Road Trip Take 2: San Diego to Las Vegas
The RV had been parked for way too long. It was time to create some more adventures before the summer passed me by. But this time I wanted to do something different. Something more fun. Something without so many dudes.
Aha, I got it. I’ll take my new girlfriend on a road trip and then we’ll find out really quick whether or not we can tolerate each other. It’s my idea of “Accelerated Dating”. Shove two people into a RV for an entire month and see if they can still stand each other when it’s all said and done. Sounds like a mighty fine idea.
The RV had been parked over at Campland By The Bay for months. I pay about $200 each month just to have a parking spot for it. Unfortunately there is no power in this parking lot and I had apparently left some light or electronic device on that had totally depleted the battery.
So I rallied the RV for a hour long ride up to Carlsbad with Lana and my buddy Shurtz to surf the South Ponto jetty. I was hoping to get some good waves and to successfully
eyeing south ponto
Lana flew back to Austin and we had to wait what seemed like an eternity to start our new road trip. 2 weeks seems like 2 years when you first meet someone you really like and want to spend time with them. However, I still needed to make a few repairs to the RV and get things dialed before the trip so the alone time was probably a good thing.
First thing that needed repair was the fridge. For some reason Norcold had issued a recall on the model fridge in my rig. I had gotten word about the potential for the fridge to blow up and burn down my RV if I continued to use it. That sucked. I had to quit using the fridge since I was back on the gulf in Florida which meant no frozen berries in the fridge, and no smoothies. No cold beers either. Lame.
I scheduled a appointment to get the fridge fixed at La Mesa RV and then would be on the road. While dropping off the rig, I decided to have a new CD player installed as well. The existing one really sucked and only played about 10% of the CD’s in my collection. I couldn’t imagine taking another trip listening to only FM Stereo.
With the fridge fixed and new stereo in the dash I left San Diego to meet up with Lana in Las Vegas. It was good to be back on the road again. Good until I tried to turn on the air conditioning once I entered the desert. For some damn reason the fan to the AC and the heat no longer worked. I know it worked when I brought it into La Mesa RV, but now it was hosed.
What timing. AC goes out right when I have to drive through the middle of the desert. I was pretty pissed and agitated. I was hanging onto hope that it was just a disconnected wire that got loose while the new CD player was being installed. Once I was parked and was able to take a look, I found the disconnected wire and made the repair myself.
One thing you’ll notice from reading my adventures or trying to RV yourself is that something goes wrong about every 3 days. It’s inevitable that something will get messed up. The trick is to keep a level head and just get it fixed asap. Thankfully I was able to fix the issue with the fan without any assistance or spending any more money. It was a super hassle though, especially driving through Barstow with no AC. Thanks La Mesa RV.
Once I arrived in Las Vegas I checked in at the Circus Circus KOA campground. It’s basically just a big ole parking lot across the street from Circus Circus but it’s the only RV park that exists along the strip. I believe there is some other park over by the Mandalay Bay, but it’s quite a bit south and not directly on the strip.
The KOA campground charges about $60 a night just to plug in your RV and stay in their concrete paradise. I’m the furthest thing from a cheapskate, but damn that is a lot of coin just to park a rig for a few days. I’d be better off just getting a place at the Bellagio and parking the beast out back. However, I really needed to plug into 50 amp power so I could charge the batteries back up.
So I pulled into town just in time to see the second half of game 6 of the NBA finals. Lana took a cab from the Wet Republic pool and met me on the north end of town. We caught the last half of the game, drank some Coronas and talked shit with some Mexican dudes about how we hated Kobe and stuff. While watching the game, Ted Lily for the Chicago Cubs was in the 9th inning with a perfect game. Then he got rocked and I drank another Corona. Poor Cubs. Poor me for being a Cubs fan.
Anyhow, I digress. Lana and I stayed in Vegas for a couple days to destroy some buffets and screw around in Vegas. And by screw around I mean swim with topless girls in the Bare pool at the Mirage. There’s nothing like $17 drinks and naked titties
Bare at the Mirage
Not everyone goes topless at Bare, but I definitely was. Here’s an interesting tidbit… John and I were the only 2 dudes with hair on our chest at the pool party. What’s up with that? Where have all the Bigfoots and hairy backed brothers gone? For the record, I’m keeping my 70′s chest.
So before we left, we destroyed the MGM breakfast and dinner buffet. Then the next day we devoured the M Resort’s buffet too. I think the M Resort’s buffet may be the best one in Vegas. It’s just unfortunate that it’s located in the middle of nowhere and has about a 30 minute wait just to get through the door.
After stuffing our faces full at the M-Resort we were ready to hit the road and start our long awaited journey. We only faced one problem… 35 mile per hour wind gusts. Wind + RV = NO BUENO!
So I figured we could just stay at the M Resort for one night and hit the road in the morning when the wind was supposed to die down. We attempted to get a room but the front desk alerted me that there was a convention at the hotel and all rooms were over $200. The M Resort is super nice, but not $200 nice. If it were located anywhere remotely close to the heart of Vegas I would of said fine, but I simply refused to pay $200 to stay in the middle of nowhere. $100 would of been fine, but out of principal alone I couldn’t fork over the money. Plus, I was still bitter about the scar on my leg from the last time I stayed at the M Resort. The stupid bed frames were perfectly positioned to damage the hell out of your shins. The desk clerk assured me they fixed those after a ton of complaints and bloody customers.
O well, screw it. Off into the wind we travel. Sun Valley here we come…
