May 12 & 13 - Vegas. Hoover Dam and Into Utah

Tues, May 12 – I had slept in my little tent, and as soon as the sun hit the horizon, I was up. We were hoping it was going to be cooler today as we coasted down the hill into Vegas.

Vegas is always under construction. It is one of the fastest growing metropolitans in America, and the Casinos are constantly being torn down and rebuilt. The road we came in on was being widened to accommodate the apartment complexes and fast food restaurants that were also being built.

Coming to the strip, we drove down it past the Casino Megaresorts. The Luxor, MGM Grand, New York, New York, The Bellagio, The Wynn, Circus Circus, and Treasure Island just to name a few. We pulled into a parking lot in the shade of a tall hotel and found a Wi-Fi hot spot.

Checking the weather forecast, it was to be 95 today in Vegas and up to 100 degrees at Lake Mead. None of the couch surfers that we had emailed worked out, so we didn't have anywhere to stay. Sweaty, hot and dirty, we decided to get a cheap hotel and spend the night in luxury.

Checking out Vegas.com, we found rooms as low as $18/night!! However, since we had Dazey, we had to find a place that allowed dogs. The cheapest hotel that worked for us was the Boulder Station Casino and Resort, at $29.95.

An hour later, we pulled into Boulder Station. They didn't have our reservation, and told us it may not come through until 3pm. (check-in time) Annoyed, we did a few errands, Wal-Mart, smoke shop and thrift shop and then called Vegas.com. Somehow the reservation was put under my name, not the credit card holders, Tyne.

Back to Boulder Station, they DID have us, and we check in. All the way up to the 8^th floor, all the way down the hall, it was a long walk but so worth it. To be able to sit in a chair with a nice desk and work on my laptop was great, especially doing it in my underwear. Television was nice at first, but even after going without for a month, it got boring after 20 minutes. We took showers, relaxed and unwound.

I had saved some of the doggy sedatives from when she broke her leg, and I thought tonight was the night to use one. Giving it to her with some peanut butter, Dazey got sleepy quick. She laid down for a nap, and we drove to the strip to see the sites.

We parked at the Hilton, which turned out to be several blocks from the strip still. We walked into a dead end, and jumped the fence into a constructions site. We were apprenhended by security within seconds and told to walk out "that way." "That way" was by another 4 guards, who all needed to know where we came from and what we were doing. Finally we got out of there and onto the strip.

It was hot so we bought a cold beer and started walking. Exploring the city from casino to casino, we drank some $1 margaritas and bought t-shirts for family back at home. Vegas is overstimulation central. Everywhere you look there is a deal or a bright shiny light or something else to make you say wow.

I wasn't feeling too good, so we left after a few hours and headed back to the hotel. Dazey had been really good, so we took another quick shower, and headed down the street to get the Advertised $3.29 steak, egg, toast and hash browns at Arizona Charlies.

After we pulled in, I knew I had been there. Joe Drago and I went there two and a half years before and got the same thing. Tyne signed up for a card (required for the deal) and we sat down.

For three bucks, you cant expect much. The service was excellent; quick, friendly, attentive. The eggs, toast and hash brown, amazing. The steak was tasty, a little chewy but for the price, an unbeatable meal. I gambled away $5, the only money I spent on gambling in Vegas.

After the awesome meal, we drove down to the strip to see it lit up. The traffic was unbearable because of another road work project that turned 5 lanes into 2. We struggled through and headed back to the hotel.

Sleep was great. A real bed, clean sheets, curtains and ice water! Such a treat compared to our normal living conditions.

Wed, May 13– We woke up relatively late, around 9am. For an hour we lay in our beds, basking at the joy that is a hotel room. Finally, we got up and started getting ready. It wasn't until quarter to noon when we actually left. It was hot as hell again, and our plan was to go to the Hoover dam and then camp on Lake Mead.

The Hoover dam was a disappointment. Its smaller than it looks on TV, and more crowded that I could understand. With the temperatures hovering around 100, the dusty dam was not where I wanted to be. We got our pictures, and sped away to the solitude of Lake Mead.

Presenting our park pass to get into Lake Mead free, we drove by the crowded campsites and beaches that dotted the first few miles of shoreline. We wanted to drive a little bit, then find a secluded campsite on the lake. This wasn't going to happen. The road had decent views OF the water, but not much access to the water. The only places we found were pay sites a mile up from the water. No running water, barely any shade, and filled with sweaty tourists. We drove on.

Coming out of the park, we stopped at St. Thomas Cemetary to find a geocache. The cemetery was originally located downriver, but when the hoover dam was built, the headstones were relocated so they wouldn't flood. The road down to the cemetery reminded me of a horror movie, but the cemetery was nice, tucked away back there.

Reaching the interstate, we sped through the last bit of Nevada and into the Northwest corner of Arizona. Driving up an amazing canyon with the Virgin River flowing under us, we came into Utah. The temperatures were finally getting back to a comfortable level as we came into St. George.

Grabbing some gas, we tried to find the road leading to the National Forest. All we found were newly built developments on the hillside. Asking a couple of guys on bikes how to get there, they said that they blocked the road now because too many people were dumping up there, but they knew of a good place to camp nearby.

Thirty minutes later, we were at a campsite in Red Rock Canyon. We had driven north to Leads, right, right and then right again under the single lane bridge under the highway. This led up to a little canyon, brilliantly red, with a spring giving some water and vegetation a chance.

Our site was ok, it was right next to a group of high school age kids repelling down a cliff face. They were noisy and annoying while we cooked dinner, but we ignored them for the most part. We ate a dinner of Alfredo pasta, and split an artichoke, a kiwi and an orange. Tyne set up her tent and I worked on writing in the car. As the sun set, most of the people, including the annoying rock climbers left. We fell asleep in peace.

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