Hawthorne, Nevada: I will begin with a few Tales from Late Last Night. Where we last left off, DT and I were about to head off to the MGM Grand Garden Arena for a Jimmy Buffett concert. Lenny had been texting me all afternoon, asking if we were going to have our traditional pre-concert healthy snack (truffled house-made potato chips with Maytag blue cheese) at the Wolfgang Puck Cafe in the MGM Grand Hotel. Lenny loves this dish. I told Lenny we should not, as we have been over-indulging for several days. Lenny said we had to have this dish because he had been thinking of the potato chips all day. Sorry, Lenny - the wait was over one hour. We had sashimi instead.



Not to mention, these guys have been playing together for so long, they are practically related. They have been singing the same songs for so long, I wonder how they can even stand it, yet they play "Margaritaville" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise" with true passion at every concert. (They are probably only have to think about their bank accounts to get them in the mood to rock it out.) Still, it must be fun to continue to play to happy-drunk Parrotheads in sold-out arenas across the country... even if much of the crowd are now drawing social security. A marketing genius, Jimmy vends his own brand of beer and tequila at his own concerts!
Tonight, Jimmy told a story I had never heard before. He said 110 years ago he went to a try-out thing where hundreds of bands played before agents, trying to be "discovered". One of the bands that "tried out" were a group of guys called The Commodores. Seems they did alright and Jimmy said he and Lionel Ritchie are friends to this day.

Lisa and Lenny were at their home in Los Angeles, waiting up until I phoned them during "Brown Eyed Girl". They had to wait until nearly the end of the show, but instead of phoning, we facetimed (live video chatted) during the song!
It is good to be a bad-a$$ iOS6-iPhoning Bubbe!

But all good things must come to an end. We wanted to head back to our RV, but the taxi lines were miles long. We decided to play the tables for a bit. We had bad luck, so decided to call it a night and wait it out for a taxi.
On a whim, while walking to the cashier (to cash-in our sad remaining few chips), I decided to drop a stack of chips on black to win at a roulette table. Dang, if I didn't win.
We continued to the cashier window, until I decided to drop the fattened stack of chips on black to win at another roulette table. Again, victory was mine.
We continued towards the cashier window... until... you guessed it... I double-doubled our stash and hastily made a retreat before our luck ran out. As Jimmy always says:I'd rather die while I'm living, than live while I'm dead.

So, after a good sleep, we were up and on the road by nine o'clock, which as you all know is basically the best we can do if you want to get in a little exercise before sitting on your backside all day.
We drove all day, north on Highway 95. DT said he just couldn't stand to hit the major interstates again for a while and it had been years since we had been on this very beautiful route through the Nevada desert. We stopped for fuel about 80 miles from Las Vegas in Lathrop Wells, Nevada. The fueling station is nothing more than a glorified gas station, bar, convenience store... and brothel!


Happily, the rest of our day was uneventful. Just beautiful scenery, smooth Nevada roads (every cent we have ever lost in a casino is worth it - the roads in Nevada are as smooth as glass) and little traffic. We saw vistas like this:



Around 5 o'clock we pulled into Hawthorne and found a campsite at Whiskey Flats RV Park. Our neighbors are fellow Ducks and though we have never met, they are friends with our friends Alberto & Molly. This massive world is so small at times.

Until my next update down the road, I remain, your Nevada correspondent.
RV PARK: Whiskey Flats RV Park. 60 long pull-through paved campsites with picnic tables, cable and wifi. Propane, bathhouse, laundry. Close to a large Safeway grocer. Beautiful mountain views. Friendly owner. We paid $24.75 with our Good Sam discount. It has been a very, very long time since we have paid less than $25 for a campsite.