Is it morning?

Ok, I'm never using Dollar rent-a-car again. Took the shuttle over to the car rental place and found about forty people or so already in line for a car, and I was one of the first ones from my flight there. The line got longer--much longer--shortly. The hold up? Dollar, with 17 customer service stations at their kiosk, only had four people working despite knowing that they had all of these people coming in to pick up their reserved cars. And the four behind the counter weren't working any too fast; it felt like I was back home at the DMV. After an hour and seven minutes in line, I got to an unfriendly representative who seemed to take it personally when I declined their insurance coverage, although by that time, I was considering insuring it just so I could beat the tar out of it. Screw Dollar. I'd have bailed and gone elsewhere if I hadn't had a low rate for a 4x4 SUV already locked in.

Finally I got out of there and quickly found myself on Las Vegas Blvd, aka: The Strip.

All I can say is "Wow!" Pretty impressive. 

I cruised the strip a bit to get the lay of it, then found my hotel, parked the rental and checked in. I was tired by now but I had to go out and see this place on foot for a bit, tired be damned. 

Two things about the Vegas strip: decent bottled beers are cheap and a great thing to have in the 87-degree heat at midnight, and you can carry them around with you. So the next couple of hours saw my drinking much ice cold beer and wandering up and down the strip. It is a little seedier than you see on TV but I didn't mind. In fact, I kinda figured it'd be like that. Gambling, alcohol and transients are just the thing to bring out the panhandlers, hustlers and other assorted neer-do-wells that you could spot in abundance if you looked beyond the pretty lights. I found a little place selling the most disgusting little street tacos, and they were delicious. I skipped the tripe and the tongue and the beef brain and just had the steak and chorizo, loaded with onion, guacamole, and something else that I couldn't identify, and I'll tel you what, the next time I'm worn out and half in the bag, I'll go back there and get more.

Finally I got back to my hotel fed all my loose dollars into the slots, then hit on the second to last one and won back exactly what I'd just put in, so I quit there and walked out with as much as I'd walked in with.

Now it's morning, or early afternoon, and I'm on the move again, albeit with a dry mouth and a mild headache, looking for my rental and a little camel that I'm sure was here last night. (Old NFO knows of this creature.)

Next step: North. To a place called Utah.  Friends and my rifle are waiting.

And would someone turn the thermostat down, please? 107 degrees forecast today. That ain't natural..