Most of Monday was spent packing & organising & waiting. With the car loaded up & a vague idea where I was heading for the next ten day, it was off to the fateful corner (Felspar & Bayard) to meet with all sorts of people. There was the detective investigating our case & a police photographer, two or three people who are prosecuting the juveniles & adults, another victim (he got attacked just down the road from us – I was even more glad to have given up my $100 after seeing his seventeen stitches, the bat may have had nails in it), Andrea & me. We spent the next hour & a bit talking about the evening, having our photo taken from various angles & so on. Finally it was over, Andrea & I delayed my road trip by going back to where it all began for some food & a beer. Eventually I hit the road after five for the two hundred miles to Las Vegas. Apart from a few rush hour snarl ups, driving was a breeze & I arrived safely to check in to the conveniently cheap Stratosphere.

I had a nice high (not in the tower though) & quiet room with a decent view of the north end of the Strip. After settling in, it was out for a quick explore.

Beverley asked me last week what I thought of the States or how I was enjoying it or something similar. I said that it was pretty much what I had in mind – everything was bigger, it was warmer, Californians love the sun & are pretty active, the scenery I had seen was quite different & there is just more of everything; consequently, I was loving it (mugging excepted). Las Vegas was similar in some ways – it was bright, it didn’t sleep, the casinos were huge, it was hot (hottest day so far this year – 104 in LV, 110 a bit out of town), there were people everywhere, it was slightly sleazy. But walking around, I found I didn’t really like all that & walking around parts of it by myself even felt slightly vulnerable (that may have just been all the bums or the mugging experience putting me on edge). Turned in nice & early at midnight to get up early for a ride before it got too hot.

Speaking of turning in early, I must go to sleep as I’m exhausted from driving four hundred miles today, I’ve lost an hour to Utah’s decision to not go to daylight saving, & the JEM trail awaits tomorrow morning. The second day in LV was much better & today better again.