So, the trip to Vegas was interesting. I was surprised with how spectacular the mesa country through Utah is... I would've stopped for pictures, but we were on a mission heading out to Vegas and figured we didn't want to make an eleven hour drive into something longer. We made great time, occasionally slipping over to the wrong side of 100mph. Zoom, zoom!
Once in Nevada, we got a quick reminder of how miserable it was when I lived there as a child. Oppressive doesn't come close to describing the heat that permeates the Las Vegas valley. I simply cannot describe the misery. Even if left under cover in a garage, every time I returned to the car, I felt as though somebody could be making pizza in there. I'm sure the black interior has something to do with that, but... Wow. It was effing hot.
The reunion was great. I ran into somebody whose friendship I always enjoyed, but we'd lost track of each other many years ago. We've vowed to make a change there. I also ran into a lady whom I didn't believe even knew I existed in high school. When she saw who I was, she yelped with joy at seeing me again. That was quite the surprise. Lots of memories were rehashed, and the twenty four years between graduation in 1985 and today were put into tidy little synopses as we got caught up.
I spent little time in the casinos, as I hate throwing money away. I did, however, make a 110% return on my blackjack investment dollar (I only put $50 on the table, and came back with $55 in profits). I then promptly turned around and spent the $55 on presents for my children.
Sadly, the trip home was not nearly as fun as the time in Vegas or the trip out. While we made great time through the deserts of Nevada and Arizona (again at times winding up on the wrong side of 100mph... damn, I love my Mustang), and flew through the mesa country in Utah, things got ugly in Colorado. Shortly after passing Grand Junction, 70 was closed and we had to go off the highway to try and find our way past what turned out to be a truck fire. Thankfully, the GPS does wonderful things with that. Sadly, that was just the beginning.
Around mile marker 150, traffic came to a dead halt... and I mean DEAD halt. We sat in the same spot for 45 minutes, and I wound up reading in a magazine waiting for it to move. Over the next two hours, we moved about a quarter of a mile. Fortunately, that quarter of a mile was just enough to get us to one of those "No U turn except..." spots. Yeah, I made an exception for red Mustangs, too. I flipped around and got on US 6 in the hope that it would improve. Ha! I learned that there was an overturned truck on I-70, and that was shunting all traffic off a horrifyingly packed 70 and onto a now hopelessly overloaded US 6.
To add insult to injury, once we got past the mess, I got stopped by a Colorado State Trooper. I rolled down the window and asked "Is there a problem, Trooper?" He said that while I was driving a good speed, I was weaving some and asked would I like to offer an explanation. Politely, I said "Yes, I left Las Vegas at 7am, and just spent the last five hours trying to get from Gypsum to Vail, with little success." He decided that I was sober (good thing, as I'd not had a drop since Saturday night's beer whilst playing blackjack), but suggested that I drive carefully.
I'm home, now... with the woman I love. Unfortunately, it's a short stay, as I'm off to Chicago for work. Whee!
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