What a day we had yesterday.  We left Tonopah, NV early to try to avoid as much of the heat as possible.  The whole trip was desert and nothing but desert.  It is amazing that people live and thrive out here.  We saw lots of scrub brush and a few smallish bushes but not much else between the very small towns.  Gas stations were about 100 miles apart in Death Valley so you had to watch the gas gauge.  Gary made a game out of seeing the profiles of sleeping giants on the mountain ridges, most of them with their mouths open.  He has a remarkable imagination!

At one point we saw a sign that said Big Dune.  Around the next corner guess what we saw.  A big dune. 

We also saw a sign warning us not to feed the wild horses or burros.  We weren't planning to anyway.

The Nevada roads are very well kept and smooth compared to the rest of the country.  The ride was easy, not bumpy at all.  They put Oregon and California to shame. 

On the outskirts of Las Vegas we saw someone getting arrested.  He had his hands on top of his head and state police were searching his car just like on TV. 

When we arrived in L.V. it was 104 degrees.  After one misstep caused by faulty GPS instructions, we pulled into the Oasis Casino and RV Park, a beautiful place that had been scouted out for us in advance by old and dear camp friend, Liz Rusk Rayme and Mike Minkow.  It is a level park with concrete parking sites with grass and gravel on each site.  There are good dog walking areas and in the morning the park is in the shadow of two new condominiums, so the temperature is bearable.  The park has two pools, a hot tub (why?), an 18 hole miniature golf course and the normal amenities of a lovely facility.

The only glitch in our arrival was a service truck parked to the side of the road we needed to drive to our site. What an idiot! I never would have tried to get through the space he left but Gary is braver than I am.  I got out to help guide him and we still hit his side view mirror with the front shield on the RV.  Gary was able to back up and I folded his side mirror in, so we made it.  

We were getting ready to go out to dinner when the electricity failed.  Yikes!  If we had left a few minutes sooner our pups would have been very uncomfortable.  Luckily, the maintenance man figured out it had something to do with the park's light on our connection and he disconnected it. We had a good night with our air conditioning intact.

This morning Liz and Mike picked us up to drive to Red Rocks Canyon.  It is not far out of town.  I had seen it before but Gary never had.  It was too hot to do much more than drive the 13 mile loop but the scenery is very impressive.  Hard to imagine all of this underwater millions of years ago.

We had lunch at Yard House near Summerlin where Liz and Mike both live, and then they took us back to our pups for a walk and rest.  Along the highways we saw metal sculptures of rams, horses, burros and other local animals.

We met for dinner at a local Italian restaurant, Nora's.  You have to make reservations several days in advance, so we felt lucky to be dining there and especially lucky to be with Liz and Mike.  We have so much to talk about and are kindred spirits.  It is too bad we don't live closer to each other.  they have promised to visit Portland.

On our way back to the RV Park we decided to take the long way and see a bit of the Strip.  Las Vegas has grown so much since the last time we were here.  The Strip is not just one street anymore but has expanded in all directions.  The airport is practically in town now.  The suburbs stretch for many, many miles.

We're settling in for the night in our own special Oasis. Pun intended.