Jarvo's Blog - Cowboys, Casinos, Christmas and Canyons

	Sunday, February 05, 2006

Cowboys, Casinos, Christmas and Canyons

Thursday 7/12/05 5.00pm
FINALLY !!!!! The van was ready yesterday, my one week to deliver and fit the engine turned into two and a half weeks with all the additional cost etc that with the extra time I calculated that it would have been cheaper to fly back to England for two weeks, but obviously the “oh just another day or so” routine kept me firmly ensconced in my motel. The drive yesterday was easily the worst so far, I left Texarkana at 9.00 am to travel 430’ish miles to San Antonio, there had been a storm front forecast moving down and across from the northwest and I hoped to be across to Dallas (200 miles) and dropping down south before it hit, NO SUCH LUCK ! as I reached Dallas the wind and freezing rain began now not only did this slow the traffic but, and here’s the really good bit, because the temperature dropped rapidly and I have a very big area of glass for a wind screen the water just froze even with the heater on (as you can imagine as the van is big the hot air expelled just dissipates into the ether) so on the motorway with my wipers now solid lumps of ice just skimming over the frosted surface and me praying for a service area doing that whole looking through the bottom 3 inches of my windscreen, saw a turning and just pulled off then into a luckily positioned lay-by I got out and scraped it off with a credit card, hands numb from the cold got back in and started off again 3 miles or so later dropped into a service area and bought a proper scraper. Now I guess I should just have parked up and waited but I was by now heading south and believed that I would drive out of it, NO SUCH LUCK ! This appalling weather continued right down to San Antonio and missing my exit due to it being in an area of road works and consequently poorly signposted ended up have to join the 410 loop rd (this was like the north circular on a very bad day with the Atlanta esc filtering roads situation) further more it was now 5.00pm and getting dark, but at least the rain had stopped. So after an hour or so I reached my junction, heading away from town on I-10, 15 minutes later turned of to Highway 46 then it began again the temperature dropped and the rain started the old screen started to frost over ,the problem was I was now on a single carriageway road in the dark and as more ice formed the glair from the occasional oncoming cars made it all most impossible to see, add to this the fact that the road did not lend itself to pulling over and was twisting I began to get really worried and as I had reduced my speed to about 30mph there was also a dozen or so cars behind me which only added to the tension, I kept telling myself to concentrate and not panic but every time I approached another bend I thought “ok there’s bound to be a lay bye or garage or something soon” and when there wasn’t this only served to increase my worry and tension, anyway mercifully after about 15mins, which seemed like forever a junction with a lay bye presented itself and I hurriedly pulled over as I came to rest and took my hands off the wheel and I was actually shaking with the whole scared tension thing and I can honestly say I cant remember being more scared, it was now 7.00pm. I started my genny, sat for an hour and had a sandwich and a cup of tea then venturing outside I noticed that the temperature had risen and the ice was now melting, I then realised I was only 15 miles from my destination and the rain had stopped, so I quickly re-stowed my cups, plates etc and headed back out arriving at my destination at 8.30 eleven and a half hours on the road, had another cup of tea and went straight to bed.

I woke this morning and thought about last night and frightened myself all over again with the thought running through my head “you complete twat, how bloody dangerous and stupid was that !” And have decided NEVER to get in that situation again I’ll just pull over and wait it out. On the positive side the engine ran very well oh and bye the way it was $5688.50 but hey sh_t happens. :o)

It’s been just above freezing here today and the locals hate it as its very unusual for it to be below 20 here its just a freak system that blew down from Canada but it should get back to normal by tomorrow evening. Got up and went out for my morning exercise down to lake Medina which looked wonderfully wild and rugged, the thing that struck me the most on my first site of this place is that its teeming with deer and you can go to within a few feet of them even the fairly big males , I have always liked watching this type of animal as when you approach them there movements are always so definite, they hear your feet and look up in a very sort of positive smooth way the movement then stops with out any juddering which makes them look as though they have an almost regal poise. This also makes them a little horny, another one for the boys!!!! Have spent most of the day getting everything back shipshape and had a good old clean through, I must say I love being back in the van its just so cool having a sort of micro house, I’m picking up a car tomorrow as Enterprise have a 50% off deal for a long weekend which means I get a car for 4 days at about £12.00 a day which is great, need to do some food shopping etc then plan to do the Alamo on Saturday and have a bit of a wonder around and will see what’s on offer on Sunday.

Saturday 10/12/05 6.30pm
Have just returned from a day out in San Antonio and I’ve got to say it was excellent, I arrived at about 10.30 parked the car and headed for the Alamo, as I approached the old mission it was a little surreal to see this very old building surrounded by all the trappings of a modern city, but once in the grounds I was taken by the history of the place, most of us (well mainly the blokes) as boys watched the film starring John Wanye amongst others but it was always just a film no matter how many times the sentence “A true story” appears. But this was really brilliant actually being there and imagining the whole battle and the odds they faced I was surprised to learn that amongst the 204 men who fought and died were 12 English, 8 Irish, 3 Scots, 1 Welsh, 2 Germans and 1 Dane (but obviously he wasn’t great!) When you go inside and have “the tour” you look at the walls and where they aligned with windows you can still see the holes where the musket balls hit, sadly the taking of photographs inside was prohibited which I didn’t really understand, but I guess there must be a good reason, and going to the gift shop there were no pictures in the form of post cards either (this is something that my cynically commercial mind always looks for in similar situations) but now writing this I’ve had the thought that perhaps its seen as a sort of burial site as some of the countries most famous sons died there. Anyway after a couple of hours I made my way down to Riverside walk this is in the centre of San Antonio and consists of a canal like water system the whole ambiance of the place was great your walking along the tow paths with lots of little craft stalls and cafes with people sitting at tables doing the whole social eating thing that I love so much especially as it was sunny (about 75 oopps ! sorry cold England) there were artists displaying their work and saw a really cool print at one of the studios so I’ve taken the guys card and might get him to ship it back to England for me but we’ll see, it reminded me very much of when I lived in Camden north London a really happening, bustling, cosmopolitan feel and of course there were plenty of soul food vendors so couldn’t help having a tray of noodles, bean sprouts and tofu I guess it’s just the hippie in me! In conclusion I would be happy to visit here again and spend a little more time, we’ll see.

Sunday 11/12/05
Drove out to Bandera a small town just west of San Antonio which is reputed to be the cowboy capital of Texas the main street was full of stores selling all the things a cowboy would need, ropes, saddles, boots, and many places to buy various Indian relics and memorabilia had a good few hours just wandering into places and browsing around which I really enjoyed, I was obviously compelled to go into one of the cowboy stores to buy the old hat and cowboy shit, a rather natty ensemble if I do say so myself. On the edge of town was an old Canteena so decided to pop in for a spot of lunch it sold a mixture of food but mainly Texmex order myself a plate of Fajitas and after a little while was presented with 1 plate containing the floured rounded beauties 1 plate containing beans, rice and a guacamole salad and a sort of hot plate with a mountain of sizzling slivers of beef, chicken, onions and green peppers they also brought a little round bowl containing reddish concoction and a tea spoon, so put a little on the edge of a fajitas and BANG! My mouth exploded with heat, eyes watering, nose running, tongue burning ah that’ll be the hot sauce then! I sat in wonder as I watched cowboys liberally apply the inferno sauce to all they consumed, with puny mouthed me having to let my tongue linger for a while in my ice cold beer before resuming my meal, minus hot sauces. One of the neatest things about this place was the bar for instead of the usual line of barstools there were poles with saddles perched on top and as cowboys entered they straddled the saddles and happily sat having a beer and chatting. Another good day.

Monday 12/12/05
Well, as i was now in the possession of my cowboy hat and shirt I really needed to get myself on a horse so made my way to the Twin Elm dude ranch for a days trail riding. As I’d never been on a horse before I don’t mind saying I was rather excited and as I approached the entrance one of those involuntary smiles appeared on my face. After signing the waver and paying my $50 I walked up to the corral to meet Mike my wrangle (that’s what they call real cowboys round here) as I approached he was saddling up my horse “Midnight” who, as her name suggested was black with a small flash of white on her face. We exchanged warm greetings and I was then mounted, I felt a little silly as Mike walked to the side of the corral and fetched an old chair to aid the “mounting” process, I bet John Wayne didn’t need a bloody chair I thought to myself, next on the agenda was “how to control your beast” this was in fact a lot simpler than I had expected, hold the reins in your right hand resting just in front of the pummel, pull back to your ribs to made her stop, once stopped release the tension or the horse would start to backup, move hand to right or left to turn and a mouthed clicking noise and a gentle dig with heals to the ribs to go forward , yes I think I’ve got all that.

Once off on the trail began chatting to Mike about many things, he had been working on the ranch for about 4 months and owned a small holding outside Fort Worth that his daughter and her husband now ran, he was 52 and had been a wrangler all his life the horse he rode was a 4 yr old that he had bread himself and had been on many cattle drives some of which were 1600 miles taking 6 months to complete in fact he had rode his horse down from Fort worth some 375 miles “well” he said “we take our time and when we’ve had enough for a day I just stop and make a camp” he was as you would expect knowledgeable on all things western, so if any one out there needs to know the breeding thing, here’s what mike had to say “well, when she comes on heat she wont stand for him, then on about the 3rd day she’ll be ok with it, then mate her every other day till she wont stand for him again” Hmm.. thanks Mike.

During our “ride out” we saw many deer, cattle and armadillos scurrying around like little old men. The whole riding experience was fun as we were riding western style “apparently” which is more laid back than the traditional up tight method, crossing rivers a bit hairy at times but if you remembered to “ride the saddle not the horse” as Mike said, you were just fine , leaning forward going up sharp gradients (this was usually done at a bit of pace causing me to hold on for dear bloody life!) and leaning back going down gradients as a horse carries 75% of its weight on its front legs. We passed a few deer hides with corn drums some 50 or so metres away (corn drums are about the size of an oil drum which on demand releases corn, deer then come to feed on the corn and the “hunters” then shoot the dear) Mike and I agreed that this wasn’t really hunting at all and such things shouldn’t be aloud.

We arrived back at the corral and I dismounted (without chair, thank you very much !) a few warm words and thankyou’s and I was gone. Mike had been a great companion on the day he was one of those people who just seemed totally content with his lot, the way he lived. I have met people such as Mike before and they all seem to carry a sort of quiet strength, a solidness that is so scarce in many modern people who are bound by the insecurity of modern living.

Wednesday 14/12/05
I’m leaving tomorrow and heading up to Carlsbad Cavers which should be cool just been doing all personal admin laundry, cleaning etc have met a couple Ron and Sherrie who are from Washington state very nice people indeed so have exchanged details and have been invited to pop in for a while when I get up there (sometime 2007!)

Thursday 15/12/05
Well my little babies have just arrived in White City, New Mexico on the edge of the Carlsbad National Park home to the world famous Carlsbad Caverns which I’m going to visit tomorrow, the main reason for this entry is to convey the drive up from Texas. But must first record how well the girl (van) ran today, very pleasing. So driving along I-10 when I notice in the distance these funny spinning objects, as I drove further down the interstate a ridge rose up probably 100ft high and about ½ mile away to my right , perched on top of this ridge were hundreds of massive wind turbines white and gleaming as they turned, considering I had spent the previous 2 hours driving through fairly nondescript Texas tundra it was completely strange, what’s more the ridge and the turbines proceeded to track the path of the interstate for the next 30 miles hundreds upon hundreds of them(I realize that in truth the road probably tracked the ridge, but I’d started out taking the road as my first point of context so had to continue) I’ve probably mentioned this before but I love big stuff and am constantly amazed at the feats of engineering that man has achieved in a relatively short space of time, anyway I had mused to myself some while ago that I’d not been on any of those roads you see in the movies, you know the one’s that seem to go on forever, well, turning north off I-10 onto Highway 285 towards Carlsbad I found one, driving along this road which was straight and flat with no roadside buildings, towns, garages etc just rough flat terrain as far as the eye could see with only the occasional motorist to share it with, I continued on this straight, flat course for nearly 100 miles! The only sign of humanity were the numerous nodding oil donkeys that inhabit this part of Texas/New Mexico. The parody between the old and new struck me, the sad old donkeys churning out the non replenishable black sludge that we have come to rely upon so heavily and the new bright shinning contraptions that seemed futuristic, clean and modern, if anyone needed convincing of the wisdom in advancing replenishable technology it sort of stairs you in the face, inescapable, oil WILL run out, some conservative estimates say that in only 80yrs we’ll be taking the last of it, what then? Ok I’ll stop now as I don’t want to use this as a personal forum even though by definition I suppose it is (pulls inquisitive face). As for White City if one were to look at the dictionary under “one horse town” I’m sure you’d find “see White City” its one street about 500m long with a grocery, motel, campsite, gift shop, million dollar museum(apparently containing such items as the two headed rattle snake, so I’ll take a look tomorrow after the caverns) all of which are run by the same company and that’s about it apart from one restaurant(closed down) and a Shell garage .Well I think that’s really all for today, goodbye x.

Friday 16/12/05
The day started quite comically as I had ordered a taxi to pick me up at 9.30 for the 8 mile drive up to the Caverns and as 10.00am arrived I phoned the taxi office to enquire the whereabouts of my ride “hello it’s Paul Jarvis here I ordered a taxi and it hasn’t arrived yet (now I was a bit annoyed but I’m not a rude complainer) “oh yes Mr Jarvis he’s just leaving now” came the reply “but I ordered it for 9.30!” I said “yes that’s right and he’ll be with you in about half an hour” and as I said “but that will be…..” I looked at the clock in the entrance lobby (which was my agreed pick up point) it read 9.00am, I then realised that I had crossed another time zone, as I sheepishly apologised the lady said “that’s quite understandable Mr Jarvis” her tone was very reminiscent of Sible from Fawlty Towers, stupid bloody tourist!

The cab ride although short took us through some really craggy scenery which was proper western geography.

Carlsbad Caverns? Completely amazing! So I arrive and go into the visitor centre pay my $9.00 ($6 for entrance and $3 for an electronic guide, it looks like a phone and along the way there are numbers, you simply punch the number in and you get chat on that location) then take the short walk to the entrance and am confronted by a huge opening below me, they’ve created an amphitheatre in part of this opening as during the summer the caverns are home to roughly 200,000 (yes, that’s two hundred thousand!) Mexican Freetailed Bats who exit on mass at dusk each day to go off feeding on the desert insects, this exodus takes about ¾ of an hour due to their sheer numbers. I immediately decided to come back here before I die to see it. Going down the meandering path that is a mile long and drops 750ft your struck by the sheer size and beauty of these caves, the Big room for example is 6 rugby pitches long and 225ft high at its tallest point, the decoration (a term used by the guide to describe the formations) are outstanding, if you take the whole route, which of course I did, you walk two and a half miles underground weaving through stone arches that open out to more huge rooms, sadly the dimly lit caverns mean your camera flash is totally ineffective so no images of any worth were recorded, but even if they were they simply wouldn’t do the place justice. Remember the Tuckaleechee caverns under the smoky mounts I visited well if Carlsbad were Big Ben then Tuckaleechee was one of those black plastic digital watches you bought from a petrol station in the 70’s, simply no comparison. Up and off again tomorrow, dropping down to Arizona and re-joining I-10 to take me closer to Vegas so they’ll be no entry for a few days ,just driving.

Monday 19/12/05
Well “no entry for a few days?” Not so, driving down to my first overnight stop before pushing on up to Vegas dropped down into El Paso on the US/Mexican border pulled of the road to do a spot of map reading then went to start the old van and… nothing , not a drop of life in the old girl, fortunately I was in the middle of town so called the insurance people who got me towed to a little garage run by a Mexican family the owner Mike Lopez had driven from his home to open up the yard, and speaking to him realised that they would not be able to look at it until Monday at the earliest which would mean my chances of being in Vegas for the 22nd were remote as it is about a 1000 mile drive. Hmm…

So have decided to leave the van in Mikes capable hands until the 11th Jan and fly up as I will have somewhere to stay with Troy and Deedee over Xmas and then on the 28th my brother arrives for a visit for a couple of weeks. Funny thing is I worked out the cost of flying plus my 4 nights in a motel and 3 days car hire here and its cheaper than if I drove! It’s odd how stuff turns out as the drive into El Paso was really lovely driving up and over the Guadeloupe mountains wild and rugged and there was a part of me that wished I could have planned to stay for a few days, and now, I am! El Paso itself is quite a big town and from my 3rd floor motel room (which has a balcony) I look out to the south and my view is wonderful the town is mostly single story white Spanish (ok Mexican) type dwellings so I look out over this sea of small houses and perhaps 2 miles or so as the dwellings end mountains rise up in a huge foreboding wall of rock, it reminded me of pictures of Rio and the stark and close contrast between civilization and nature. My vantage point also gives the opportunity of witnessing some beautiful sunsets and rises, at dusk the street lights burn bright into the distance a blanket of single closely knit specs, they’re my very own personal Christmas lights. The towns proximity to Mexico means that the population contains many Hispanics and pretty much everyone including standard white Americans speak fluent Spanish (or the Mexican derivative) Tomorrow I’m off for a tour around so that should be fun!

Wednesday 21/12/05
Well what of yesterdays tour, I was picked up at 9.00am by………(a bit about him) we met in the lobby of the hotel exchanged greetings and I was then lead to the “tuor2 bus, which in fact turned out to be a 5 seater people carrier , as ……….explained I was the only person to book a tour so he had brought his personal vehicle. Our first destination for the day was Juarez a town of about 2 million people 4 miles or so across the Mexican border, I realised straight away that I was in for an interesting day, as we pulled away I struck up an opening conversation “so how long have you been doing this?” Armondo immediately turned and said straight faced “it’s my first day” as his cincerety turned into an impish smile, I laughed out loud and relaxed; driving across the border amondo said “if you look to your right you’ll see the Rio Denatha (nothing) “the Rio danatha?” I enquired “Yes my friend, it was the Rio Grande but all the waters gone” and sure enough the water had gone. I had earlier looked at my map and had noted that the Rio Grande did in fact form the border between Mexico and the US, driving through Juarez I noticed the change in feel from El Paso, Juarez was indeed the poor border cousin, the cars were in the main very much older and driven in a completely mad fashion with no regard to law or safety, the whole place just felt impoverished, young and old standing out on the street with no jobs no, no money and little hope, Amondo explained that over the last 10 years over 20 American owned factories had closed (there operations moved to China), he explained that even at there height the Mexican workers were still only paid $35.00 (£20.00) a day. Even though I was not an American I felt a little sad and embarrassed. Our first proper stop was in a large roughly kept indoor market, at its edge were roadside café, and as we approached waiters from these cafes strode out into the road trying to encouraged Amondo to pull over in front of there particular café, the area reminded me of all those spy films when an sectet agent meets his contact in a bustling market setting somewhere in south America! Once I had finished my coffer went inside to the market it was full of stalls selling mainly craft items, and as I walked along many vendors ventured out with a” morning what can get for you today” sort of line, which whilst understandable after a while became very anying “will you just let me browse in peace!!!” Next stop a bull ring in the centre of the city, Almondo mentioned that he no longer organised tours to see the bull fights as they had become unpopular with the travellers he serves, also admitting that he thought it was wrong and cruel.

Friday 22/12/05
Arrived in Vegas and jumped in a cab gave the driver Troiy & Deedee’s address only to be told by my Cuban cabie that he couldn’t find it on his map “silverheart Ave is not on my map” “are you sure” I replied “oh yes” he said, “ok do you mind if I look” “ok,but its not there “ so looked on the index and sure enough it wasn’t under silver heart Ave ,but, it was under silverheart (all one word) “oh,oh um ok then” he said trying to appear completely at easy with his mistake.

Arrived at the home of Troy, Deedee, Tiffany & Garrett Tarply, well what can I say, you know in life you sometimes meet people and you immediately know that you have some sort of thing that makes you almost immediately good friends, well that’s what I felt meeting Troy and Deedee for the first time, and over the last few weeks that has been cemented, they are completely wonderful Dee dee has managed to strike a perfect balance between motherhood and retaining a senesce of youthful adventure, she’s a homemaking party girl ! Troy is a little quieter, steady and has much kindness in his heart (plus a really well stocked bar!) as a demonstration of that I arrived at 5.30pm and by 10.30pm I was drunk and in a hot tub

(bet ur jealous bobby) Also at home (see, I can call it that cause that’s how it feels) was Andy & Joyce,Deedee’s parents and her aunt Peggy.

Sunday 24/12/05
After a day settling in it was xmas eve and Troy and Andy suggested we spent the afternoon at a firing range, “what fun” I thought to myself. Troy and Andy both have gun licences and own hand guns as it is an Americans constitutional right to bare arms! As an aside under the law they are both at liberty to shoot anyone who enters there house unlawfully, which I personally think is great, as so many societies around the globe have gone soft on the basic human right to defend and protect what is yours, if they don’t want to get shot then keep out of other peoples bloody houses! It’s simple. So off we went to the range which also has a gun store attached, on entering I was amazed that on display on the rear wall was everything from a machine pistol to an AK47 and glass counters with hundreds upon hundreds of hand guns, anyway into the range for a little shoot up , luckily I had some, if distant experience of hand guns, firing Browning 9mm pistols in the army. I immediately took on the persona of Paul Paul Jarvis “Secret agent” 006 and 7/8ths imagining my erstwhile target to be some master criminal assassin,

and my mission, not impossible, to save the world from a deadly virus created and controlled by Sirius the albino love child of the head of the KGB and a hippie florist, now working in a small shop just outside Accrington Stanley. Some 45 minutes later my work was done with the albino safely incarcerated in a high security cell somewhere in eastern Europe (obviously the sequel will start with him being sprung by Chernobyl mutant terrorists!) then relaxing in the arms of Crystal Chandelier the IT girl of the secret service. Hmm.. Stop now before you get completely carried away. The rest of xmas eve was spent having a few drinks and enjoying the delights of family life at home.

Xmas day
Arose to find a stocking had been delicately placed by my bed,thank you Santa! The ritual of present opening, with tearing of paper and gleeful looks that are the stuff of the festive period ensued, and sure enough there were a few little bundles of joy for this solitary traveller, yet another indicator of the quality and kindness of my new friends. When the tearing and excitement had subsided it was off to the mountains, Vegas is set in a sort of bowl surrounded almost entirely by mountains, so off we went and after 45minutes and a climb of around 8500ft arrived at a lodge the views of the mountains were lovely,

then on up for a quick look at the ski and snow centre the slopes of which had received a fresh sprinkle of man made white stuff. It struck me that living here was a dream you could in fact drive 30mins and swim, water ski, sail etc then with another 45mins drive you could be whooshing down the slops on your snow board, brilliant!

Returning home by around 3.30 we settled down to watch a movie and at 5.30 time for dinner, a lovely spread of all the traditional fare masterfully created by Dee with the added bonus of home made Pumpkin and Peacan pies, the quality of which should have led to a front page tabloid headline reading “PUMKIN & PECAN, A TRIUMPH!”

New years eve was spent at a local watering hole with Sharn, Dan, Mike, Andy(mike’s wife) Troy and Dee,a top night with beer, shots and dancing with the one amusing moment when young Dave a Marine corps boy asked if I’d do a shot of Tequila with him (he was on a bit of a mission) so I explained that that particular tipple only spent a few moments inside me before reappearing, anyway as the words were coming out of my mouth I thought f-ck it I’m having some, consequently spending a few choice moments in the car park saying “hello again” to the mixture, luckily though through rugby, the army etc I don’t have a problem with throwing up then getting straight back on it, its almost Roman!

Well my lovelies what of “The Strip”, it’s completely mad, the hotels are massive and each is individually themed Causers palace built in the likeness of Rome with the nightly shows presented in a building replicating the coliseum, Paris with a ½ scale Eiffel tower , Excalibur capped by towers and turrets in a medieval collage and New York where the real New York sky line has been recreated with the addition of a roller coaster

which I rode three times, there is also a roller coaster that actually travels inside a casino. Treasure Island has a free show twice nightly where 2 full size pirate ships play out a little story the highlight of this particular show was one of the two crews were all very fit and scantily clad women(one for the boys!), but buy far my favourite was the Bellargio with huge water fountains that rise and fall in a watery ballet accompanied by music piped though speakers encased within the light standards on the sidewalk, there is of course the odd Vegas standard Elvis booms “A little more conversation a little less action etc” which has a fun all of its own, and I’m sure many a young lady has said a teary eyed “yes” to a proposal within the sight and sound of this beautiful creation, and I for one could happily stay outside all night to watch in wonder, at night the strip really comes alive with running sparkling lights overpowering anything else that’s going on, also each theme continues inside with small villages representing the theme with individual restaurants, bars, comedy clubs etc all of which are designed to keep visitor inside, because make no mistake this town is all about gambling! Everywhere you go there are machines even off the strip, I went into a supermarket to buy some water and in a small area in one corner was a dozen or so slot machines, I went to buy petrol, and, as I entered the shop to pay, yep you guessed it more slot machines, and the really strange thing is that there were always people playing them, a few times I got back to the hotel at 5 or 6 in the morning and people I’d seen when leaving about 8pm the night before were still there!. All in all my time in vegans was great from the warmth of Troy and Dee to the lights and wild nights of the strip, definitely a place to revisit with either a loved one or the lads!

Wednesday 4/01/06
Drove east to visit the Hoover Dam

now strangely its size was not the most impressive thing about it, more over the date and construction detail confirmed during the guided tour and subsequent film show , how navies and engineers all converged on this one desert spot and created such an enormous structure would have been something by today’s standards but when you consider that it was constructed in the 30’s without the modern comforts of air conditioned workers cabins etc (in the summer the temp reaches over 100 degrees for much of the time) its incomprehensible and reminds me of how soft we’ve become as a species . The turbines that provide power to 3 states are huge and again it’s a feat of engineering that they turn at all considering that each weighs about 150 tonnes!

Leaving the Dam behind drove further east to the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon it’s like another world or anything you’re prepared for and although I have a personal worry that one day technology perhaps in the form of some super advanced high definition TV will encourage us never to leave home again! You will never truly “get” the place, carved through millions of years of erosion out of the Arizona desert, had to jump on the tourist thing and watch the sun rise and set in turn across this mountainous range spanning as far as the eye could see, with simple words of description feeling completely inadequate to describe this place, and its title of one of the 7 wonders of the world is certainly justified. So to get a proper feel for it took a helicopter ride out for an hour and flying over the peaks that are contained within suddenly realised that some of then had not felt the tread of a human being for thousands of years due to their inaccessibility and more recent (the last 100 or so years) restrictions on access imposed by the government, it is simply a “must see” I’ll say no more on the subject and let the pictures say the rest!