Day Three - Monday, 23 June

We all had a buffet breakfast of cereal and pastries in the motel’s reception area. It was lovely to hear Australian accents again. I’m always envious of Jane’s tan, not to mention how thin she is. It's a wonder I like her at all, actually, but I enjoy her company tremendously.

Bill, Simon and Bob went to fetch the Recreational Vehicle (RV) while the rest of us packed up and cleared the rooms. I was due at the airport to fly out to Oklahoma City, leaving the others to begin their Route 66 trek without me. I was just about to get nervous about the time when the RV arrived. Simon helped me with the cases and said he’d be laying low on this journey, given the great debate he’d witnessed over who was going to be the first to drive the RV: “I’ve driven a lorry for over 30 years [Bob]”; “But it’s my Birthday Tour! [Bill]”. I thought Simon was taking a wise approach.

I had a quiet flight to OKC; I rang Jack and he came along and picked me up. I was pleased to be at Rita’s house, though it was strange to be there without her.

Meanwhile, their day was more exciting. Bill's Road Book instructions were:

Day	Road	Mileage	Destination	Action
Day 1 23 June	US 93 US 93 I 40 Hwy 95	25 71 23 16 21	Henderson Boulder City Hoover Dam Kingman Yucca Jct 9 Lake Havasu City	Cross Dam into Arizona Right onto I 40 West Turn L London Bridge KOA	155 miles 3.5 hours

They needed to stop for groceries and Bill pointed them to Von’s Supermarket. Chris was in heaven. He willingly got a store card so he could access all the Wonderful Deals. I later panicked when I watched Chris buy 45 nectarines at WalMart because they were such a Great Offer. I can only imagine what he did in Von’s. Two things I know for sure. They bought two 3 litre jugs of red wine for only $10 and a litre of gin for only $9. There wasn’t much left of either by the time I joined the party, but they were clearly set to have a good time. They also bought lots of soft drinks and food, particularly peanut butter.

Loaded up with food (and drink), Bob and Bill set off down Hiway 93 to Lake Havasu RV park. The others in the car headed for Hoover Dam.

(Simon's picture)

There was a slight hitch when they got to the RV park as it was no longer a KOA, though Bill had booked there thinking it was. Also, the managers had left and so the permanent residents invited the guys to pick a spot, any spot. It all worked out OK, with the managers returning the next day. Just seemed an odd way to run an RV park, but then what would I know about it?