Carmel Valley, CA and a few days break from the road...Mr Wendell

We have pulled to the side of the road for a few days.

My grandmother is visting her sister and her husband in beautiful Carmel Valley, CA. We are camped out in some pretty sweet digs. My Great Aunt's furry kids...King Syrus and Miss Tracy are living pretty large in a custom designed, beautiful canyon home 15 minutes from Carmel, CA. My great aunt and uncle have been awesome hosts...

I will post some pics and some other stuff sometime in the next 48 hours. My dad is not able to get a signal on his cell phone to transfer pictures today, so it will have to wait for a few days.

We have traveled 3,500 miles so far...we have about 1,000 to go before Sunday.

I guess I can give a three bark cheer for a few of the things we have observed on the trip...

First off, the KOA system is really good. Every one of them have been hosted by friendly people. All of them have been clean. With the exception of the Circus Circus KOA, the folks that hang out in them seem to be a mix of foreign people seeing the country, senior citizens enjoying retirement or folks that seem to be permanent RV travelers in big expensive tour busses. My mom and dad think that if they need to travel again and cannot find hotels that don't take me and my sister that they will stay in KOAs instead.

Secondly, though my sister has complained about the Cruise America RV, it has been a good home for the last two weeks. It is plenty large enough for four adults, everything works and it is pretty easy to drive.

Finally, it is amazing how many miles of great roads that are out there...even in the most remote of places.

Anyways, I think I smell my dinner...gotta go!

Wendell.

Las Vegas...

The last two days, we were hanging in Las Vegas. Vegas is everything that is right about our American way of life. And...everything that is wrong with our American way of life. Both in one compact 5 mile strip of 100 degree concrete, neon, glass and pavement.

24/7...The best entertainment. The best food. Lights. Gambling. Great people watching.

And then, the converse horrific counter images of people that have lost the way in every sense of the word lost. Gambling problems, substance abuse, the wearing of mullets and people wearing clothes 14 sizes too small.

Two days is all most sane people can stand...and we had a good two days. We ate well, gambled smartly and saw a show...and got the heck out!

We stayed at the KOA in Vegas, which is behind the Circus Circus Hotel Casino. Circus Circus is to a casino as Big Lots is to high end retail. The hotel attracts the kind of folks that don't hang out at the Venetian or Bellegio. The Circus Circus is a quick slide a lot further down the human evolutionary scale.

The Circus Circus KOA is basically a parking lot that attracts the kind of folks that cannot afford to stay at the luxurous, swank Circus Circus hotel...(Link to 100's of photos of sophisticated people). Sadly, this parking lot is where WE stayed. It was a simultaneously entertaining and unnerving experience. Upon arrival, we were witness to a very loud verbal fight between two gentlemen who were together and arguing about some other guy.

Lots of drama at the Circus Circus KOA. We kept waiting to hear the theme music for Cops! (Bad Boys, Bad Boys...) as this place is sketchy in CAPS.

This morning we took off for California for the last leg of the trip and our next stop...Sequoia National Park. Getting here we traveled through the most barren of places in the US...the Mojave desert. Miles of nothing but dirt, occasional brush and plenty of HOT. We were amazed at how beautiful and ugly 100s of miles of desert could look...but it somehow manages to pull it off.

Sequoia next!

E