Westward Ho--Spring 2010--Day 37

Everything got settled in Laughlin and then off to Baker. In the last post we told about the problems our friends were having with their Corvette and their motor home. All is well. Don returned with the Corvette all fixed before the tow truck was finished hooking up the motor home last Monday. The coach was towed to Kingman with Don & Vicki following in the Vette. By mid-day Tuesday they were back with everything all repaired. Early Tuesday morning we headed west for Baker, California, our primary destination. By this time we were now up to four coaches. In addition to the Leith's we now had Jack & Jane Dale and Lew & Dottie Anderson with us. We arrived in Baker around noon yesterday and got our rigs set up. Actually it did not take much setting up since we are "dry camping" here in the parking lot of the Baker High School. Dry camping means we have no hookups: water, sewer or electric. It is on occasions like this that these things are self contained. We came in with our holding tanks empty and our 100 gallon fresh water tank full. Also will have to run the diesel generator a couple of times a day to keep the four batteries charged up to run the appliances and lights. Here is a picture of us lined up with some of the other RV's that are here to support the race this Saturday.

Today was a slow day, a time for everyone to visit and relax. Our group did go into town for lunch at The Mad Greeks. This is a great little restaurant that is famous in this area. Baker is approximately half way between Los Angeles and Las Vegas on Interstate 15. Today it is a good stopping point for people making the trek in one direction or the other. It is a very small town but the main drag is loaded with eating places, including most of the usual chain fast food places. At one time, before the Interstate was completed, it apparently was a place for people to get their cars taken care of that had overheated trying to climb the mountains. The picture to the left is Joanne with Dottie & Lew Anderson at The Mad Greeks.

This evening we had a pot luck dinner in the school gym. As is normal at any pot luck there was plenty of food. Afterwards we had ice cream provided by one of the school's classes as a fund raiser. The Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay is a major fund raiser for this small school. (The senior class will usually have between 8 and 12 students each year.) In addition to the ice cream social tonight they will have a bake sale tomorrow morning, a spaghetti dinner tomorrow and a pancake breakfast on Saturday morning prior to the race. Since they have all these people camped in their parking lot they need to make the most of it. Also, each RV couple donates $10.00 to the school for their scholarship fund for allowing us to use their parking lot as a staging area for several days. After dinner tonight we returned to the coach to a beautiful sunset behind the mountains. Due to all the rain they have had out here in the desert this year it is a great time to be here. This is as about as green as we have ever seen the desert southwest with almost everything in bloom.