Boon Docking at Lake Mead, Nevada

It’s time to catch up on my wanderings since I’ve been out of internet range for a couple of weeks now.

First of all, I have a new pet peeve: Lake Havasu City, AZ. You really don’t want to go there! Yes, seeing the real London Bridge was interesting, and knowing it was the same stone bridge that had survived the German Blitzkrieg of WWII was cool. However, this has got to be the snobbiest, most unfriendly place I’ve ever traveled, which is saying a lot since I’ve been from coast to coast of the great land. The only upside to our very short stay there was I got to go to an In and Out Burger. These little restaurants serve only hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fresh fries, soda and shakes. Price-wise, they’re comparable to most fast-food places, but the food is head and shoulders above what you’d get at your local McDonalds or Wendy’s.

After reaching our temporary destination of Lake Mead in Nevada, we’ve really enjoyed ourselves soaking up the sun, solitude, and beauty of nature. I’ve painted some great scenes of the lake from our camping spot in Government Wash. This is a free “boon docking” type of campground. No water, power, or dump station, just a graded road with pullouts, a bathroom, and a couple of dumpsters. Pay showers and coin laundry were available at the Callville Marina, about 8 miles away. We’ve woken to coyotes singing a morning serenade within feet of our bus, and seen several road runners, jackrabbits, a blue heron, herring gulls, grackles, and blackbirds. The two latter could be counted on to show up every time we swept the bus out, to pick through the dirt and rocks to find bits of cat food Chloe and Crissy had strung over the floor. The rangers are super friendly, especially when we entered the area. It seems Al’s Golden Age Passport had been de-magnetized, so our ranger just smiled, made up a new one, and told us to enjoy our stay.

I have a nice collection of flat stones on which to paint now, thanks to Al and Heili’s frequent walks along the lake. A couple of Al’s staffs now have my creative touch with beading and wire wrapping. Several pieces of jewelry have also been completed since I’ve been more or less stuck at the bus upon arrival with a sore leg. Not sure what I did to it, but it gets tired quickly and starts swelling if I spend too much time on it. I teasingly tell Heili she must have stomped on it in my sleep, even though she vehemently denies having done so.
The weather has been pretty good for January, with days in the 60s. The last few nights have dipped kind of low, but no freezing temps. Nothing like the snow, wind, and cold we left in Oklahoma during our Christmas run for the sun. All in all, we are having lots of fun and interesting times here.
Heili’s home schooling is going great even if she did fight us at the beginning. Math is taught out of an Electrician and Radioman’s bible; she reads one book from our library each week and keeps a daily journal for English; American history is currently finding out past events from the Lake Mead area and writing a report each week; for Home Ec/Life skills she is required to prepare one full meal each week and help prepare grocery lists and budget for January. Art and Design class is painting with acrylics on canvas and stone throughout January and we’ll switch to pottery from native clays in February. Science for the next two months is observing and preparing a PowerPoint presentation on the flora and fauna of Lake Mead National Recreational Area. All in all, she’s getting a much more well-rounded education, and is allowed to work at her own speed. The most eye-opening thing I’ve noticed is that she works much faster in algebra and understands much more than when she was in traditional school. Her grades are in the A and B range and don’t think we grade on a curve. She definitely earns her grades.