Leaving Las Vegas

After 8 hours of driving, we’re leaving Las Vegas and posting the blog on the last bars of cell service before heading into the desert.   This morning we woke up at Jimmie and Keri’s with the best of intentions.  We planned an early morning of errands and Thanksgiving grocery shopping, followed by a departure at 11 am sharp with a projected arrival time at our first stop of the trip, Death Valley, CA, at 9 pm.

Reality was quite different.  After a lengthy discussion about meals, we finally started errands at about 10.   We may be in a recession, but in Salt Lake City, the day before Thanksgiving, business is booming.  We fought crowds at two grocery stores and a fish market.  The roads were packed and gas stations had lines of cars.   It was insanity.  Finally after 6 stops, packing the van and another 2 pullovers, we were on the road.  It was 2 pm.

Predictably the highway was bumper to bumper heading out of town, but with Jimmie at the wheel of Frank, we finally broke free of the masses and started making good time south.  Lesson learned: organizing a camping trip on pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday is NOT the wisest of moves.  Yet despite the delays, it was a funny time.

By 10:00 we were starving, so we pulled over in the bright city of Vegas for dinner.  We’d already shopped so despite the lure of an easy fast food drive through meal, we pulled into a Target parking lot, opened up the van and put together a fantastic spinach salad topped with seared marinated hamachi. The views were an unusual combination with the rare tuna, but it was another memorable night shared together!