Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Twain Harte Road Trip - Day 13 - Las Vegas, NV to Bakersfield, CA

LEAVING LAS VEGAS: the Blog not the Movie

The 2 old buzzards were packed up and ready to check out of Best Western Mardi Gras by 8:30. John sent Linda in to the lobby to turn in the keys. He also handed her a baggie of change with specific instructions to send it through a slot machine once and that he would split the winnings (if any) with her. This would be the 1st gambling either buzzard had done on the trip (except for Linda's Sponge Bob, Jester Guesser and darts yesterday). After finding a machine that would take actual coins instead of a ticket, Linda sent the quarters through and then got paid off by the attendant in actual folding money - 3 whole dollars. Which was maybe a dollar more than she had put through the machine 2 quarters at a time. Wheeeeeee! We came out ahead!

And the temperature was in the 80s as we were leaving. We stopped to get gas. John pumped and Linda cleaned off the windshield. As she was finishing up a young girl approached and asked if she wore perfume. "Wow, how could I be offending someone out in the open air?" Linda wondered. Then she figured out that the girl was giving out samples to try to sell cheap knockoff perfumes. She told the girl "No, thanks" and the girl said "Welcome to Las Vegas" anyway. Both old buzzards thought that was a pretty funny send off. Ii was just like the first day we arrived and pulled up in front of our motel room. Some dude drives up in a beat up car and wants to know if John would like a nice 3 carat diamond for "his lady".

Mileage Madness Alert: While in Las Vegas, Wilma mostly rested. The only miles she added were 4 trips to the Las Vegas strip and one to an IHOP. We left today on Highway 15 to Barstow and then took 58 to Bakersfield. Our only trip tonight was to Outback Steakhouse. The deadline will soon be approaching to submit your entry because we arrive back to Morgan Hill tomorrow night.

Today on the road we saw acres and acres of cactus, some pretty wildflowers and mountains as well. Much of it was similar to things we have already photographed so we didn't pause to shoot. There were quite a few wind turbines in the Mojave area along with lots of Joshua trees (which aren't really trees but are cactus Linda thinks). They were named by Mormans after the prophet Joshua (to signify Joshua with his arms up in the air). We saw lots of different sizes of them today. Some had many many arms. Happy, happy Mormons!

We had a rest stop at Denny's in Tehachapi and Linda added Dennys to her list of where not to ever use soap. The really strong obnoxious smell just won't go away. The only other place on her list is McDonalds. Does anyone else have this peculiar quirk besides Linda? John doubts it.

It's great to be back in cooler weather. It was only 71 degrees in Tehachapi. We soon saw lots of citrus groves, a few with oil pumps scattered among them. Linda also saw a few really large pumpkins by the side of the road. Someone's been busy collecting trash and putting it in those orange bags!

The vagabond buzzards checked in at the Vagabond Inn in Bakersfield at about 3 pm which gave them plenty of time to relax and blog a while before dinner. The motel was nice, clean (major criteria), roomy enough, had a king-size bed, wi-fi (another major criteria) and free breakfast (malted waffles, no less). Cost less than $50 including the pet fee.

Wilma did a great job of getting us down under to The Outback in Bakersfield. We had only been to an Outback once before. For an appetizer we had the Awesome Blossom (it's the law apparently). Our waiter Tyler was just off the boat 2 days from North Carolina and did an excellent job despite our adding on to our order a couple of times. He was very busy but gave us real southern hospitality. John got a filet and Linda got salmon. Both were excellent. So back to the Vagabond for our last night away from home for a while. Today as Wilma carried us here, we started coming up with some ideas for our next Buzzards on the Road Adventure. You'll just have to wait. It will be a while. After tomorrow it's back to eating beans, collecting cans and rolling pennies again...gotta buy that ticket to ride!

Today Linda is thankful for extension cords, microwaves and back scratchers. John is always thankfor for Linda's patience, kindness and back scratches.

No photos or video today.

No comments:

Post a Comment