Las Vegas

I’ve done the first proper drive of the tour, from LA to Las Vegas. I was expecting a quiet journey but the roads were absolutely packed the whole way. Still it only took 4 hours to do the whole journey. I had forgotten how crazy driving in LA is, the freeways are like the M25 on speed, everyone overtaking, undertaking and cutting across each other. As I was leaving the LA area a jeep in front of me must have had a tyre blowout or something because it did a 180 degree spin, went across all three lanes of traffic and came to a stop just short of the crash barriers. It was amazing, the driver didn’t even stop, just indicated to pull out into the traffic as though nothing had happened.

Talking of Jeeps, that’s what I have ended up with, an enourmous Jeep Grand Cherokee in dark blue (ideal for the 80 degrees and bright sunshine!). It’s actually ideal for the long journeys, just eats up the miles and swallows the bumps in the road.

So now, I’m in my room on the 25th floor of the New York New York hotel and casino, right across from the MGM Grand. A really cracking view out across the city and desert. I guess I’ll head down and have a nose around the casino tonight and use all of the free food and drink vouchers that they gave me when I checked in. Unfortunately tomorrow is meant to be thunder and rain so I’ll probably hang around the strip, and then if it’s nice on Saturday try and get to the Grand Canyon.