I woke up this morning in my nearly abandoned campground with no real idea what my day had in store for me. All I knew was that I wanted to be in Vegas by 7:30am tomorrow to drop Jeff off at a mechanic.
So I had my usual breakfast and started to leisurely breakdown camp. Around 9am I pulled out, and picked a direction, because I had no cell coverage to acquire directions for the first 30 miles of my drive. Luckily I picked correctly!
Once you get out of the mountains and into the Mojave there is nothing… just 109 degrees and wind.
Speaking of wind… Dear Lord it’s intense… Jeff’s AC is still out of commission, so I have been rolling with both front windows all the way down since day one of this adventure. I also have a platform with a twin sized mattress, sheets, blankets, and now only one pillow. That’s right, I had a gust so intense that it grabbed one of my pillows, sucked it out my drivers window, and promptly set it underneath and 18 wheeler going the opposite direction. All while driving 70 miles an hour. That was the moment I truest realized what a gamble it is to drive through the desert.
Someone, actually several someone’s lost that gamble. Traffic came to a standstill for about a half hour due to an overturned semi. Being the smart owner of an older vehicle (that doesn’t have AC anyways) I turned Jeff off. Once traffic started up again I passed 3 (newer) cars that had overheated while sitting idling with their AC blasting. All of this before I hit Death Valley.
When I finally got to Death Valley I only had about a gallon of water left of the 4 I started the drive with. More than enough to get me to Vegas, assuming Death Valley didn’t try to kill Jeff. Also the front bearings on Jeff are in dire condition (hence the need for a mechanic in Vegas). This is probably the biggest gamble I have taken with Jeff to date.
Like the Solar boiler I stumbled upon on the other side of the valley, Jeff was a shining star. No overheating, no wheels falling off, not even the usual unexplained noise from under the passenger seat (I honestly think I lost a bear bell down there).
And for his good behavior Jeff got Valet Parking at the Golden Nugget. That’s right folks, it was high time I got a shower and if you’re going to Vegas, you might as well stay in a casino.
They also have this awesome shark tank in their pool area…
At any rate, I hopped through the shower and started my evening in the casino. I am not going to say how far up I was at one point, but when I called it quits I was only 100 in the hole. I really never do quit when I’m ahead…
After that I stumbled into the streets to see what I could find. I ended up at a club that featured a balcony overlooking this plaza.
As I got into the elevator a group of officers who were in town for a wedding, asked about the kilt and I ended up spending my evening with this crazy group. There was drinking, hand rolled cigars, dancing, more drinking, and a lot of story swapping. We had a blast.
I finally found my bed around 4:45am. My alarm is going off at 6:30 so I can get Jeff to the mechanic when they open. Tomorrow is gonna be a very interesting day!
Daily Score: 1
– 1 point for accruing another 1,000 miles
Total score to date: 29
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