Reuniting in the Desert and Day Three Photo Challenge

As my profile blurb says, Bill and I were high school sweethearts. He took me to my senior prom (he was a junior), and after staying in touch for a couple years of college we lost track of each other.

So young :-)

In 1993 I was working in Sacramento and learned through mutual friends that Bill and his family were living there. I reached out and we immediately got caught up with the last twenty years of our lives. Marriages, kids, jobs, life stuff.

We stayed in touch, visited occasionally, and saw each other at a couple reunions. Either one or both of us were always in a relationship. When we both weren't (2008), our good friend Michelle pointed out to him that the two of us should have always been together, and there was no good reason why he shouldn't make that happen now.

So he did. And we've been back together ever since. Married the end of 2012, and happier than we've ever been.

This little stroll down my memory lane leads to why it is especially wonderful for us to get together with friends from high school each year. Because they're "our" friends. All those crazy things in high school - the sports victories, the scandals, the couples' dramas, the teachers you loved and hated, the bus trips - all of them are shared memories for us, and that is just so much fun!

Like back in high school there are a few special people we spend most of our time with every year. Some of them are the same ones from 40+ years ago, and some are those we've gotten to know better in our "older" years. Some other couples are also both from high school, either married right after graduation or finding each other later (none waited quite as long as we did). Several spouses not from the same town have become part of the family over  many years, and we love seeing them just as much as our classmates.

Sharing laughs and pictures from home

The reunions are in Laughlin, NV, for a couple reasons. First, our town no longer exists.  Eagle Mountain, CA., is a ghost town. Once home to the very productive Kaiser Steel Mine, the town died when the mine closed in 1983. It was used as a minimum security prison for a few years, and now just down the road is a multi-acre solar farm.  The little community of Lake Tamarisk is still there, and where we've spent a couple nights parked at our friend Coy's. 

Second, a small group started doing an annual motorcycle run at Laughlin that the rest of us sort of invited ourselves to. Since folks are already going there, each class plans their "big" reunions of 30, 40, and 45 years there on the same weekend every year.

Third, although it can still get pretty hot there in April, the climate is always conducive to outdoor gatherings and the motorcycle run.

Finally, a large number of us are within 300 miles of Laughlin, making it drivable. The Las Vegas airport is close enough to make air travel reasonable for most everyone else.

Always love the views from the River Walk

This year we took the rig rather than staying at the casino. The Riverside RV Resort is huge, with terraced levels overlooking the casinos, Colorado River, and the mountains beyond.  It was about half full the three nights we were there, and except for the last night when a group of eight very large rigs arrived together and surrounded us, we had lots of space. They were all fun, nice and quiet neighbors.

Nice separation, not much shade

Ten of the gang came up to see the motorhome "in person" as they've been following us on FB for a while now.  It was very fun sharing it with our lifetime friends, making plans to come see many of them in the near future, and looking forward to when every one of us is retired!

Ate too much food, drank too much beer, laughed so hard it hurt, and can't wait to do it all again next year!!

It's Day Three of the black and white photo challenge. This is the Colorado Belle casino in Laughlin, one of the originals.