Road Trippin'

Lake Mead from Hoover Dam

Every journey is unique and at the same time conforms to a pattern; this one is no exception.  It fits nicely into the categories of “Road Trip” and “Trade Show.” The destination is Las Vegas; the reason for going is a Home Based Travel Agent Forum.  Actually, the reason for going is just to “get the hell out of Dodge” for a little while.  A change does everyone good. 

Hoover Dam

We always start a road journey in the company of Willie Nelson.  His song “On the Road Again” offers the perfect accompaniment.  We just couldn’t wait to get on the road again.  The car was all packed, the mail and paper had been stopped, the house was locked up, and a sense of adventure was in the air.   What better change than road trippin' across the West.  

Bridge Spanning the Colorado River

Great Seal of the United States

Some 435 miles later we decided to spend the night in Kingman, AZ, which appears to be the preferred stop for the hordes of people – truckers, tourists, students, et al - travelling to and from Los Angeles.  Luckily, one room remained in the Knight’s Inn, a drive-in motel that was probably once glorious and now merely a reasonably cheap and, hopefully, clean place to spend the night.  The fact that there was a Denny’s next door tells you something about it.   I, for one, regret the passing of the old motel where you could step from car to room and back again without elevators, luggage carts and air conditioning. 

The next morning we started out on the short trip to Las Vegas, stopping at the Hoover Dam, not for the first time, and admiring Lake Mead, the Art Deco statues, and the new bridge that now spans the chasm across Colorado River.  The vistas as we descended from the plateau into the desert below were breathtaking.  No wonder people come from around the world for these stunning views.