ON THE ROAD JACK.....

The vans are robust, functional, wide, 25' long and poorly equipped despite paying for vehicle kits and personal kits. They could have included dish cloths and more than one toilet roll. The basic operation is OK and the pitches all have hookup to 30amp electric, fresh mains  water and usually direct waste drainage and most are drive thru so no manoeuvring.
The wing mirrors stick out a long way and give poor rear vision for reversing which is why they have drive thrus.
Handling is optional, especially in wind which we had for a couple of days and I tend to drift into the curb, but we are learning. They have full air con which is why we need 30amps and the fridges are large.
So Sunday morning we set off and went back to the Walmart for dish cloths etc and in view of the cost of phone calls I bought a cheap phone and 1000 mins for £30 which has already saved us money.
First stop at a very pretty little site at Needles on the Colorado river ....$36  a night (£22)......
Unfortunately the drive was marred by extremely hot air being pumped into the drivers foot well and I could only drive by using cruise control. When we stopped I rang the mobile assistance  and they diagnosed the problem , indicating 2 clips on the panelling that were incorrectly fastened allowing hot air from the outside ( temp over 100°) and the engine to be rammed into the footwell. Sorted and a  cold beer or two went down.
Monday 5.5.14
Getting used to driving the van and hot air problem cured.
Drove to Kingman where we refuelled.......14 gals didn't refill the tank ($50) and for only 200 miles or so we are getting less than 14mpg and petrol is about $3.50 per us gallon (or about £2.54 uk gallon). These vans are heavy,automatic and thirsty and fuel prices have risen recently and is keeping a lot of the big RVs off the road apparently although every second vehicle is an rv. From Kingman we turned onto the historic route 66 loop for 50 odd miles to Seligman a real one horse town and a campsite next to the freight rail line which ran all night with huge long trains.
We stopped at Hackberry and viewed the 1950's road house preserved as it was left when the freeway made the road obsolete complete with '57 red corvette and I'll try and post a picture and then the Grand Canyon Caverns. Massive dry caves 230' underground, complete with survival kits delivered in 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis for 2000 people for two weeks. Iodine tablets were sent in 2012 to treat the drums of drinking water.
Despite being told that the 66 loop was  a 'pretty little road' I found 50 miles of dead straight road across the desert to be anything but pretty..
Unfotunatly the GF is now feeling the effects of too much excitement, too much sun, too much travelling and too much change of diet and so we shall not move today whilst we hope she recovers.