Weekend in Vegas
After the stress of last week, I was really hoping to get out of town for a few days, so when Frank offered to deliver the plasma TV early and ferry me to Las Vegas with him to attend Smoke Out 2009, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Frank arrived around 05:00 on Friday and after my evening client, which was re-scheduled because he saw just how frazzled I was, I came home and threw a quick bag together and we got on the road right around 21:00. I tweeted the entire drive down to Tecopa, which was really fun.
- A darling piece of baklava, and we start the last leg of tonight’s journey…The fifty miles from baker to tecopa to soak in the hot springs
- Baker, CA: home of the world’s tallest thermometer… And the mad Greek cafe http://twitpic.com/2t4e7
- Bakersfield… in Bakersfield, CA http://loopt.us/GFxQ6w
- The beautiful darkness of I-5 engulfs us.
- In kettleman city adding fuel to the tanks. http://twitpic.com/2sxro
- George Noory is a freak on Art Bell’s Coast to Coast AM
- Westley rest area http://loopt.us/6VbW2w
- In-n-out’s “grilled” cheese sandwich is yummy – it’s like a cheeseburger without the meat!
- I am rather fond of “99 miles to LA” #music
- What is your favorite johnny mathis song? #music
- Smoked trout and Greek style yogurt
- @FunkyBearMartin tastycakes!
- Castro Valley mega mix!
- @rainbow_wulf thank you my sweet!
- I’m pretty near completely frazzled right now, so I am thankful for @ednixon for driving me to vegas. A weekend by the pool will be good.
- Crossing the bay bridge
- On the road to Vegas. @ 564 fell st http://loopt.us/qCI3YQ
Read from bottom up…
We arrived in Tecopa and headed to Delight’s Hot Springs Resort where Frank has a pretty much permanent room available for him. We got into the room, and had a soak in the lovely 50°c “lobster pot” soaking pool, with it’s open to the sky privacy walls. This was an utterly delightful and appropriate way to end the all-night drive, and I could already feel the tension and pain leave my shoulders that the panic attack had embedded. Frank was in there for about 20 minutes, but I stayed for an hour, stretching and floating and just being.
After that, we slept and woke near noon, when we had to get on the road to Vegas. Our first stop was Shoshone to get some fuel for the car. There was a huge caravan of bikers there, also fuelling, so we had to wait a little while for a space to open near the diesel pump. Meanwhile, we got to appreciate the eye-candy.
Frank only put a small amount of fuel in the car to get us to Pahrump, Nevada, where fuel prices would be much less expensive, and he filled up both big tanks there, and we went to Sonic, where I got a Cherry Limeade – so tasty.
The next 80 miles along the Joshua Tree forest as we got to Vegas, and checked in to our hotel room and a short nap. The sun is much stronger in the desert, and I wanted to make sure that it didn’t wear me out.
We arrived at the host hotel and got our gold wrist bands, which they said would get us into certain events free or at a discount, but just about all the events were held at bars or in hotel rooms, which were all free.
I met this nice guy, Tom, who Frank and I took to dinner with us. Frank wanted to go downtown to Binion’s for some special steak dinner, but when we got down there, there was a Leann Rimes concert going on down on the Fremont Street Experience, and we had to plow through the large crowd to get to the restaurant.
Once we got down there, we had a nice quiet dinner, and I got to learn more about Tom. After supper, we headed over to the Buffalo and had a beer, but while Frank wanted to hang out there, Tom and I opted for heading back to the hotel and more privacy.
The next morning, Frank came back by the host hotel and we all went to have breakfast at Wild Wild West, where we encountered the hella manly crossdressing trucker seen in the slideshow. Such a deep, deep voice – it was kind of eerie coming out of his lovely mouth.
The pool on Sunday was comfortably warm, and I spent a good deal of time swimming and soaking in the jacuzzi. The three of us hung out together again and had supper, then we came back to the hotel and socialized more before turning in for the night.
Tom’s flight was early the next morning, and Frank gave him a ride to the airport, before we packed up our stuff and headed across town to have lunch with GenXCub at this delightful Japanese buffet called Makino. From there, we went to see Peaches, an old friend of Frank’s who is staying in some sort of transitional housing, and finally, Frank and I headed to Primm to stay at some inexpensive hotel he found online.
Tuesday morning, we drove back into town to drop me off at the airport and I flew home to blessedly cool weather and a touch of rain. Plumpy picked me up at the airport and I took him to lunch in thanks.
There’s an old saying, “A change is as good as a rest,” and in this case, it was true. Getting out of town for a few days and not thinking about my business and charity projects was just the thing I needed to feel more myself again.
Tom Z says:
18 April 2009 at 17:09
Hanging with you, Frank and dragging the Vegas Strip in a 30 year old Mercedes was definitely a memorable moment!
Tom