I arrived home late on Wednesday night after stopping in Hagerstown to visit my sister.  Her apartment, which I had never seen before, is very nice, although a bit hard to find from the main road.  I drove over 10 hours on Wednesday as I didn’t see the point of stopping at a hotel in Pennsylvania, so close to home.  I did stop at Phantom Fireworks before crossing into Maryland to stock up for the 4th of July celebration at Tracy’s parent’s house.  It is now Sunday, and I still haven’t unpacked everything.  Work resumes tomorrow (yuk).  After being away for so long, it’s going to be tough to get back into the routine.

I’m in a Big-O Tires outside of Des Moines getting an oil change. I nearly forgot to do it, but approaching 4500 miles reminded me. It is much colder on the northern route, but I’m glad I didn’t go south because of the terrible tornadoes I would have been right in the middle of. I’d rather deal with snow than a tornado.

I had never heard of Kum & Go before I went on this trip, but just take a look at this map and you’ll see it is nearly impossible to drive through Iowa without seeing one.  Kum & Go is the equivalent of Royal Farms or 7-11, but with a much catchier name.  I stopped in for a snack today, next to the Super 8 Motel in Adair, IA (warning: crappy website), and they sell T-Shirts!  I had to snatch up a XXL in black for myself for only $9.99.  Their prefab heat-lamp-warmed double cheese burger is pretty good, too.  I might go over there before bed for another snack.  I’ve been incredibly hungry all day for some reason…

I consider myself a candy aficionado. I enjoy candy the way some people enjoy a vintage wine or a humidor-stored Cuban cigar. And while I love all candy, I enjoy some more than others. My favorite candy bar is the Zero bar. While not exactly common around Baltimore, they can be found. Out here in Ogallala, Nebraska I scored the grandaddy of all Zero bars, the elusive King Size Zero Bar! I’ve only seen them in pictures before and never thought I’d see one in person. I snatched up two at the local Conoco gas station along with a Fuze White Tea. Oh yeah, Ogallala is a nice place, too.

While in Utah, I stopped at Arches National Park but I didn’t stay very long as I’m still getting over a cold and the hiking at nearly 6000 feet above sea level was killing my chest. If you are not familiar with Arches, just think about the desert in the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons…it’s pretty much that desert but in real life. I managed to get some interesting photos, some of which look better as black and white than color. I’m putting a few of each in this post. Arches is near Moab, Utah, which is where my grandfather used to live. I didn’t go as far as the town of Moab even though it was only about 8 miles down the road. I just wanted to get back on the road, eat something and crawl into bed. (P.S.: The sun starburst in that black and white photo is real, I didn’t add that in Photoshop.)

Tracy and I bombed out in the casinos. We did have fun playing the games, but left Vegas slightly poorer than when we started. I’m slowly working on cleaning up a bunch of my photos for printing, but here are a few pics from the top of the Eiffel Tower at night. Dawn and Bill’s wedding was a very intimate affair at the Bellagio’s wedding chapel. Dawn couldn’t keep herself from crying during the vows, which was cute. Afterwards, the entire guest list piled into Al Dente’s Restaurant in Bally’s for a great dinner. I had a Filet Mignon which was quite possibly the greatest piece of meat I’ve ever eaten. Here’s a picture I took of Tracy taking a break by a fountain in Paris. Bill called my cell phone after I left Vegas to tell me he was playing 3 Card Poker and got 3-of-a-Kind and a Straight Flush dealt to him in a row! The odds of that are impossibly high! I played all week and didn’t get either…

Yeah!  I made it!  Vegas is incredible.  We’re staying at Bally’s, which is attached to the Paris Hotel and Casino.  Tracy and I have spent most of our time in the Paris Casino, going to the top of the Eiffel Tower which has a spectacular view of the Las Vegas strip and skyline.  If you ever want to go to the top, make sure you go at night so you can see the city lights.  I can’t imagine it is nearly as cool during the day as it is at night.   Our hotel room is very nice, with a comfy couch and a huge bed, which is so big we can’t find each other in the bed in the dark.  I don’t have a high speed connection, so photos will have to wait until later.  Also, I have a cold!  Boo!  I started to get it the morning I woke up in Kingman before driving into Vegas.  I guess I caught it from the nasty Motels I stayed at in the middle of nowhere…

Almost exactly 100 miles from Sin City, my last stop before Las Vegas, Kingman, AZ is a sleepy town surrounded by scenic mountain ranges. I decided to stop before entering Vegas so I can arrive on the same day as Tracy. Their flight arrives sometime between noon and 1pm. If I skip out just before my required checkout time of 11am, I should arrive in Vegas just after they will. This gives Tracy and the rest of the gang a chance to check-in to the hotel ahead of me and all I have to do is ditch the car in the garage and drag my bags to the room.

I ate at Jack-in-the-Box for the first time ever! I had their version of a spicy chicken sandwich (it’s no Wendy’s), an Oreo milkshake, and a Fanta strawberry soda.

Since I’m so close to Vegas but don’t have to be there until Monday, I stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park, which also encompasses the Painted Desert. The natural scenery is absolutely astounding. I’ll let the photographs tell the story…

…except skiing season. Apparently, every good hotel in Flagstaff, AZ is full because it is skiing season. Being who I am, I had no idea. I did manage to find a little motel with high speed wireless, cable TV and a good cell phone signal after trying 5 others. I don’t have much to say about Flagstaff as the only part I have seen is the huge mountain that is right in the middle of town, my motel room, a local Chinese buffet and a Safeway grocery store that sells gas (weird.) This entire town has a funny smell that everyone that lives here is either used to or ignores and trains are constantly going by, blowing their whistles. I’m so close to Vegas, that I can taste it.