Hi Everyone,  We just got settled in a National Park site just 11 miles from Hoover Dam and 50 miles from Vegas (going to Dam, not to Vegas)  It has been another challenging day... you may remember that we had a flat tire last Monday, and had it replaced in Carlsbad, NM.... well, we motored on to Deming and Surprise and had another flat Wednesday just West of Surprise.  Maybe there is something in a name.  We had AAA come again and put the spare back on.  We motored on toward Cottonwood and got ourselves set up in the Encore Resort there.  Since we were going to visit a mining town in Jerome (see previous blog post) we found a tire store that would special order the tire I needed and were promised it would be ready to install on Monday morning, first thing.  So we accepted that fact that we'd have two extra days in Sedona and arrived at the Tire Depot first thing this morning.  Hmmmm.... "your tire is not here yet, but we should have it by 10AM!"  I went into my modified ballistic mode and got a more expensive tire for the price of the other one and we were, once again, on our way.  I set Serenity II for directions and probable arrival near the Hoover Dam by 2PM today.  We stopped for fuel about half way here and did our usual walk-around to find another flat!  Yep, that's right, 3 flats in 7 days.  We remained amazingly calm, called a nearby tire place (actually just over the interstate so I drove there) and got yet another.  As we travelled on after all this excitement, I tried to remind myself that I should be grateful.... 1) that I'm not travelling in a covered wagon 2) that the truck is beautifully air conditioned  3) that every town I pass through seems to have a tire store!!!!!!

So, it is now 5PM, the hook-ups are done and the air conditioner is trying very hard to cool the rig down from an outside temperature of 111 degrees to a liveable inside temp.  The trek to this campground was very, very interesting.  Very little signage.  Very little information other than the campground was 4.2 miles from the exit point.  They neglected to mention the small fact that the campground is 4.2 miles down a wind-y, switchback-y, grade 6% road from the top of a small mountain to the bottom.  At the end of the road is an absolutely gorgeous store, restaurant, boat marina etc.  I must say it is quite picturesque.  Going back up will be even more interesting!

While I had hoped to get to the Dam today, it was not in the cards so I get to look forward to it for one more day.  When we are through sightseeing there it will be on to Zion National Park for a 4-night stay.  That will get us back on track and will still afford us plenty of time at Zion.  So for now, that's all that's fit to print....