The Holidays - Las Vegas Style

The highway from L.A. to Las Vegas, Interstate 15, is one of the most traveled routes west of the Rockies. So we had plenty of company rolling into one of our favorite preserves - just a few minutes from all the action, either on the "Fabulous Las Vegas Strip" or downtown on Fremont Street.

This is our third trip here, so we've already experienced the Strip via "the Deuce" and seen a bunch of the long-running shows and visited most of the casinos and eaten at most of the buffets. So we're relaxing, decorating the coach, checking out the Escapee's park in Pahrump ("over the hump to Pahrump") and, of course, getting the Christmas goose (in this case Cornish game hens) from, where else, the RVer's best friend, WALMART.

Vegas has added a major new resort in the heart of the Strip called City Center - naturally very impressive, with the anchor being a new hotel called Aria, and it is definitely operatic in splendor. Six very high-rises and a monorail to take you between.

Wilderness Lakes - This Year's Primary Wintertime Home

After spending an wonderful Thanksgiving with Shannon's family, we have arrived at the preserve where we will spend nine weeks this winter. We have chosen this area east of Los Angeles because the weather is mild and there is an abundance of insurance-covered healthcare available. The park has a network of man-made canals and more waterfowl than any place we've been since leaving south Florida - blue and white herons and great egrets and geese and coots (the "old" ones as well as the wet ones.) There are hundreds of black crested night herons all over the place. We have to be careful where we step when getting close to the water's edge - lots of presents from the birds.

During our trip south from Canada, I had some stops at urgent care centers for help getting over a severe sinus infection and a flare-up of my chronic bronchitis. During these medical exams, an irregular heartbeat was detected each time with an accompanying recommendation to get it checked by a cardiologist soon.

So here we are - the nearby city of Hemet with plenty of heart specialists to choose from. After a series of visits and tests - an EKG and a 24-hour heart monitor (oh, don't look, Ethel!) and blood and urine analyses, the verdict so far is elevated blood pressure and barely acceptable cholesterol, but with nothing else amiss. So I'm taking blood pressure meds for now, and we wait for an echocardiogram and stress test to be conducted when we return in mid-January. Maybe we can determine the root cause of the extra beat. Personally, I think it's just the result of a lifetime in love with Jan (oh, don't read that, Ethel!)

Whew, what a relief! We dodged something more serious this time!