Wednesday was our last full day in Las Vegas. We had plans, but first we had to take care of a few things. Donna was hard at work putting the final touches on an article and also working on a press release for her piano teacher back in Mesa. I had the usual pre-road chores – checking tire pressures, lug nuts on the trailer and getting things squared away in the trailer.

We finally made it over to the Las Vegas Convention Center a little before 3pm – later than we planned. We hit the usual traffic tie-ups as we approached Las Vegas Boulevard and turned off onto Paradise Road. We both had press credentials to enter the National Hardware Show at the center – we were identified as editorial media.

Once inside, we split up as Donna headed to the housewares area and I went to the tools and hardware section. Coming in as late as we were, we couldn’t possibly see all that we wished to see before the 5pm closing. Also, photography inside the show was forbidden, so I don’t have photos to share. I found a few items of interest that I think will be useful for RVers and I’ll write about them in a future post once I try them out. Donna also found a few products and made some contacts.

In front of the entrance, I shot a couple of photos of the baddest Ford Super Duty truck I’ve ever seen. I think it’s an F-550 belonging to Jack Link of jerky fame. It has six doors and could probably seat at least eight people. This would pull a fifth-wheel or Airstream nicely.

Just before closing, we made our way to the outside display area and found our friend Jeff Spencer (Rolling Recess) at the Dometic display. In my last post, I said Jeff was a rep for Dometic, I should clarify that and identify him properly – he’s the national marketing manager. Dometic supplies a number of RV products – our Penguin air conditioners, our refrigerator and our A & E power awning are a few examples.

Donna snagged a deal for dinner for four at a highly rated restaurant called El Sombrero in the arts district of Las Vegas. It’s supposed to be the oldest Mexican restaurant in town. Donna and I usually go out for dinner on our anniversary, which coincides with the Cinco de Mayo celebration. This year we knew we would be traveling on May 5th, so we thought dinner with friends at a Mexican restaurant on May 4th would be a fine substitute.

We rolled up to EL Sombrero right at 5:45pm, the time of our reservation, with Jeff and Deb right behind us. I have to admit, it didn’t look like the nicest of neighborhoods. The street had buildings with graffiti and bail bond offices. The restaurant itself and the adjoining building though were freshly painted and looked well-kept.

The sign on the facade called it the El Sombrero Mexican Bistro while the overhead neon sign was little less pretentious calling it El Sombrero Mexican Food Cafe..

We enjoyed conversation and looked the menu over. Things got a little confusing when the server, Jose, told us the menu items for the special deal Donna purchased online were limited. He pointed out the areas of the menu we could select from. Jeff asked about getting the fajitas plate and paying extra, which Jose agreed to. We had some difficulty with drink orders – apparently if you order a margarita, you’re gold. I ordered a margarita and it showed up in no time. Jeff and Deb wanted tea and was told they didn’t have it. Later he asked again for iced tea and was told no problemo. Then he asked for it again. And again before it finally showed up. Donna ordered sangria which is a house specialty. And asked for it again. It took a while to get everyone something to drink.

We ordered appetizers, which were part of the deal. Donna and Deb got the salads which were huge and very good and I ordered the guacamole to go with the excellent chips. Jeff ordered the bacon-wrapped cheese-stuffed jalapenos. About 10 minutes later, Jose came to our table and told Jeff they didn’t have any bacon, but not to worry – the cheese and the sauce are what make the dish and it would be fine without bacon. What!?

Then it was entree time. Donna ordered the pollo tamal (chicken tamale) and was told they didn’t have any tamales. Jose explained that with Cinco de Mayo happening the following day, the kitchen was fully stocked with the popular items for the celebration (mostly street tacos), leaving no room for bacon or tamales. Anyway, the food we ended up with was good and we had some laughs and a great time.

Thursday morning we were up early and prepping for the road. I wanted to get a reasonably early start as the wind was forecast to pick up late morning. As I was outside making preparations to leave, our neighbor stopped by and said I should put out chairs and sell tickets – everyone wanted to see how I was going to get our coach and trailer out of our site. I have to admit, getting out without hitting anything or losing my patience weighed on my mind. Looking down the lane from our site, I could see we would be running the gauntlet.

I parked the Spyder by the office, planning to load it on the way out. I had no way to get it to the back of the trailer while we were still in our site. Our neighbor kindly moved his truck, allowing me a little more room. I walked through my planned maneuver and explained to Donna what I intended to do. I made sure she understood what my concerns were and what I needed her to watch and advise me on.

In the end, it was anti-climactic. Preparation and patient maneuvering did the trick. We backed up to the trailer hitch in one shot and pulled it out with no drama at all for the peanut gallery.

The traffic getting away from Las Vegas was the usual jungle, but US95 quickly thinned out once we were past the construction and madness on I-515. We settled in for a long haul northbound through the desert. The wind was from the south – southwest meaning we had a tailwind component most of the time.

People often imagine the desert is a flat, barren terrain. This isn’t the reality. The desert is made up of a series of basins. We were constantly on a slight descent into the bowl of a basin, then gradually climbing out of it only to begin another barely perceptible downhill run. The terrain may look all brown at first glance, but on closer observation, there are many colors and a variety of plants. The mountains are always there in the background.

As we headed north, the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada range was off our left. We saw snow-covered peaks in the distance. The tailwind made the drive relatively easy. At one point, I passed a Toyota Prius traveling at about 55 mph while we were going 61 mph. Then I noticed he was right behind us – a few feet from the back of our trailer. Apparently he wanted to take every aerodynamic advantage and stay in our draft like a NASCAR racer. The driver did this for about 30 miles before he exited. I didn’t like it.

At another point along the lightly traveled road, a tractor-trailer rig was behind us. I could tell the driver wanted to overtake, but his speed was probably governed and he could only go a few miles per hour faster than us. We came to a section where I could see well down the empty highway. I picked up the CB radio, switched to channel 19 and said, “Make your move now, I’ll slow down so you can get past.” He immediately responded with a thank you and went by us. For a trucker trying make a living, going four or five miles per hour faster makes a difference at the end of the day. Slowing down and letting him by didn’t affect my day at all.

I was surprised to find us 6,000 feet above sea level as we passed through Tonopah. All the gradual up and down through the desert basins netted us an elevation gain of more than 4,000 feet.

Donna looked through the Escapees Days End Directory and found a few places where we could stop for the night. We pulled off in a tiny desert community called Mina at 4pm. Donna went for  a walk and found that more than half the properties are deserted – the other half is inhabited by collectors apparently.

We spent the night in a large pullout area across from town on the east side of US95, a two-lane highway.

After dinner, we watched a recorded episode of The Americans. It was very windy and a thunderstorm rolled in at 8:30pm. The thundershowers continued intermittently throughout the night. I woke up several times as lightning and thunder accompanied rain driven by the wind. At one point, I heard hail stones lashed by the wind. We’re at an elevation of 4,700 feet and the temperature dropped to 45 degrees overnight.

I’ll check everything over for damage this morning, then we’ll be on our way to Sparks, Nevada. We have less than 200 miles to go after traveling nearly 300 miles yesterday.