Vegas!

We had planning discussions prior to leaving the bay area about route and travel time. Of course, there is only one route to Vegas from the Bay area that makes any sense. Out Interstate 580 to Interstate 5 south to California Highway 58 then on to Interstate 15 north. This sounds simple and it is. The major problem being the heat if you travel during the day. Now Angry Bird is a top notch vehicle and is maintained meticulously so we never worry about mechanical issues but it is uncomfortable to be baking in the car even with A/C and stretch breaks are oppressive when you get out at Baker.

We decided to leave at sundown (9-ish) and head out across the Mohave desert during the (relative) cool of the night. We have done this drive many times but always during the day and let me tell you, 20 degrees cooler is a huge game changer if you don’t mind night driving with all of the freight trucks on the road. We stopped in Baker for our usual break at about 0400 and it was only 94 degrees as opposed to 120 the day before. We rolled into the South Point Hotel, strung out from the run and ready for a nap. A well deserved 3 hour nap and a refreshing shower and off to the races! Okay, no sportsbook action yet, just a trip to our favorite poker room at the Aria for our first session of the trip. Visit our sister site FlynnandOllie.com for more insight on the session.

A note about the run from California (or anywhere for that matter) to Las Vegas: You are entering the desert when you travel here and it is not friendly to strangers and dislikes our incursion into it’s solitude.

I know this will anger some and bring comments but; if you question your vehicle’s mechanical abilities in any way, you are putting off changing those slick tires, your car doesn’t have working brakes, you have a bad radiator, heater, or other issues that make you nervous about long trips…don’t drive it here. The temperature here can range from 120+ degrees to below freezing, depending on where you are and can swing 30+ degrees in the same 24 hour period. For example, today in Vegas the predicted high and low are 113f and 88f. We see vehicles of all sorts broken down or abandoned along roads every trip and most of them have the hoods up or are on jacks. Bottom line here is to make sure your vehicles are mechanically sound and able to take the heat or cold and you are not going to have a blowout at 70+ miles per hour.

Another part of the drive is being physically able to make it. Are you tired at the start of the trip? Get in a nap first or let someone else drive. NHP responds to hundreds of vehicles leaving the roadway at high rates of speed (cause, who doesn’t want to make the speed run from Bakersfield to Vegas as fast as possible) and many of them are due to drowsy drivers. Get out often and stretch those muscles and wake up. Switch drivers as soon as you feel fatigued. Your body should be in shape to make the drive just as your car should be sound.

So, I feel that I kind of went on about the travel part, so maybe this should be an equipment blog?

If you see us out there, stop and say hi, hard to miss a couple of 50 somethings with a stuffed flamingo and sea otter and get your photo taken for the wall at F&O.

Remember to get outside today,

BF Dog