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March 23, 2000
Wednesday Mountain View to
Wednesday
Mountain View to Bakersfield via Pasa Robles, 270 miles down highways 101, 46, and 99.
Simon cut his own hair this morning with the kitchen sissors... slight bald patch on the back, and the right side.
An uneventful drive down 101, except for a quick swerve around the remains of a truck tire in the middle of the lane. Simon drove the second hundred miles through the vine yards of Pasa Robles, a rolling range of hills 1 2 3, and the huge fruit orchards of the central valley.
On highway 46, travelling at high speed, were two halves of a house being moved. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture, so you only get to see the side here.
Another odd thing is a field of nodding oil pumps called the Lost Hills Oil Field. We cruised by here listening to KPIG... a truely tragic radio station where the DJ broadcasts from the STY on 105 OINK 5 FM.
Coming into Bakersfield from Wasco we saw a double decker frieght train over a mile long being pulled by four engines.
We checked into the cheapest hotel we could find, and went on an expedition to find some food. The Daddy'O Diner, a 50's style eatery. We had a malt chocolate shake, a hound dog with onions, and a chicken fried steak sandwich.
Bakersfield to Las Vegas via Barstow, 281 miles down highways 58 and 15.
We got up at about 9am this morning. Simon was straight into the TV and very pleased that 'The Price is Right' was on. He delivered a passioned argument about how the ancient host was even more professional then Brucie. 'True sincerity without giving anything away, and straight on to the next contestant without even a pause - True Genius.'
We drove up from the central valley over a mountain range through some town that begins with a T, I forget the rest. Anyway, there was a huge wind farm there, and a little further on there looked like a solar energy farm too.
We stopped at the Barstow Denny's for Breakfast and Lunch...
On the way out of Barstow we booted up the laptop and listened to the first chapter of 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. We saw no bats or twisted hitchhickers.
We arrived in Las Vegas late in the afternoon and drove 'The Strip' to look at all the casinos. There were quite a few more than I remember from being here two years ago. We decided that the cheaper rooms would be at the older hotels, so we tried out 'Circus Circus', which fitted nicely with the Hunter S. Thompson theme. But, they'd filled up with some spring break promotion. So we got a suite at the...
Some time later we wandered up the strip to find somewhere to eat and drink. The food in Las Vegas is either very expensive, or really crappy. Caeser's Palace turned out to be pretty nice. We eat at a Spago cafe, and hung out in a blues bar.
On the way back we were most impressed by 'The Venetian', and Simon managed to get a picture with his heros Siegfried and Roy. (I could never work out which one was Siegried, as I was convinced the tiger was Roy.)
Posted by John at March 23, 2000 12:00 PM