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| Saturday, January 06, 2001, 11:32AM, Las Vegas |
| Been in Vegas for two nights so far. One more to go. |
| Last day in Sonora I went downtown to futz about. It’s a nice one road downtown with few empty shops. Bad problem is that a state highway runs right through it, befouling the air. |
| I hit a couple of bars. Found one place, the Office Lounge [155 S Washington St], which had Powers so I was happy as a clam. Hit a coffee/pastry shop called the Pie Tin [51 S Washington St] where I knocked back a cappuccino and a mocha and scarfed some steamed eggs rolled in tortilla with salsa. |
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| The air quality in town was doing a number on the sinuses, so I bolted up the hill for a sometimes-grueling one-hour walk back to Tim & Jules. Upward inclines and high, mountain air doesn't mix for flatlander scum such as myself. |
| Left Sonora the morning of the 4th. As we made the decent into the San Joaquin Valley we ran into thick fog, heavy with particulates. I could smell firewood smoke, and imagined what else was wafting in the air. |
| Train ran a half-hour late and it stayed that way to Bakersfield, and then by bus to Vegas. Got into town round 8pm and checked in at the Horseshoe. Then I went out to play. |
| I went to one the real classic Vegas dives, the Gold Spike. I had a few bucks in quarters and I was ready to lose them. |
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| I found a spot at the bar and ordered the first of six well-poured Jamesons and started playing Video Poker. I hit big twice that night and pretty much covered all my whiskey, the porter at Main Street Station, the bowl of all-meat chili at the Horseshoe, and most importantly I was able to tip at 33 to 66 percent of what I was consuming. That made a popular man with the barkeeps. It’s always good to be in a position to share the wealth, and god knows how many cheapskates they have to put up with. |
| I had struck up a conversation with an ex-Iowan from Dubuque. The conversation was eclectic and eventually he showed his true colors and expressed his disappointment in me being a liberal Commie from his home state. Well, tough shit. I was winning, he wasn’t. I could hold my liquor, he couldn’t. I went home that night the better man in every sense. Still, it was have been nice to have whacked him upside the head with a two-by-four, but that would be wrong. After the chili I retired at 4am. |
| Woke up Friday morning at 8:30am, called Barb to let her know I was about. We linked up and ended up going to Hoover Dam. We futzed about on the structure. The bag police nailed her for having a carrying bag when we went to go into the visitors’ center. Come to think of it she does look a lot like a terrorist with her new shorter hair-do. |
| So after Barb crossed over and back we descended into the visitors’ center. We decided to do the more intrusive hardhat tour of the dam, but we couldn’t get in until 3pm. So we had a boatload of time to kill so we futzed about some more and we both crossed back and over to relieve ourselves of excess clothing and to score some water. |
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| So the time and we were given our baby blue hard hats (which we could keep, whoopee!) and so we ventured down into the belly of the beast. Overall the tour was amusing and we got to all sorts of manly structures and do the tunnels deep into the dam and peer out from a cramped little hole halfway down, etc., etc. |
| So the day ended with me scoring a pizza at a divey Italian joint [Uncle Joe's Pizza, 505 Fremont St] and lounging back on the bed, eating pizza until I laid my head to rest. |
| So this morning I woke and got fed and persevered to blow my change back at the Gold Spike, which I did. The luck may not have been with me, but it didn’t matter. I still came out better than what I started with and for Vegas, and that ain’t bad. |
| Today we’re gonna do Indian buffet. Tomorrow the Greyhound to Los Angeles, then the train to Deming. |
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| Tuesday, January 09, 2001, 9:05AM, Silver City, NM |
| Sitting in the library in Silver City while composing this message. May get another opportunity here. Deming would be nice if the chamber of commerce is open after I get back from Las Palomas, Chihuahua but we'll see. |
| On Saturday, did Indian buffet with Barb [Gandhi India's Cuisine, 4080 Paradise Rd # 9]. Damn good food and great for cleaning up the pipes before a bus trip. We did some browsing at an outlet mall [Belz Factory Outlet World] about the size of Pleasant Hill, and all I kept thinking was how Vicki would go apeshit over this place. Scored some chocolate toffee pistachios at Harry & David which went well with the unexpected sci-fi lineup on HBO that night at the hotel room. |
| After the last movie I went over to the Plaza do utilize their guest laundry (7th floor, south tower, if you happen to be in need of a place to wash in on Fremont St.). Tried to check out their pool deck but it was closed. After laundry I tried to do the same at the Horseshoe, and damn, it was closed too. We are all not fucking sun-worshipers. |
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| Next morning, I sloth it up in the room, check out at 11am, and wait in line at Greyhound for the bus. Good news was that the Amtrak passengers would have priority seating so I scored a seat behind the driver, and was able to keep the one next to me even after we neared capacity and they trotted out another bus for overflow. |
| Bus driver yapped it up with the passenger across the aisle from whose general response was "Mm-hmm", repeated a hundred times plus. I nodded off and awoke long enough to stretch my legs in Barstow. Going in Los Angeles was a traffic nightmare, even for sunset on a Sunday afternoon. Bus driver displayed a decidedly type A personality while negotiating the L.A. traffic. Sometimes the front seat is not the best place to sit. |
| We get in on time and I got three hours to kill at the Los Angeles Union Station. I score a couple of bagels, more water, and gum and hang until the appointed time. |
| Again I score a good seat and keep the other one free. We leave L.A. on time and somewhere past Ontario I go on the nod. Woke up prior to Yuma with a major neck-ache. Dinky ass pillow you get in coach didn't quite do it for me. The night was uneventful. Breakfast was 7am, with the usual meal mates and the usual meal. |
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