Week 532-533 - Home to Palm Creek - 10-30-2016

Home to Palm Creek, Arizona

We first visited Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort in Casa Grande, Arizona in 2007. It was just for one night but we saw what a fabulous resort it is. We have visited most every year since, sometimes for a day, a week or a month. So along with Golden Village Palms Resort in Hemet, California, we call it "Home". We have dozens of good friends at both resorts.

We left St. George and headed south on the I-15. Within minutes of leaving St. George you cross over the border in Arizona.

The Virgin River has carved the canyons and created a great place for the highway to pass. These photos are from 2006, our first trip through the pass. Exiting the canyons, you enter Nevada.

The I-15 passes through Las Vegas but we got off on the 604 to bypass Vegas and get to Boulder City. The elks lodge in Boulder City is the only one we can remember that is landscaped. And the 16 sites are very wide. For elks members, you have to stop here.

1) This is Lake Mead created by the Hoover Dam. The water level is low. In June 2016 it was only 37% of its capacity.
2) Mandy looks at us and pleads "don't take me over the dam bridge".

This is our photo from March 2008. We had the pleasure of taking the MotherShip over the dam itself. The old road across the dam was about five twisting miles from where the freeway 93 stopped in Arizona and where the 93 began in Nevada. It contains many low speed turns, goes downhill and uphill and average motorhome speed is probably 20 mph.

Construction of a Hoover Dam bypass bridge began on February 14, 2005.
1) This is our 2008 photo of the bridge under construction.
2) This photo (from Google Images) is probably from 2009 and shows the arch supports almost connecting.

Construction was completed in 5 years and 8 months on October 14, 2010. The completed bridge photo (from Google Images) was taken from atop Hoover Dam. The MotherShip was digitally added as Ellen was unwilling to walk the 5 miles to snap the picture of Pete crossing the bridge. While the new bridge only cuts the travel mileage from 5 to 3.2 miles, it is all freeway so it cuts the time by 80%. The bridge is named the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. Mike O'Callaghan was the Nevada governor from 1971-1979. Pat Tillman, as many may know, is the Arizona Cardinal football player who left the NFL to enlist in the U.S. Army and was killed in Afghanistan.

1) The 93, mostly freeway leads you to Kingman, Arizona where the Horn family used to own property. 2) We stayed overnight in Wickenburg, Arizona, in the new edition to the Desert Cypress RV Park.

Ahhhhh, we're home! Palm Creek is just plain fun to gaze upon!

The central pool is large and the spa holds dozens.

Next to the 32 pickleball courts is this new pool and spa. Nearby are private full-tiled showers and restrooms.

The sunrise and sunset photos are always great at Palm Creek, these overlooking the very impressive softball field.

Activities abound at Palm Creek, such as this Oktoberfest celebration.

We'll be at Palm Creek for a month. We came to visit our dozens of friends and to referee the pickleball Nationals. The PB event will have reportedly 800+ players from around the US and Canada. We'll report back in two weeks after the Nationals are open and we're on the way to Thanksgiving dinner at Donnalee's Arizona home.

With love, Pete, Ellen and Mandy

Photos from Oct 2016