Las Vegas Trip - Day 6 -- Desert Storm

Today was our last day in Las Vegas. I always call it "Las Vegas" because I don't feel familiar enough to just call it "Vegas" and if I went only with its first name it would be "Las" and no one would know what I'm talking about. So, anyhoo, we checked out of the hotel. You can't beat the price of the room. Four days at the Riviera was cheaper than three nights at Econolodge on the interstate for the whole trip.

Jill went to the closing session  for the convention. B.J.Novak (The Office) was the speaker and he writes some kids books and was a good supporter of what libraries do. He will go to libraries and read to kids.

I spent my time drinking coffee and eating a scone and watching the World Cup. Even the workers were trying to watch the came. Argentina beat Switzerland but it was a tough match.  I walked around the convention hall...it was a little weird because crews were dismantling everything. The empty  rooms were a little spooky.... waiting for the next convention.

We finally hit the road around 11 AM and stopped for a lunch and then headed out of town. We got turned around a little but finally got it right. We stopped to take a look at Hoover Dam. It is a little costly to take the tour so we just did the pedestrian walk out on the new bridge.  Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it filled up originally. Power generation is curtailed to only a fraction of what it should be. The drought has everything in a tailspin but you wouldn't know it in Las Vegas.

It is a long drive from Hoover Dam down to Kingman AZ where you pick up I-40 going east.  I think I got a little too much heat walking out on the bridge to see the dam and that was added on top of all the other days of 110 degree heat in Las Vegas plus the motion and driving in the car. We climbed from the low spot near the dam (maybe 1200 ft.) up to over 7000 feet and I was feeling a little sick at times.

We headed east at Kingman into a huge thunderstorm that finally hit us a little east of Seligman. The rain was coming down in buckets and the roadway wasn't draining it off which made driving hazardous. A truck almost jack-knifed in front of us at one point. We saw a SUV that ran off the road and rolled several times in the median with smoke and steam pouring out of it. Some folks were stopped to help...it had just happened and it looked serious.  We had to creep along very slowly. The lightening was fearsome. Desert storms are extreme and dangerous but amazing to watch and experience.

We ran into a lot of road construction but finally made it to Flagstaff. We had a good supper and relaxed in the room.