Las Vegas, Last day, Fri report

 Gas stations Past:

 There are still two states where you cannot pump your own gas, Idaho and NJ methinks.

Report of FRIDAY’s Vegas day:

Well I was looking at 108 on our outside thermometer.  Sherry & Jack suggested a trip to Hoover Dam, since our road home no longer goes over the dam. HWY 93 at one time rode the top of the dam, but since that time a super big bridge has been built to bypass the two lane road. This is the bridge as viewed from the top of the dam.

 

This was the view from the top of the dam in 2013 when we were out.

To be honest it did slow the traffic because many people slowed down to see the power plant and the lake itself.

Before heading to the dam, Dewey called and said he had found the boxes and stuff he wanted us to take to his nephew Dale in North Carolina so we drove up there.

After more good byes we loaded the 80-100 lbs and headed to Boulder city. We wound down the road and came to a sign: ROAD CLOSED. WE took the road to ‘View Lake Mead’, we could not see the dam.

 

Don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful lake and view.  But you do not get to see the dam. JJ had never seen it and we drove down there just for him to experience the enormity of that dam. OUCH

Hopefully in the morning he will get to see the back of the dam and power plant.

I did not mean to give the impression that everything not on the strip was run down, there are some beautiful developments and homes. 

And as you can see with the skyline of Las Vegas the smoke is still with us.

Good bye shots of more of Sin City.

 

But look what was sitting in the New Raiders stadium parking lot, beautiful 1950s Chevies.

 

Nite Shipslog  

publishing Friday night, we should be on the road to New Mexico Sat morning.   

Sin City, Things that are hard to believe...

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Report of Thursday’s Vegas day:

Sherry and JJ came back from a trip to Wal Mart with some weird tales:

“You wanted AAA batteries. They had to call a special ‘key man’ to unlock them then follow me to the counter to  pay for them!” Said JJ

“You know my hand lotion? They had a guard to put it in a plastic container before it could leave the area.” Sherry continued, “And I use the cheap lotion.”

They smiled saying, the big containers of Tide were under lock and key.

I was telling JJ that the last time I was here I started to mail a letter late and there was a warning on the mail Box: “WARNING DO NOT DEPOSIT MAIL IN THIS BOX AFTER 11 PM  HIGH PROBABILITY OF THEFT.”

There are also littered & dirty streets when you get away from the Strip! Very small sample below!

 

It is also a shame here that the homeless population is certainly apparent with homeless villages.  All that is a shame in the shadow of the following from the STRIP:

 

We did get the chance to take Cousin Dewey out to dinner. He suggested Famous DAve's .  The food was  very good. It is the first restaurant our temp was taken before we were seated.

A sample of his collections of Hollywood memorabilia...

 

So many autographed pictures of stars.

 He has boxes of books. Shelves (Hundreds) of autographed first editions. Many original movies ads. Hundreds of LP's. That just scratches the surface. And my cousin says he will be down sized to a suitcase and move to Taiwan in March 2021.

I love him to pieces, but I do not see it happening.. I will finish our stay in 'Sin City' in the morrow and we will head the shortest way back to NC.

Nite Shipslog.....

 

 

 

Across the desert Into Las Vegas

Gas stations Past:

 

Report of Tuesday’s drive:

We were on the road again, this time more desert. Coming close to Death Valley. We tried to sleep in a little.  We all deserved it. Looking forward to 2-3 days in Las Vegas and Cousin Howard Dewey D.  Hoping this time around he would have that secret ‘system’ for getting rich in Las Vegas.

I always think of one of Jerry Clower’s jokes about Marcel Ledbetter. His line was, “Marcel went to Las Vegas in a $5,000 car and came back in a $90.000  Grey Hound Bus.”

WE left Boron and traveled thru desert (I am sure it was the Mojave) most of the terrain was like this until we came to those mountains in the distance.

 A unique site near Barstow, some sort of military display.

Things went well until JJ read a sign “TURN OFF THE A/C NEXT 2O MILES.”

He did and told me the heat gauge was high, but steady.

We climbed up a straight hill for 10 miles, from 500 ft to about 4000.

 

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The mountains were pretty or unique. Much like the ones of Utah. We did get some cactus in the desert.

Barren and hot. WE reached Nevada temp is 123 degrees.

This is some Las Vegas shots.

Above is the new RAiders stadium in LV

 

the above new hotel blows my mind with electronic advertisement that HUGE!

 

Nite Shipslog