Day Twenty - Thursday, 10 July - Part II

We pulled over for the last lunch in the RV and finished packing or binning everything. Travelling takes more organisational skill than I ever remember it used to, particularly when one has more luggage, more STUFF, than is probably sensible. The woman at the RV rental congratulated Bill on having come so close (15 miles) within the limit of 'free' miles that came with the rental. We were fairly impressed ourselves!



By this time it was a relief to be done with the RV and to unload our cares -- and our luggage -- into a taxi. The driver turned out to be from Texas. I was enjoying his accent and so encouraged him to talk -- much like Geordie taxi drivers do with me. He told us he'd lived in Vegas about 16 years, but he had an office in Oklahoma City at one time. He said he wasn't a gambler -- unless you counted the fact that he'd been married 3 times -- but thought of himself as a player, which I took to meant a professional. He mentioned counting cards, but one had to move around a lot not to get caught doing that. He preferred to specialise in betting on sports teams and he had a system for collecting and analysing data that worked very well for him. I declined to ask him why he was still driving a taxi.



We moved on to talking about the weather. Turns out he's lived through direct experiences with it all -- tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes -- had a story about each, starring one wife or another. At some point I decided he was possibly stretching the limits of plausibility, but hey, I'd expect nothing less from a Texan. It passed the time on the way to our our hotel.



Once in the hotel, hot showers were a top priority in our room. Simon wanted to take Bill to see Cirque du Soliel and I was certainly tempted, even though the tickets were $120 each. Bill declined, mainly because the price included dinner and he wouldn't be able to eat until 9pm -- way too late. I think he was pretty tired as well; so were we all, at least we oldsters. We arranged with Chris and Jane to meet for dinner in the hotel -- the all you can eat buffet -- about 7 pm. In the meantime, Bill helped me guess at the weight distribution of all my STUFF between our three suitcases -- did I mention we bought another suitcase at Wal-Mart to haul home Rita's jewellery?


Chris informed us that we needed to get our club cards before we went to dinner. This meant queuing up with ID at the club card registration, so we could get the buffet for half price -- something like $7.00. Then we went to stand in the food queue, which was pretty long. Long enough for Rhiannon to run back and forth to a cash point, long enough for Simon to return from buying tickets. I was beginning to remember why I don't like Vegas, standing in that line. After I paid, I joined the others at the table they selected, but noticed other people talking to a woman behind the cashier. When I went to see what that was about, she insisted that I show her my receipt, that was her function, one yard away from the cashier, checking that people had paid. I'd already buried the piece of paper and it took me ages to find it. I was hating Vegas more by the minute. Oh -- and the food was crap as well. I think I was pretty tired by now.



After dinner we went for a stroll to enjoy the last of the desert heat before returning to dear old wet England. I have to admit Vegas is amazing to look at, but not being a gambler -- or a player -- the only use I have for it is for an easy travel destination. Jane had very sensibly complied a list of 100 things to do for free in Las Vegas prior to their arrival at the start, which I might borrow sometime. And I might go back to see the Cirque du Soleil if I can get into the first seating...


And thanks again to Simon for his pictures.