Road Trip!!!

The road trip has begun and it’s just skipping along. After scrubbing down the room, packing out the bus and visiting the pier once more for a picture with the route 66 sign we were off to a late start towards Vegas. The landscape changes rapidly and beautifully between LA and Vegas and we soon entered the Mojave desert. Little scruffy desert plants scatter across the desert plains with interesting scraggly trees poking about as well. As it grew darker, Clay and I began to regret that we could not see the landscape change around us and squinted our eyes to try to discover what the large mounds surrounding could be. In order not to miss the landscape, we decided to stop at a rest stop in the Mojave desert but not before we were viciously attacked by a large piece of metal in the road. We all slept well, albeit a little chilly. When we awoke we were astounded by the sandy mounds and mountain surrounding us. Immediately we set out again towards Vegas but it wasn’t long before the first travesty occurred. The oil light lit up alerting us to the loss of the oil recently changed. So we pulled off at the next exit which was home to a hokey gas station and nothing else. As we pulled in we crossed over a cattle gate… yeah we were no where. We sprung from the vehicle to discover the obvious, oil was leaking out of the bus. Apparently the metal attack had left some damage to the oil filter. Clay being the VW savvy kid that he is crawled underneath to wiggle pipes, and tighten clamps. He added more oil and re-cranked the bus, oil poured out. But not to dismay Clay and I pushed the bus forwarded and he was back under to try again. This time he was successful and we were back on the road in no time.

Suddenly out of the desert terrain appeared the big city of Vegas. There is literally nothing before or after Vegas. Vegas is huge and glitzy. The buildings are massive and the amount of things to do is ridiculous. Meaghan and I decided to visit Siegfried and Roy Dolphin exhibit and Secret Garden which houses some of their Siberian Tigers and other large cats. Oh my gee wilikers, the tigers were so big! These cats were obviously well taken car of and often interacted with. They were very alert and very fierce looking. They would look straight at you and think evil thoughts. The dolphins would look straight at you too but they were adorable. Meg and I sat beside a tank that housed Lightening and Beatle. They played and leapt and wrestled, then they’d come around to where we sat and stare at us. They look through their gate where they could see other dolphins in another tank and get rather jealous if they were receiving attention by the trainers. Both would zip around the tank and as they passed Meg would try to spray her. Ew dolphin snot.

As for the rest of Vegas we acted like good tourist, we purchased a room, we played some slots (blew eight dollars), we paid for air at an oxygen bar, and we walked about the strip to look at the lights.

After spending a day in Vegas and staying up too late, we set out towards the Grand Canyon; however, we were distracted by a sign along the way, Hoover Dam exit. Oh my goodness it was amazing!!!!!! The memorial bridge was defiantly cooler then the dam itself it was so huge! Aw striking really. The dam was really big too, it’s hard to imagine that people could build something like this. We also witnessed a battle between a water bird and a fish. The bird swallowed the fish in one gulp! The fish was still wiggling! Very neato.

We now have arrived at the Grand Canyon park; however, we have yet to see the glorious sight. Anticipation is growing.