January 21, 2007:

Well, here we are in sunny Las Vegas! And it is sunny, but also windy and cold. No snow down here at the lower elevations but some ice in ditches, etc.

The nasty weather broke last Monday as it warmed up during the day. Tuesday was quite pleasant, though a stiff southwest wind pushed the snow around a bit.

I had sent Raelynn and Kelly Chase some photos of the blizzard, and their cottage. She sent back some of an ice storm they had in Missouri. “We just had two days of freezing rain down here…We are in a very wooded area so trees are breaking everywhere…So far we are very lucky – we have kept our power but had three extra people to sleep last night who had none…Will try to send some pictures of trees breaking.  It is a small example, but there are trees about 10” in diameter just snapping everywhere.”

I think I prefer our blizzards!

With the Cove closed, the coffee crowd has begun rotating between individuals’ houses, starting with our place last Monday. We had fourteen adults and three kids, and it was a great time. I think we were all beginning to suffer from withdrawal. Miller’s place was next, on Thursday, but we missed it as we were already on our way.

Long before breakfast on Thursday, we went to Tisdale to join a bus tour to the Sunny South. At the same time, the weather reports were talking about cold, snow, rain and ice in Missouri and Oklahoma, and just plain crappy weather the rest of the way. The temperature hasn’t been too cold for the first few days, but it hasn’t been warm, either. Coming through southern Idaho on Saturday, we ran through an awful windstorm, with lots of blowing dust.
Very little snow in southwestern Saskatchewan and south; more in the higher elevations. Not really a lot, though. I think these people are battling a long term drought.

We spent our first night at Lethbridge, second at Butte, MT and third at Jackpot, NV. Doreen managed to get in a little gambling at Butte, and a little more at Jackpot. I took a picture of her at the slots, but was informed in no uncertain terms that photos were verboten.

Great people on our bus; they participate in everything and are never late. Many of them are acquaintances from Tisdale, and some from a bus trip we took to Branson a couple of years ago. It sure makes the trip more fun. On the other bus, we met a couple of friends of ours from Kelliher – David and Carol Thompson. As the busses travel half an hour apart, we don’t see a lot of them but hope to when we get to Laughlin and Mesa.

I am writing this from Circus Circus, from a very nice room with Internet access. We got in about five, (Pacific Time) had a pizza, then Doreen went gambling and I came up to the room to finish this Report and do a bit of reading. Gambling just doesn’t turn my crank, but I love to read when I can turn off the radio and/or TV.

Once we got down to this level, we started seeing yucca and a little cholla cactus, along with the creosote and mesquite bushes, and sage brush. I wouldn’t like to run around in the fields in my bare feet, because there is likely lots of pincushion and prickly pear that we can’t see from the bus. Some marvellous scenery, but the bus driver wouldn’t stop while I took some pictures. He stopped for a traffic cop, but wouldn’t stop for me. Go figure!