Every year I say we should fly to Arizona to visit my Father In Law and every year we drive the 750 torturous miles from Salt Lake to Yuma Arizona. It is I suppose my wife’s fear of flying that decides it. She has come to tolerate a major airline but no way am I going to get her into a propeller driven plane that looks like a giant cigar. No major airlines land in Yuma so we would have to be fly to Phoenix and then catch the cigar to Yuma. I know we could simply fly into Phoenix then take a bus or van or some such to Yuma, but that would be 150 miles on the road and hell there is really not a lot of difference between 150 and 750 really.
So off we go Thursday afternoon, headed for Mesquite Nevada, and my father’s condo. I’ve learned that driving 750 miles straight through is even dumber than driving in the first place. So three hundred miles of uneventful low flying down Interstate 15 until we reach the Virgin River Gorge you remember a Million Dollars A Mile I couldn’t resist another picture of the Gorge. A little dinner at the Casablanca not good. There was a time when I thought casino food was good and cheap, now its just cheap. A little culinary treat one would expect eating at the local choke and puke. Twenty, Forty, Sixty dollars into the tightest slots in Nevada and we’ve had our fun at that casino. Why the hell do we gamble anyway. The signs say guaranteed 96% return. I believe that means that if I invest my money there they guarantee to return less than I invest. So on to the Virgin River Casino another Twenty in the Slots. Perhaps the Blackjack table will be kind. I start with fifty dollars an hour later I have only ten. Time to quit, but you know how gambling is it kind of sucks you in. There is the Roulette Table. Five dollars on the nine five dollars on the eleven and holy shit I hit the nine One hundred seventy-five dollars back in my pocket, and I didn’t let the terrorists win.
On the way back to the condo we note the new casino in town, well not really new it just has a new name. Gail says do you want to spend a buck or two in there. No way I say, did you see what they named it. The Eureka, no way in hell I’m going to take my money into a building named after a vacuum cleaner. I fully expected to see a flashing sign saying come on in we’ll clean you out in no time.
The next day we complete the second half of the trip mostly two lane roads filled with FUV’s (fucking utility vehicles). Between Las Vegas and Searchlight we are listening to Depche Mode on the stereo. My son Tim tells me the title of the song is Comatose it occurs to me that Morrisey is probably planning a lawsuit, what the fuck do they think they’re doing don’t they know that’s my trademark.
We continue on to Needles, Parker, Quartzite. Quartzite is a favorite spot of the Snowbirds during the winter. They all park there RV’s out in the desert and tell each other what a great time they’re having. Their entertainmeant consists of playing cards and buying and selling their crafts. It’s a little bit like a giant Ebay in the desert. But damn the desert is beautiful. I love the Joshua Trees, and the Saguaro cactuses.
We had a nice visit with Gail’s dad Earl. He just celebrated his 83rd birthday, and about a week ago had the seventh hole-in-one of his long romance with the game of golf.