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.

Day Three - Monday, 23 June

We all had a buffet breakfast of cereal and pastries in the motel’s reception area. It was lovely to hear Australian accents again. I’m always envious of Jane’s tan, not to mention how thin she is. It's a wonder I like her at all, actually, but I enjoy her company tremendously.

Bill, Simon and Bob went to fetch the Recreational Vehicle (RV) while the rest of us packed up and cleared the rooms. I was due at the airport to fly out to Oklahoma City, leaving the others to begin their Route 66 trek without me. I was just about to get nervous about the time when the RV arrived. Simon helped me with the cases and said he’d be laying low on this journey, given the great debate he’d witnessed over who was going to be the first to drive the RV: “I’ve driven a lorry for over 30 years [Bob]”; “But it’s my Birthday Tour! [Bill]”. I thought Simon was taking a wise approach.

I had a quiet flight to OKC; I rang Jack and he came along and picked me up. I was pleased to be at Rita’s house, though it was strange to be there without her.

Meanwhile, their day was more exciting. Bill's Road Book instructions were:

Day	Road	Mileage	Destination	Action
Day 1 23 June	US 93 US 93 I 40 Hwy 95	25 71 23 16 21	Henderson Boulder City Hoover Dam Kingman Yucca Jct 9 Lake Havasu City	Cross Dam into Arizona Right onto I 40 West Turn L London Bridge KOA	155 miles 3.5 hours

They needed to stop for groceries and Bill pointed them to Von’s Supermarket. Chris was in heaven. He willingly got a store card so he could access all the Wonderful Deals. I later panicked when I watched Chris buy 45 nectarines at WalMart because they were such a Great Offer. I can only imagine what he did in Von’s. Two things I know for sure. They bought two 3 litre jugs of red wine for only $10 and a litre of gin for only $9. There wasn’t much left of either by the time I joined the party, but they were clearly set to have a good time. They also bought lots of soft drinks and food, particularly peanut butter.

Loaded up with food (and drink), Bob and Bill set off down Hiway 93 to Lake Havasu RV park. The others in the car headed for Hoover Dam.

(Simon's picture)

There was a slight hitch when they got to the RV park as it was no longer a KOA, though Bill had booked there thinking it was. Also, the managers had left and so the permanent residents invited the guys to pick a spot, any spot. It all worked out OK, with the managers returning the next day. Just seemed an odd way to run an RV park, but then what would I know about it?

Day Two - Sunday, 22 June

We were up early ready to get to the Manchester airport where Simon magically appeared behind us at the check-in line. I wanted to take pictures then, but figured that would upset the security people. I was pleased to learn that US Airways permitted each person TWO suitcases, as I fully intended to be bringing STUFF back with me.

Checking in and getting through security gets increasingly complicated:

• Two carry on bags allowed now (to be fair to guys who don’t carry purses).
• Suitcase packed and guarded by you with nothing in that anyone else asked you to carry.
• Any liquids up to 100ml amount in the original containers, including lipsticks, creams, perfumes, in a ziplock plastic bag (no greater than 20cm square) to be shown to security personnel.
• Remove coats, sweaters and vests and put into a box to go through x-ray.
• Show security personnel any electrical items, ie laptop computers, cameras, etc.
• Remove shoes and place in a box for the x-ray.
• Place all metal objects in pockets or on person into a box for the x-ray.
• Walk through the portal and when the thing squawks, allow someone to search your person.

Besides the work of deciding what goes into which bag and remembering not to wear holey socks, juggling all these things, remembering what things to show to whom when, particularly when there are queues of people waiting everywhere and lots of shouting and instructions, it’s all a bit dizzying. I felt like a puzzle that had been taken apart and needed re-construction a few yards away on the ‘other side’.

Our first flight was from Manchester to Philadelphia and then from Philly to Las Vegas. I wish I could say good things about US Airways other than they were the cheapest airline. Unfortunately, I found the food fairly disgusting – it was half warm -- (I usually like airline food) and the staff were not just unfriendly, they were downright surly. We all agreed this would be our only trip with that airline. Oh yes, new rules: no congregating in the aisles or galley (ie waiting for the toilet to be free). Bill made the mistake of following me and speaking and we got ordered out of the galley. Fortunately I’d already been to the loo.

When we arrived at Vegas, we picked up the first vehicle at Dollar rentals, a 2007 Chrysler Pacifica.

They made us wait for it about an hour and we were a bit concerned that they hadn’t done their own inventory of damage and dings from the previous user, but we were ready to be out of there and get to our hotel.

Bill’s main problem with automatic vehicles seems to be the emergency brake. We had to get help from the Dollar guy to find out how to release it, which is a little embarrassing. I kept quiet so he'd think I was foreign, too. Then again, I couldn't really say anything, since I couldn’t figure it out either, right? I closed my eyes in the back seat while everyone got used to driving on the right side of the road.

(Simon's picture)

We'd made no arrangements for where and when to meet Jane (Bill’s sister) and Chris but knew they’d arrived in Vegas a couple of days earlier. Fortunately they remembered where we were staying – another Travel Lodge – and were staying there that night, too. We ran into them in the parking lot. They’d eaten, so we (the UK 4) went out to get some dinner at Coco’s around the corner. Simon wandered off to take pictures of Vegas (copy Hooters). Imagine what he found interesting... (to be fair, he did snap a lot of other pictures).

(Simon's picture)