Las Vegas is known for its casinos, hotels and entertainment like live shows / night clubs. For the conservative minded like myself it was a place that you have to tick off the list, without a real desire to enjoy the “sin city” of the world. We stayed at Duck Creek RV Park on the outskirts of town. Unlike other big cities Las Vegas is very motor car friendly and once you realize that all hotels provide ample free parking, the use of public transport was not required. The Strip gets very congested at dawn and early night but it is no cause for serious driving headaches.
It is one of the top tourist destinations in the world and also one of the top three destinations in the USA for conventions, meetings, live shows and obviously marriages or remarriages. It was interesting to see how the various hotels / casinos try to attract customers with their glamorous and dramatic architecture and unique attractions. Architecture resembles Paris, New York, Egypt, Venice, Ceasars Palace, Treasure Island ect and unique attractions are the most beautiful laser shows combined with water and music, rumbling and erupting artificial volcanoes, spouting water fountains synchronized to music, rain forests, aquariums, brand name shops.
The super star lineups is also very impressive with David Copperfield, Celtic Women, Cirque Du Soleil, Rod Steward and Celine Dion to name a few. Obviously tickets to their shows are prohibitively expensive.
The big brand hotels / casinos are along the very famous Las Vegas Strip, but gambling is such big business in Nevada that you find casinos across Las Vegas and all over Nevada. One wonders what Nevada will be without the Casino taxes.
We thought we will spend 1 day exploring the place and leave for more heavenly pastures. Well we spend no less than 3 days and visited the strip for 3 nights in a row. There is just too much to take in and see. It is astounding to see all the one arm bandits and gambling tables at these establishments. It was not very busy when we were around but clearly there are so many because there are customers over the weekends and holidays. When one look past the gambling facilities, you see the most beautiful and astounding architecture styles and Interior designs and attractions to please your senses. Clearly money is not an issue as the mega-resorts are huge, breath taking and spotless as it is also continually modernized.
Sadly Las Vegas has a very religious start with the Mormons assigning 30 missionaries to convert the Indians in the area, and the Catholic Church was one of the first buildings. It was also an important railroad stopover town in its early days.
The building of the Hoover dam close by, the legislation of gambling, and the influx of the atomic bomb research scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project, were major growth opportunities but organized crime managed and funded most of the original large casinos.
The Las Vegas strip is 4.2 miles long and it is considered a Scenic Route for its neon lights at night. Fifteen of the worlds 25 largest hotels /casinos, resort properties with more than 62000 rooms are located on the Strip.
The Luxor hotel is build in a Pyramid shape with the internal passages to rooms looking down onto the foyer.
Temptation was everywhere and they felt sooo soft, but then my wife took the photo. After the photo session they wanted a tip and I gave then one dollar to share. But the looks and comment I got forced another dollar out of me, after all those cuffs looked all too dangerous for me. They are too shiny for not being used.
The ever changing outdoor light shows featuring musical and visual themes on Fremont Street, which is a pedestrian promenade, is in the down town district, and one of a kind. The show when we were there was a tribute to the veterans and the light display was stars and stripes, with army aeroplanes all aimed at boosting the American patriotism and solidarity. I guess it was a good show but I was not too impressed. Once again it was amazing to see how much time and energy they spend in honoring their Veterans. The churches also are very compassionate and recognize veterans and serving soldiers in their community. Everybody that served in the army even for just a 2 year period is a veteran. They get a Veterans card which gives them free or cheap access to parks, camping and many other benefits. When you speak to the people about this good practice, they will tell you that veterans that were disabled in the wars are not well looked after and that the government should spend less on foreign wars and provide better support to veterans in need. When people queued up for conscription to WWii some were convinced to help with infrastructure development like building dams, and because the veteran card was so sought after the government had to classify these construction workers a veterans also.
The 2nd largest gold nugget ever found on display in the Golden Nugget hotel on Fremont Street.
The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino the hotel uses Venice in Italy as its design with replicas of various Venetian landmarks.
The Mirage was the most expensive hotel casino in history, its gold windows gets it distinctive color from actual gold dust used in the tinting process.
Artificial erupting Volcano
Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood has glamorous surroundings with over a 170 stores. See some of the indoor displays similar to Monte Casino in Fourways.
Hoover Dam and Lake Mead
A short drive from the valley of neon the mighty Hoover Dam and Lake Mead awaits you. I still remember it was called the Boulder Dam before, and it lies in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed during the Great Depression to control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power.. Tours of the dam wall and power plants are available at a fee. What we have learned is that you will find a dam somewhere that provides these kinds of tours for free. The same goes for all other attractions, so one just have to be patient.
The dam’s lake is called the “Lake Mead” and it is the largest reservoir in the USA by volume, however the lake has not reached this capacity since 1983 due to increasing droughts.
Next to the Colorado River Lake Havesu City is halfway between Las Vegas and Quartzsite and we camped free on BLM lands for 2 nights. Obviously no hookups, but it is free and the desert views were beautiful. We traveled through Havesu City some 6 months back on our way to California without really exploring the place. This is Arizona’s holidays by the sea destination, a haven for water sport, and it is also a very popular winter destination for the retirees / snowbirds that want to escape the snow in the colder regions up north.
Arizona’s 2nd biggest tourist attraction is the London Bridge in Lake Havesu City, which crosses a man-made canal. In 1968 a property developer / entrepreneur bought it for $2.5 million from the City of London when their old bridge was replaced in 1968. The bridge was disassembled in London, all stones carefully marked and then shipped to Lake Havesu City where it was reassembled for another US $7 million.
The lodge nearby also have the only replica of the queens golden state coach. He also created an English City type environment around the bridge and is entrance is guarded by iron gates he also salvaged from the UK.
Quartzsite is a popular RV camping area for winter visitors, and tourism is the major contributor to Quartzsite's economy. There are many gem, and minerals, shops, with the biggest flea market and RV shows in January every year, attracting about 1.5 million people annually, mostly in January and February. The BLM lands around Quartzsite are also know for the dry camping e.g. boon docking and during December to March RVers camp as far as the eye can see. We also decided to do the boon docking thing just to get a feeling of the Quartzsite experience. 
and a Tarunlula I nearly stepped on
Meanwhile the weather had turned cold and even bitter cold with the rest of America experiencing one of the worst snow storms in a very long time. Just as well we did not venture to Salt Lake City and Denver because we would have been caught smack bang in the middle of way below freezing conditions. The south western Arizona, southern New Mexico and south western Texas rarely get snow but for them this very cold weather was also not what they usually experience.
After 2 days of dry camping at Lake Havesu and another 2 days at Quartzsite our batteries were flat, grey / black tanks all full, Propane low, and Freshwater empty. To dump the grey and black water and fill up the fresh water cost us $15 at a dump site in town. This means you have to pack up and drive into town with the RV and comeback to your camp spot again once the RV is emptied and refilled. We did this once and although your water and propane problem can easily be resolved, it is not so easy and quick to recharge the RVs batteries. For that you have to run the generator for a long time, and that is why the experienced boon Dockers has an extensive array of sun panels to trickle charge the batteries. They also have special tanks and containers to drain and fill the water. Clearly I am not fitted out for this boon docking lifestyle for more that 4 days let alone 6 months, like these experienced boondockers do. Besides a full hookup RV campsite was only $20 a night as it was not quite peak season in Quartzsite yet. We decided to pull into a RV campground for the last night to dump, refill and recharge for $20. We arrived just about 1pm and whilst we were setting up camp a gentleman invited us to their communal thanksgiving dinner. The people in this park come here every year for 6 months and they became friends, so we had the privilege to participate in a real American Thanksgiving dinner. 
Below Quartzsite and on the Mexican and California borders lies Yuma where we spend 3 days. It is called the lettuce capital of the world and it produces 90% of the green leafy vegetable stuff in the months of November to March. Typical American they will find a way to claim “the … EST in the world” even if it is just for 4 months of the year. Nevertheless this is in the desert and I have never seen such lush, green and healthy lettuce fields in South Africa. 
Yuma was a very important crossing between Arizona and California earlier in its history with steamboats moving cargo up and down the river. Now a days the Colorado River is the most dammed river in the USA and just about on the border with Mexico the very last dam merely allows a trickle of water from this mighty river into Mexico. Very nice and considerate neighbors the Mexicans have.
Whilst we were there, the annual Holiday Pageant & Tower Lighting event took place. It is an evening of music by coral and dance groups, mainly children, which ended in the Tower Lighting ceremony for Christmas.
Towing the CRV behind the RV means the front wheels of the car respond reluctantly to any turning and corners, with the result the front tires does not last so long and it wears on the outside quicker. I also lost a fairly good rear tire whist traveling some off road tracks in the desert near Quartz side looking for geocaches, so it was time to buy 3 new tires. Walmart seems to offer the best prices so we had three new tires fitted for $80 a piece.
Los Algodones, 7 miles west of Yuma, is in Mexico bordering California and Arizona. We did not plan to venture into Mexico because my wife was not too at ease with potential safety and drug trafficking risks. But upon reading the brochure material, Los Looms seem to be the safest place should one want to experience Mexico. The town lies right at the border and one can park your car on the USA side for $5 and simply walk over into Mexico through immigration. There are no immigration officers, no checking of passports, nothing when we walked into Mexico. This is a Small town, just a couple of blocks big, but it has more dentists, Doctors, Pharmacies and Optometrists per square mile than anywhere else in the world. Reason being the Americans and Canadians flog to this town to escape the very expensive USA medical care services and Mexico entrepreneurial Medical professionals provide a very streamlined and where possible a one day service at a much cheaper price. At time of our visit there were lots of people streaming across not only for medical visits but also just for a days outing into Mexico. One can hardly believe that a border line on the map plunges you from a first world environment into a third world chaos just a couple of feet apart. People on the streets try to lure you into their business and they are actually just a big nuisance and irritating and when you show no interest as you walk by they will shout “maybe some Viagra”
Below is a tracking chart of our travels thus far. The eastern states we traveled in 2001 and the western states we did over the last 8 to 9 months. Miles traveled with the RV 12000 miles and with the CRV also about 7000 miles. In total 19k miles or +- 36k km.
The price of gasoline is only slightly cheaper than in South Africa but the American Vehicles is thirsty with the RV averaging 7.2 mpg and the Honda 27 mpg. PS the American gallon is 3.8 liters. Because we travel such a lot, the gasoline is the highest expense we have. The monthly expenses roughly comes down to $700 for gasoline, $630 for food, $ 690 for camping fees, the repairs and services to motor vehicles $ 450 and for miscellaneous expenses another $580. Total $2950.00 per month. The only option to cut expenses is to travel less because if you do you can negotiate lower fees for a longer stay in RV parks and maintenance together with the miscellaneous cost will also come down. One can also do more boondocking i.e. sleep at Walmart or truck stops but my experience is that these places are difficult to find. Unlike other more wealthy RVers we rarely dine out but Mc Donald’s with their $1 burger + $1 soda +1.30 fries is the cheapest fast food if you need to get the hungry monster of your back quickly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuma,_Arizona