Miss D. and I made it safely to Las Vegas, Nevada by late Sunday afternoon, after nine hours on the road. I can remember when a 17-hour road trip over a weekend didn't faze me at all, but my aging body is doing its best to persuade me that those days ended a while back. I'm stiff and sore, to the point that as soon as we'd settled in to our hotel room, I took a painkiller and turned in for a long rest while my wife went out to supper with friends and "cased the joint". I was just too worn out. If we do another of these conferences next year, I suspect we'll be flying rather than driving.
The traffic was slightly less heavy today than yesterday - perhaps truckers need a day of rest, too? At any rate, it was less stressful to navigate around the 18-wheelers. I found the altitude a bit of a problem between Albuquerque and Flagstaff, with altitudes sometimes exceeding 7,000 feet; and Miss D. had even more difficulties with it. Our blood oxygen levels and pulse rates were making unhappy noises at us, and we didn't feel our usual selves. However, pharmacies in Albuquerque sell "canned oxygen" to help cope with that, so we bought three cans and headed out. We ended up using one can between us to take occasional "hits" of breathable oxygen, and it helped us over the hump, so to speak. Here in Las Vegas we're back at lower altitude, in thicker air, which helps a lot. The remaining two cans should see us through our return journey and visit with Larry Lambert of Virtual Mirage.
We took delight in seeing a whole lot of great big ravens in western New Mexico and across Arizona. Both of us have fond memories of these highly intelligent birds in other parts of the world, and we love to watch them soar, tumble and play with each other. It was a highlight of our day. I couldn't help replaying in my mind Maddy Prior's six-song raven cycle (tracks 7-12 inclusive on her album "Ravenchild", all of which are available on YouTube). Here's the last of those tracks, "Dance On The Wind".
That's exactly what we saw them doing (and enjoying) during our drive on Sunday; carefree and laid-back. It was very nice.
Arriving in Las Vegas was an unpleasant experience, thanks to road blockages, closed lanes and a whole lot more traffic than we're used to in our relatively quiet North Texas home town. It was difficult to navigate in the hotel/casino area, made worse by Google Maps developing schizophrenia and directing us into the parking garage of the Bellagio instead of Bally, which is the one we wanted! We managed to sort it out in the end. Our room at Bally is very pleasant, spacious and well-equipped for our week's stay, with comfortable mattresses on the beds - always one of the most important considerations.
I'm off to bed again, to sleep off 17 hours behind the wheel. More on Monday, God willing.
Peter
One of my hard to accept facts of getting older is that I just can't do an 8 or 9 hr drive anymore.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your stay!
I'm surprised you took the northern route instead of the southern route.
ReplyDeleteI notice a big difference in ease of driving taking 10 across to Houston and then heading north. It's a hair longer but much easier and doesn't have mountains or winter weather to worry about.
I moved to Las Vegas as a kid in 1963. It was a city, huge by Montana standards (still would be today) but it's blown up by a factor of ten since those days. Now, when I have the option, I try to time my trips so that I drive through about 7:00 AM. It's not that bad then.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the conference, and take good notes!!!
ReplyDeletePeople all know about Denver being high ("Mile High City"). But it's easy to forget that Albuquerque is also a mile high, and Flagstaff is about 7000 feet.
ReplyDeleteWhen I flew from DFW to LAS a few months ago, the airfare was about $400, and the flight is about 3 hours. Of course, airfares have been continuing to climb, so it's hard to predict what it will be next year.