It's Hot!

We made a mistake today.  We should have stayed on I-40 and continued on to California.  But I thought it might be nice to go to the Hoover Dam up near Las Vegas then on to Death Valley.  The scenery left much to be desired.  We passed some of those plots of acreage you can buy for no money down and a few dollars a month.  It is a great deal for the guy selling them.  The plots that were sold had old bombed out RVs on them with trash all around and a satellite dish.

Lunar Base Two Calling Lunar Base One

I don't know why anyone would want to live here.  It is brush and brown.   No grass.  No water.  No trees.  Nothing but dirt.  

At Hoover Dam everyone had to go through a security check.  We pulled into a line for RVs.  The security officers came inside to look around.  They had me open all my compartments to see if I was smuggling Achmed to the dam site.  When I got out it was the first I noticed how hot it was.  We had been sitting in the air conditioning.

You can tell this gal doesn't like the heat.

When we got to the dam, Darlie didn't want to walk down to the dam because it was too dam hot.  I would have gone fishing but I forgot the dam bait and I don't have a dam boat.  We just drove on by.
It was about 100 degrees outside.  They can say all they want about dry heat.  The oven has dry heat and it roasts turkeys.

We are camped in Boulder City, NV tonight.  We have the air on blast.  Darlie has all the windows covered and the curtains closed in the cab.  We have a curtain partition between the cab and the living area also.  The temp out in the cab right now is 117.1 degrees.  It is about 80 this side of the curtain.  The air conditioner has not stopped running since we got here.  The WeatherUnderground website says the outside temperature is 110 right now.  The wind is blowing very hard and it is rocking us around pretty good.  I am glad I am not driving now.  

We will not continue on to Death Valley because I am afraid of overheating if we have to climb a long hill to get out of there.  Today coming up out of Hoover Dam it was a several miles long climb in second gear.  My temperature gauge went the highest I have seen it on the trip.  I sure am glad I took the time back in Louisiana to have that weak cooling fan replaced.  We would have overheated for sure.

The man at the RV park said it was hotter than normal for this time of year.  I will take his word for it.  I am not sticking around to see if he was telling the truth.  We want green mountains, waterfalls, babbling brooks and cool temperatures.  We could have baked in Florida.  Or should I say steamed.  Either way you still get cooked.

A note for those who might want to become an RVer.   I had my son make up a gadget to check electrical hook ups for reversed polarity.  Reversed polarity can damage certain electrical powered products.  That is why your plugs have the wide blade on one side so you can't reverse the polarity when you plug it in.   Every time I stop at a campground, I plug this gadget in and it tells me if the box is wired properly.  Today the lot I rented had a box with reversed polarity.  I called the office and was told that I was the second person to report this problem.  They moved me to another lot where the box checked out ok.

Also, I carry a volt meter with me.  When you are in a campground that is full and everyone is running their air conditioner like they are today, you can have a voltage drop.  This too can damage certain electrical appliances.  These are two inexpensive gadgets that can save you costly headaches later.

Sitting inside the MH with the air running just to survive is not my idea of camping.  I can't wait for those green mountains and cool breezes.   We should find them at King's Canyon NP where the big sequoia trees grow.   Stay tuned.