Prospect RV Park   Wheat Ridge, CO $30.94 per night

Monday, January 4
The repairman showed up this morning and replaced a solenoid coil and the 110v heater coil in the hot water heater. Works great now. Frank began the process of setting up new webcams in the truck along with the new notebook computer for navigation. Tom sorted his calendars and annual events for 2010. In the afternoon we helped Jim and Dave readjust their trailer. A few weeks ago a water main broke in the campground and there was several inches of ice around their trailer. They had to move their trailer to get a new roof, and when they got back the ice was still there. Once it melted, one side of their trailer was too low so we helped them get it leveled. Later we went back to Applegate to have dinner. We are watching the weather closely. Friday we are planning on heading to Las Vegas, but they are predicting very low temperatures and possible snow Wednesday and Thursday.

Tuesday, January 5
We spent most of the day doing chores, Tom finished up his paperwork organization and did some shopping, Frank finished up preparing web pages for his classes. Frank spent about an hour at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds where the qualifying for the National Western Stock Show was taking place. Today's event was steer wrestling. The lighting was poor so he didn't get very many pictures.   In the evening Jim, Dave, Frank and Tom went to dinner at Table Mountain Inn in Golden.

Wednesday, January 6
It began snowing this morning during breakfast and continued all day. The temperature dropped from around 40 to 10 before we went to bed. The hot water pipe to the kitchen sink froze during the day. We got it thawed by using fans. We went to our favorite hardware in Golden and bought a windshield scraper and a new rug for the front door.

Thursday, January 7
This morning it was 5 degrees and the pipe from the fresh water tank froze. We have no water as of this morning. The snow has stopped and the sun is out but it is not supposed to get above about 15 degrees today. We are planning on leaving tomorrow morning but have not decided for sure whether to try going I 70 over the mountains or head south on I 25. We will make that decision later today. I will post more this evening or in the morning. This evening we were treated to a great dinner cooked by Jim and served in our trailer.  

Sunday, January 10

Sam's Town RV Park   Las Vegas, NV $34.16 per night

Monday, January 11
Tom took the Ford F-250 to a self service car wash and gave it a much needed bath. With the weather being so nice and warm, it feels like a spring cleaning, trailer inside and out, and the truck cleaned from all of the dirt and salty mess from when we were in snow. Frank spent the day developing web pages for this year's IGRA Finals. We had dinner at Sam's Town buffet. Inexpensive, but very good with hundres of items to choose from.

Tuesday, January 12
We both worked today on minor items around the trailer. Frank did a great job of cleaning out the basement of the trailer and then reorganizing it. A short trip to the grocery store. Interestingly enough they have a propane dealer here that comes to your trailer and fills your propane tanks. Much easier than taking it to them. We had dinner at Sam's Town buffet.

Wednesday, January 13
Today we worked on computer issues and made a trip to Fry's Electronics, which is a great super store of electrical gagdets. Frank bought four new web cams to evaluate. And we bought a new XM radio as our trailer XM radio seemed to have died yesterday. We helped Bev, our friend, who did all the work, return her Christmas gift as a non-functionable item. Oh well, we will try a remote gift from here. Plus, we saw a rainbow today, as it rained in the desert...Las Vegas.

Sunday, January 17

Sam's Town RV Park   Las Vegas, NV $33.60 per night

Monday, January 18
The rains have started. We are both tired and slept in. Tom did grocery shopping while Frank worked on adjusting ourselves back into the trailer. Dinner at the buffet and then to bed.

Tuesday, January 19
The rains are coming is waves. Our next wave should be early this afternoon. We both are working on projects. Another trip to Fry's Electronics later in the day. We have received .61 inches of rain, and this is a desert that gets four inches of rain annually.

Wednesday, January 20
The rains are continuing to come in waves. Today we visited Wells Fargo Bank and were frustrated. Tom belongs to Wachovia Bank, and Wells Fargo bought them over a year ago. He still cannot make a deposit of a check, because they have not intergrated their software packages for accounting yet. We returned to the Tuscany to get their assistance in getting tickets tomorrow to see "O" a Cirque du Soleil production. We are almost embarrassed to say we have already seen this play twice, but they are excellent. Anyway, it was what Frank wanted to see, and it will be his birthday two days later on January 23rd. Then we went to pick up our tickets at the Bellagio. We actually did find a Wachovia branch which accepted our checks. Later in the day we went to Wal-Mart and Radio Shack. Dinner at Sam's Town buffet. It is way too easy and inexpensive.

Thursday, January 21
The rains continue. Today we did more shopping. We visited Smith's which is an excellent grocery. Then we went to an ACE hardware where we bought some winterization items for the trailer. When we head 400 miles north to Elko, NV on Monday, we are expecting subfreezing weather so we want to be prepared this time. Hopefully these items will keep the water lines from freezing. Later we returned to Radio Shack and Wal-Mart. In the evening we drove to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino which cost $ 1.6 billion to build, and saw "O" a Cirque du Soleil production. Their performance was excellent, as always. We have seen this production now three times.

Friday, January 22
The rains seem to have stopped and the sun is shining some. Today we worked on the trailer, sweeping, scrubbing, spotting the carpet, and laundry. Mundane things that have to be done.

Saturday, January 23
The weather is sunny and bright. Today we again repeated shooping trips. We went to an ACE hardware' Fry's elecrtyonics and then Whole Foods. Frank installed a new base speaker in the trailer behind the HDTV and inserted a new surge protector and really cleaned up the wiring area. It looks very nice. Today was Frank's Birthday. He is now 58 years old.

Sunday, January 24
Today is our last day at Sam's Town, for this Las Vegas visit anyway. We head north to Ely tomorrow and then on to Elko for the National Cowboy Gathering. Today we did chores and laundry, plus watched the football post season games.

Tuesday, January 26

Iron Horse RV Resort   Elko, NV $45.36 per night

We have arrived in Elko. Nice campground but a bit expensive. Appears to be operated by the Hilton Garden Inn next door. After setting up we went downtown and picked up our tickets for the various events we plan to attend at the Elko Cowboy Gathering. This evening was our first show with two very good lady cowboy poets. Then we were entertained by Dave Stamey, Frank's favorite cowboy singer.   You can hear a lot of Dave's music on our Cowboy Music page.

Wednesday, January 27
Today the campground office got us a 50 foot TV cable to check ours with. Turns out we had a bad cable. We returned their cable and got our own which worked fine. Frank worked on web pages while Tom went to the store. In the evening we went to our next Cowboy Gathering event and were entertained by Stephanie Davis, a great song writer and poet. One of her poems she recited on stage is available on her website. The next performers were the Sons of the San Joaquin who performed many of Frank's favorite cowboy songs which can be found on our Cowboy Music page  

Thursday, January 28
Then we attended a performance called "Heard it on the Radio".   A great show with the Sons of the San Joaquin, Red Steagall and the Boys in the Bunkhouse. In the afternoon we saw "Humor"   with Andy Nelson, Bob Schild, and Carol Heuchan from Australia. Later we saw "The West as Inspiration" with John Reedy, Ray Doyle and Brenn Hill. John Reedy was great even though two weeks ago he had a throat operation and now he is singing to a crowd. Wow. That evening we went to "Words Going Wild"   with Paul Zarzski, Dave Stamey and Cowboy Celtic, an Irish Cowboy Band with a harp. Amazing, but too loud so we both complained along with others and the sound was reduced the next day.

Friday, January 29
On Friday we started out at 11 AM with "Hold Yer Horses"   with Carol Heuchan, Milton Taylor, Jerry Brooks, and Dave Stamey. Sound was better and lower. Then we saw "Buckaroo Blue Grass"   with Michael Martin Murphy, a big name in this business. Even before he recorded his first CD he had written over 400 songs. This year he has been nominated for a Grammy Award. In the afternoon we saw "A Cowboy and a Little Girl"   with Cora Woof, the little girl who is seven years old and terrific, and Don Edwards. Cora was sensational, and Don who is also famous said his father was in Vaudeville and said never follow an act with either a child or a dog...and his father was correct. Later in the evening we saw "Boots and Pearls"   with Andy Nelson, Adrian and Corb Lund, and the Hurtin Albertans.

Saturday, January 30
Ah yes, our last day here. The center was packed with cowboys from all over and many excited fans.   We attended a special performance by Baxter Black which was terrific.   His animated stories were wonderful. Later we saw the "Ranch Family Show"   with Randy Rieman, and again the Sons of the San Joaquin who sang off key because the sound system was screwy and they could not hear their own harmony. But it was fun anyway. We closed the day having dinner at the Hilton Garden Inn followed by the final performance of "Elko Saturday Night"   with Waddie Mitchell, Don Edwards, and again Cowboy Celtic.