Tuesday January 16th 2018

Today was my last full day in Las Vegas. The weather was cloudy and cool most of the day, but managed to clear off before sunset. Tomorrow is forecast to be a windy day. Just what I need for a travel day.

I spent most of the day getting ready to leave town tomorrow. My food supply is topped off after a final run to the grocery store. I’ll be near big grocery stores every few days, but starting with a full larder will make things easier. I also bought and had installed a new battery for the Honda CR-V. When I had the oil change on Friday, they tested the battery. It showed the old one to be on its last legs. I considered waiting until I was in an area with a lower sales tax before buying a new one, but decided the peace of mind was worth the couple of dollars. (After writing that last sentence, I decided to verify that my assumption about a high sales tax rate was correct. It turns out the rate is 8.25 percent. I won’t be passing through a metropolitan area with a lower sales tax rate until I get to Florida. The area makes its revenue on tourist related taxes like lodging and entertainment.)

This zebra is really a Chinese lantern.

A slightly lower priority task for the day was stopping at the Orleans casino to convert all the slot points I’ve earned over the last three months into slot play. I only had about thirty dollars worth of play, but I didn’t want to chance loosing it before I got back to town. It was a good run, I walked away with sixty real dollars. I think it is only the second time in three months that I did walk away with a profit.

My last sunset at the Las Vegas RV Resort.

I am only traveling about one hundred and seventy five miles tomorrow. I’m going to River Island State Park on the Colorado River in Arizona just below the Parker Dam. I stopped there last April on my way north. I could only get three nights, so I’ll be moving on again on Saturday. I may not be publishing a blog entry tomorrow night. When I was there in April, I didn’t have a great 4g cellular data signal. If that happens I’ll find a place to publish from on Thursday.