We originally booked for two weeks here at the Las Vegas Thousand Trails, which would have put us out on Thursday, the 4th, but we extended for two days and have been trying to decide when to leave for our next stop, in the Reno area.
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Originally our printer said the new issue of the Gypsy Journal would arrive in Sparks this coming Monday, or Tuesday at the latest, so we planned to leave today to give us two days to make the 420 mile trip. Then a delay on the printer’s end pushed things back and now the shipment is supposed to get there on Wednesday. So we decided to wait until Sunday to leave. And then that changed again.
As I wrote a couple of days ago, Terry lost the opal from her favorite ring, a vintage piece she really loves, and we’ve been searching for either a replacement ring, or better yet, a replacement stone. Yesterday we drove down to Boulder City to pick up our mail at Bee’s Mail Service, which has been our main mail forwarding service almost since we started fulltiming.
Boulder City started life as a company town when Hoover Dam was being built, and it’s a friendly small community that is a world away from all of the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas. Most folks coming from Arizona to Las Vegas barely skirt the end edge of town and never take the time to drive a couple of blocks off the highway to the old downtown. They don’t know what they’re missing.
The short three or four blocks of the Old Town section are lined with interesting small shops and restaurants.
We even found a store selling “experienced” merchandise.
We discovered a neat little place called Jewelry By Charlie, which has an amazing assortment of rocks and gems on display. Terry showed the owner her ring and he had a beautiful Australian opal that would fit it. He said to give him an hour or so and he’d have it ready.
No problem, we wandered around for a couple of hours browsing some of the shops, stopped at Bee’s to pick up our mail, and when we went back to the store, Charlie apologized profusely and told Terry that one of the prongs that holds the stone in place fell off when he started cleaning it in preparation for setting the stone. It was weak and this is probably how she lost the original stone. I think Charlie expected her to go ballistic on him, but it’s not like he broke it on purpose. The ring is at least 40 years old and things like happen sometimes.
Charlie said he could replace the prong and then set the stone, but it wouldn’t be done until Monday or Tuesday. We told him that we had to be in Reno on Wednesday afternoon, and he said no problem, he’d come in on the weekend to get it done. What a nice guy.
We don’t know the history of the ring, but Charlie gave Terry a jeweler’s loupe and showed her an inscription on the inside that she never knew was there, two simple words, “Love Story.” Now we’re wondering about the ring. Who owned it originally and what happened to their love story? How did it find its way to the shop in Tucson where we found it? Maybe I’ll have to write a book about it someday.
So we’ll be hanging out here until Tuesday morning before we hit the road again after picking up Terry’s ring on Monday, as our own love story continues.
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Be sure to enter this week’s Free Drawing for an audiobook of Crazy Days in Big Lake, the third book in my Big Lake mystery series. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
Thought For The Day – Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.
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