers’- but have to add that it doesn’t mean you have to be a sardine to enjoy the lifestyle. 😉 There are plenty of RV parks that have a decent amount of room between sites so as not to feel like you are on top of your neighbor. We did LOL over being so close your neighbors say, “Bless You” when you sneeze. Been there – done that! We had a young family with a teething kid all in a pop-up literally five feet from our entry door while staying at TT near Yosemite. The kid cried almost all night every night they were there. It sounded like they were inside our camper and we were ALL a wreck each morning from lack of sleep.
In our experiences on the road, cramming as many RVs as possible in their campgrounds is the Thousand Trails motto. Almost every TT we’ve been too has been like the one in LV. We find it appalling that they charge you so much for the ‘privilege’ of membership (and yes, we know you can get one cheaper second-hand – but you still have to pay up front for a membership with all the rules and regs involved in how many days you can stay, etc) and then treat you like a commodity once they’ve got your $$. Between the TT cramped campgrounds, of which many are in disrepair, the nickel-diming they do with WiFi and such (why is it so many regular campgrounds provide free wifi but the membership parks charge you on top of your membership fees?), you’d have to pay US to be a member of TT, and even then we’d probably have to think about it.
Just an FYI for anyone visiting LV – we know not everyone can take advantage of military campgrounds, but we are fortunate to be able to utilize them when we can. When last in LV, we stayed at the Nellis AFB FamCamp. Awesome park and awesome people who run it. We had PLENTY of room at an affordable price, far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but close enough to see it all when we wanted. All that and just across the street from the home of the Thunderbirds and their free museum. If you’re there during the annual air show, you’ll have a fantastic front row seat right from the CG!
Joe,
Here is a link that explains how to transfer data from one Garmin GPS to another.
http://www.ehow.com/how_7509506_transfer-favorites-garmin-nuvi.html
Nick, do you happen to know if your Garmin 465T includes maps and POIs above the “lower-48”? We are headed through Canada and into Alaska soon and, while we are loaded with plenty of maps and guidebooks, having the Garmin resources would be nice.
Judy, It says lower 48 and Canada on the website description