I thought Las Vegas would be a convenient stop to break up the trip from LA to Zion National Park. Turns out it was the about the only place you could stop between those two points. Once I left Barstow, CA it was hundreds of miles of open, desolate Mojave Desert and 5,000 feet above sea level. Although I'd nearly filled up my tank before leaving LA, I found myself running dry halfway through the desert without a gas station in sight for more than 40 miles. While running low on gas is my M.O, it wasn't such a great feeling in the middle of a desert. I finally found a station in the nick of time that was the only building, let alone gas station, for as far as the eye could see. For that convenience, I paid a whopping $4.29/gallon for regular. Ouch.
Despite the long stretches of uninhabited landscape, the Mojave was very scenic with mountains and cactus (cacti?) rising out of the desert and dotting the landscape. I've driven through the flat, endless cornfields of Iowa and I think I'll take the Mojave. But, it was also incredibly hot. LA was 88F at noon when I left and it topped out at 114F midway through the desert (I can't imagine what it's like in August). Dry heat or not...that's frickin' hot. Knowing that A/C would probably be a rarity for most of the next year, I didn't hesitate to use it.
I made it to the Sahara, my budget hotel/casino ($40/night) on The Strip. It's a bit of a dinosaur casino with it's heyday in the 50s and 60s, but it's on The Strip and in walking distance to the other casinos. At night, the temperature dropped almost 30 degrees so and I walked up The Strip to check out a few out. On a budget, I entertained myself for free by walking through casinos like the Wynn, Venetian, Paris, Aladdin, Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. The Venetian was my favorite. It had a canal going through the middle of the casino with gondola rides and shops all along the way leading to a replica old Italian square with places to eat and drink. While it was no substitute, it reminded me a little bit of my trip to Florence a few years ago. I also took in a few 'shows' of the Bellagio's iconic fountain where the water spouts are set to music and put on a rather impressive show.
Heading back to the Sahara, I finally decided to give the tables a try. I bellied up to the $3 Blackjack table (yeah, big spender). Starting with a cool $15, I played for nearly an hour going up as much as $25. But, not wanting to test my luck too much this early in the journey, I eventually left with a cool $10 in winnings and went upstairs to bed.
