Riverside Resort RV Park in Laughlin, NV

I pulled into my camp site in Laughlin and got set up. Back when I was about to leave Apple Valley, I noticed that the domestic water pump was leaking so I thought I would take care of the problem when I arrived in Las Vegas in a month. But I came across a mobile RV repairman there in the campground and had him come take a look at it. We decided that the pump had an internal leak and the whole pump would need to be replaced. He ordered one and when it arrived a couple of days later, he came back out to the coach and replaced it. Now I shouldn't have to worry about the pump giving out completely when I am at the Bluegrass Festival or out in Death Valley and I would be without water pressure altogether.

The day after I arrived, I took a ride out to the the town of Oatman that is located on old Route 66. It is a real tourist trap, but the one thing they have going for them out there are the dozen or so wild burros that roam up and down the main street.

Train watching at the old Barstow Station

It was a cloudy drizzly day, but the trains ran anyway. I parked the coach next to what use to be the train station for Barstow. There must have been at least two dozen trains that passed by during my 5-hour stay.


I got out of the coach and walked up onto the highway bridge that goes over the tracks and took several pictures. No room to post them all here so CLICK on the last picture of this Post to see the rest.

Next stop - Laughlin, Nevada

Take a look at the rest of my train pictures by clicking on the picture below.

Train watching at Barstow station

One of my favorite pastimes

I left Apple Vally yesterday morning to travel to Barstow. After a short enjoyable ride on I-15, I stopped at the Flying J truck stop in Barstow to fill up the thirsty diesel tank, I drove over to the Home Depot there in town and dropped off the car then headed over to the BNSF Railroad yard and parked the coach at the observation area that overlooks their large classification yard. While there, it gave me a chance to check out the "Self Timer" feature on the new camera. I spent the afternoon in the coach having lunch and observing rail movements while listening to the conversations of the railroad workers on the scanner. After the sun set, it was back to the Home Depot where I obtained permission to spend the next few nights. I plan to spend the weekend here in beautiful downtown Barstow.

Big Eyes

One of the first pictures I took while experperamenting with my new camera was of Shonda's cat, Sadie. I think I will have a lot of fun getting aquainted with all the features of this camera. The manual is about 1/2 inch thick with small print so it will take a while to go through it. But time is one thing I now seem to have plenty of.

Last night (Tuesday) Jim and I attended an Apple Vally Fire District directors meeting. They had on display two new fire engines that were going into service. The engines looked really well equipped and ready to go. After the meeting Jim and I were talking with one of the Chiefs who also serves on the board of the Water District. While we were looking at a gigantic satellite picture of the Mojave desert that was hanging on the wall, I mentioned that my grandfather had an alfalfa farm in Lucern back in the 1910 -1920 era and when the Chief asked his name, I told him. He said that he thinks he remembers seeing that name in a book called "Rising Dust" written about the Lucern area during that period. I will try and see if I can hunt down a copy of that book and check it out when I return to Apple Valley in April.

If the weather forecasts holds true, I will be leaving Apple Valley on Friday or Saturday and head for Barstow to watch trains for a couple of days before moving on to Laughlin, NV.

First Stop, Apple Valley CA

These are a couple of panoramic views of Jim and Shonda's spread in Apple Valley (my daughter and son-in-law). Also, this is my new home base.


This is the early morning view out of the windshield of the coach while parked in Shonda & Jim's driveway the day after I bought a digital camera (Cannon SX110IS). Yes, it was cold - 26 degrees F.