Day 1 - The USA Grand Adventure Begins

After three weeks of family time in Orange County, we are ready to head out on the open road.  The RV is stocked, our worldly possessions neatly stowed, and the gas tanks are full.  We love Don, Dianna, Aleana, and the kids so much.  It was great to see Rick and Susy in Los Angeles during their pre-planned long weekend.  That was great timing.  It will be almost a year before we return the RV.

We left Fountain Valley at 10AM sharp and ventured into the Southern California traffic.  Driving a 50' rig for the first time was a bit daunting, especially with cars and truck jutting in and out.  For the first day since leaving Anchorage we saw a bit of rain.  Our destination today would be the Utah border and it was a steady climb through mountains and desert.

It had been a long time since either of us had seen the desert and the vast and desolate landscape upon closer examination was teaming with life.  Reaching the Nevada border a sudden shuddering of the front end became evident.  We limped the last 60 miles into Las Vegas and sought out the advice of a tire expert,  The fellows at Ted Wein Tires were excellent and it didn't take much to realize the front tires on the van needed to be replaced.  $365 later we were back on the road with Mesquite, NV as our destination.

Wepulled into a large parking lot at the back of the Eureka Casino in Mesquite and settled in for the night.  Don had instructed us on how to network out phones with our computers.  With that we enjoyed some Netflix, the news, and had our first official dinner in the camper.