27 th Jan off to Laughlin and Quartzsite

We left Mesquite, NV at 8:30 AM with Mary and Evan in tow. We advise them that getting thru Las Vegas was our first hurdle and to stay close once we entered the city as there was a tricky sweeping turn to get from I-15 to Hwy 515. Although I have traveled this route many , many times I still got in the wrong lane but i did a quick manevure , which incidentally, probably got me off a local residence christmas card list, and got on the right lane to get on to hwy 515. Our friends had time to get into the right lane and we were now on our way to Laughlin, NV where we would spend the night.
The trip from Las Vegas ( better known as Loss Wages ) to Laughlin is about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Hwy 515 out of Vegas ( actually Henderson ) goes to Boulder city and to the majestic Hoover Dam and then onward to Kingman AZ and eventually to Laughlin. Or you can turn off to Hwy 95 which goes to Laughlin. We always take 95, probably out of habit. This highway was upgraded from a well used 2 lane hwy to a 4 lane road shortly after 9/11 as the other road crossed the Hoover dam and the Homeland security stopped all RV and Commerical traffic from crossing the Dam hence this hwy was the only way to get from Vegas to Phoenix. As a point of interest, the US Gov't recently ( about 2 years ago ) constructed a new bridge across but away from the Hoover dam site, so traffic can now get to Kingman and Phoenix without going around thru Laughlin. This new bridge is well worth a stop as it is huge.
When we arrived in Laughlin we stopped at the parking lot of the Tropicana hotel and casino, which we had done many times in the past and it was always free. However, we were surprized at first to see such few " Boondockers" because it is normally 90 % full. And secondly, the reason became quite obvious when we found out there was a 7.00 per overnight charge to park in their lot. Seniors ( us included ) are attracted by the word free. Mary and Evan agreed to Boondock with us even thought they were not fully prepared, nor had they Boondock before. Anyway, we spent the afternoon and evening in Laughlin ( Carroll donated another 20.00 )and we agreed to depart for Quartzsite, AZ around 9 AM. Out of curiousity, Carroll and I checked out several other Casinos to see if they charged to park overnight and all but one Casino ( there about a dozen in Laughlin ) was charging 7.00 per night. Most of the casinos were "dead " compared to other years , so I'm sure the overnight charge was the reason. Did mention that Seniors are attracted by the word " Free ".