Week 11 - Vegas or bust

​Into Vegas we go. I hadn’t been there for about 20 years (old man), so I was keen to see how much had changed, and how much I remembered (previous memory was mostly of not being able to find an exit out of any of the casinos). We’d got a tip that we could park for free in Bally’s, just off the strip, so that’s where we hunkered up for the first night. As it’s Vegas there’s still so much to see and do, so the first night we just took advantage of the free G&Ts, and soaked it all up. However, the neon lights were much how I remembered it, but now with more neon, and a few more super casinos, all offering much the same, as long as you have cash to blow. The next day we therefore took in the old ‘strip’ (Freemont St) – they’d jazzed that up a bit, but it was the surrounding few blocks that had the feel of the original Vegas, with it’s cool little used clothes & furniture stores, street art, and the odd bit of 50’s neon.
 
A couple of days was fine to be honest. It was just all a bit too garish, chintzy, busy and expensive. Time to take in some nature, so it was off to Monument Valley.
 
First was Horseshoe bend. Google it, and it is that picture that is always on the covers of travel stuff & on TV. Very impressive. Monument Valley is exactly as the movies portray. This sweeping red’ish dessert, with huge rocks & outcroppings dotted all around. We gave Milton a bit of a challenge as there was only dirt tracks around some of the rocks, and only a couple of brakes sliding with no control…we’ll be fine on the single track mountain passes in Peru!
 
So far, Colorado, so good.
 
I feel that now it has been a few months, I should jot down a couple of US observations, whilst the UK is still vaguely fresh in the mind. Firstly, petrol station/gas prices. Not only are there like 3 or 4 literally across or opposite from each other at a junction, but they all have different prices. And I’m not talking the odd cent here or there. There wil be one with say $2.11, one across the road at $2.16, and then another one on another corner at $2.24. It makes absolutely zero sense to me. Why would anyone go to the most expensive one when they are next to each other. Surely Americans aren’t that lazy to wait for the lights to change, to go to the cheapest one? Somebody please explain this to me…
 
The next, is the attitude of just leaving things to rust. Outside (admittedly out of the cities predominantly), there will be one, two, three, four or five abandoned cars or trucks just rusting away. Or an RV, or a mobile home, or in actually some instances a whole home. They will just leave it, let it rust/collapse, whilst they have bought a new car, or built a new home next door to the one they are leaving abandoned to nature. Perhaps it’s just the space that is available, but just seems lazy to me – surely they could sell them, or pay someone to pick it up & get rid of it, or take a sledgehammer to an old house?
 
However, these are just minor observations, and overall I really do just love the US. Really I do…
 
Footnote: we’re not bust.