MESQUITE SO SWEET

It was definitely the right call to leave Death Valley early and get to Mesquite…….it was about a four hour drive, and to do that in the morning and then race across town to play golf would have been a bit much. The drive was fine though, starting of course with the 12 mile hill that brought us down into the valley, but now heading back up and out. We watched as the temperature slowly dropped as we climbed………..17 degrees…….from a DRY 95 to a pleasant 78……..no problem climbing the hill……plenty of horses under the hood.

We ended up in the valley next door, heading towards Las Vegas, and actually dipped into the north end of town before picking up Hwy 15 heading north…….holy crap has Vegas ever grown since the last time I was there, and loads of construction ongoing. Probably the most interesting thing we saw on the ride was this big sand dune, obviously the collection point for this valley………you’ll never guess what they call it……”Big Dune”……brilliant.

Second place goes to the donkey.

Finding the in-town RV Park was a little challenging as it was tucked away and not in plain view, but after a couple of passes we figured it out……..nice place…..clean as a whistle, and next door to a small shopping centre…….Starbucks drive-thru out front…….YES!!

Having a free morning gave me time to go over and throw in a load of laundry, and stopped by the park office to thank the manager, Judy, for getting us a spot last night. OK, Judy is a talker……..man can she let it flow……it just doesn’t stop……one topic turns to another, then another, and another, and before you know it you know more about her and her family than you ever thought possible. No matter how you try, you can’t break away without being rude, so it continues into her husband and his medical issues, and the dog they just lost………OMG………I was lucky to have my phone with me so I did the fake pocket vibration……looked at the screen and said “Oh I have to take this”. On the bright side she is a cheery soul, and she talked so long my wash cycle was over so I was able to load the dryer before heading back to Plan B.

Golf today was at Conestoga, a course I played during the boys trip a number of years ago……I don’t remember them even having a clubhouse at the time, but now it is fully built out, houses going up all over the place, but still a very interesting and challenging course. Quite a few blind shots, and a couple of those stupid par 4’s which I hate………oh yeah we designed it with a crap field and swale right in the tee shot landing zone, so hit 4 iron and lay up, then another 4 iron to the green……….idiots. Jutta is still playing well and kicking my ass…….she gets a stroke a hole except for par 3’s…….I think I am being too generous. Conestoga is well know for its cacti, and these massive rock walls that are everywhere.

When you Google restaurants in Mesquite, 3 out of the top ten are golf course dining rooms and the rest, except for two are in the casinos. We choose one of those, a Mexican place that turned out to be pretty good, but before going there, we did try to get into Katherines Steakhouse at the Casablanca………Jutta had pretty much lost her appetite walking through the casino (not her scene at all) so in a way it was a good thing it was fully booked for the evening.

Tomorrow we are in for a treat……playing Wolf Creek……love that place.