TR SNIPPET TRANSPORTATION

I had to repack my 52 pound bag before I could check in for the plane, but that went well also. I did not get the special security boarding that allows me to board without taking everything apart, but there were no lines and with Elizabeth behind me, folks don't get pushy.

We had forgotten to check in and so we had middle seats, but that too was no problem, except for the crabby guy who had hoped he would have no one next to him.

On my right was a young woman and we got to talking the second part of the trip. What a delight she was. She had lived in Alaska and San Diego and had plenty to say about both. She love Fairbanks where she had lived without running water or electricity. She said the time to go their to beat the tourists was in September and to rent an RV and just go from park to park. It is a common thing to do there.

She will soon be running her own business and will be even more flexible on where she works. She lives in Summerlin here in the cooler months.

Those of you who know me, know I like the buses. This trip we had a car, a van actually, for 7 days and while I get some of the convenience, I'm still in favor of the buses. In general, I am just frugally prejudiced.

However, this trip I was reminded of other reasons. many of them just relative to my own sense of comfort.

I am never comfortable renting without the LDW. I just don't want any insurance hassles while I am in Vegas. I also don't want to have to make a detailed scientific study of the vehicle after being on the plane for 5 hours just to be sure that it is not damaged. Nor do I want to have to protest a damage claim from the company long after I've returned the car. Nor do I want to worry about “loss of value” from the company. I suppose it is irrational. After all, I am a gambler. But peace of mind is what I want in Vegas and so the LDW gives me that.

We arrived very tired after out 5 hour flight.

I was put off by the shuttle bus ride.

This is not the WAX where my luggage goes on with me and can stay right there in front of me. The driver set up the large suitcases against a ridge on the floor and then tipped each over to crash down on the floor. Now I know that such things happen in airport luggage moving, but I have carry ons, a computer and sleep apnea machine that when I arrive I pack in my suitcase so that I have just one bag to roll and carry. They are more fragile than what goes on the airplane as checked baggage. 

I was smart enough to keep the sleep apnea machine separate or it would have experienced  the tip and crash on the shuttle.
On the WAX all my luggage would be right with me.  None of it would be tipped and crashed.

Had I ridden the WAX, I'd have boarded just one bus and then been at my destination. I now had to board a bus to get to the rental car to get to my destination.

However, I could not have started a trip at the Gold Coast and got there easily on buses.

We had a Budget Kia van reserved and luckily we had signed up for Fastbreak because their system was down, and we were assigned a van that the computer said was in D38. Only it was the wrong car. So at inspection on the way out, we had to turn around and go back to the clerk. This is with all this luggage in the van already and 100 degree weather in the garage. 
 We did not walk back. 
 We drove. 
 And we asked that she change the paperwork rather than change the car.
She did.

Coming to the Gold Coast was easy using no highways on phone GPS. Most of the drive was on Dean Martin, a delightful ride.

But it was tiresome.

It took us ten hours to get from Burden Lake to our room here at the Gold Coast. It was a long journey, and it felt long.

I took the car one morning to go solo out to Boulder highway. Now comes the reason I ride buses which is personal to me, my own inability to go to the simplest places and not get lost. 

 How hard should it be to drive to Eastside Cannery and back? Well, coming back, tired, I made a wrong turn on Nellis, made some other wrong turns trying to find Flamingo. I found Tropicana and then made some wrong terms trying to head over on Dean Martin. I did have a good scenic view of the most amazing dead end roads, some just a few yards from the Gold Coast. 
I should have stuck with the long route down Arville.

And I lost value at the Eastside Cannery because I would not drink. 
 Two drinks of bourbon. 
 Plus I had to buy gas.

Because we had the car we picked up some of our sons from the airport. That too was confusing. I better like making folks responsible for getting their own transportation and meeting up with me. My wife and I picked up one son a little after eight and delivered him to Paris where he got a key to his brother's room.

It was a long, long walk from the Paris parking lot to the lobby.

We then walked over to the Bellagio buffet for a good breakfast with the birthday boy, but I was rushed to get back to the car and go again to the airport in time to get two more sons.

It all worked out.

However, it did rush my breakfast and cut short that visiting a bit.

I parked in the short term and went to baggage, but both boys had gone to the passenger pickup. So I paid an unnecessary two dollars and drove around to pick them up.

There is no waiting at passenger pickup. If you try to wait even a minute or two there is a very friendly guard telling you that you have to circle and come back.

Cory arrived at Terminal 3, unusual for our experience which is usually Southwest. We did not find that out until we had gone to terminal 1. Finally, we managed to find him.

Of course, the van was great to get a bunch of us to Red Rock Canyon for a hike and a meal at the buffet at Red Rock.

I think a good bit of my discomfort with driving in Vegas is due to aging. I am feeling the loss of crisp attention to detail in many areas of my life. Driving is one of them.

I was fine about going twice to the airport one morning to drop off two sons going to different places.

My first drop off went easy. It is very driver friendly. Coming back I caught the Tropicana Swenson exit and turned on Harmon to pickup the Paradise to Flamingo part.

I felt like my disfunctional part was over.

The second drop off I missed the left turn and tunneled myself, ending out by the car rental area. I found my way back, but I knew that car rentals were not for me.

When we added it up, we realized that we could have just rented for one day to go to Red Rock, cabbed the rest and saved money.

However, it was hard to know what everyone wanted to do. Three boys wanted to play cheap poker machine tournaments downtown, and it was convenient to do that until late at night and tired I could not seem to find my way off the strip and back to the Gold Coast.

And the car did reduce my bus expense. I only needed a 15 day pass, so I saved $17.

It also was a great benefit in filling the room with cold water and snacks and moving it all from the Gold Coast to the Orleans on the morning my wife left on the plane.

In November I'll rent one for a week to get to Red Rock for three days, and then to Laughlin and then back downtown. That sort of driving will not be as much of a hassle. I will also bring my little GPS and not try a phone GPS.

The key in making these transportation decisions is to examine yourself for comfort level. I am very uncomfortable driving after dark anywhere.

However, I am very comfortable traveling with strangers I have met serendipitously. I always remember Thomas Wolfe in Look Homeward Angel seeing the woman on a passing train.

My old gambling buddy, Lucky Pete, new all the driving ins and outs and angles and side roads without any GPS. He hated the buses.

When my wife left in the rental, I was so happy to feel the total independence of bus riding, happy to be able to drink again and to be exhausted and not have to struggle with where to turn. My only snafu was the Life is Beautiful where I did not follow my first plan and take the BXH to the BTC and then the Deuce into downtown. I got off at Maryland and decided to walk. Huge mistake! I ended up with facing a long walk on blisters to get around the fenced in area.

I kept loobying at the gate and they finally gave me this number

702-900-3274

I called and at first they said no to me. There were only dealing with the elderly and disabled.

“I'm seventy years old, “ I exaggerated. “With blisters.” Doesn't that count.

“You're seventy years old, “ she asked. (I have a young phone voice)

“Yes.” I said, although I actually turn 69 this month.

And in twenty minutes this cute and very friendly Black American college girl came in her little golf cart and drove me through the fenced in gate and across what looked like a war zone and up to Las Vegas Blvd.
 My blisters and I thanked her.

So I did hear some of the music from the festival as I waited on the corner by a small corner store where I found snacks and a $5 of Tisdale Cabernet to take back to the room.

I thought it was the antithesis of beautiful.

I found the buses so much more comfortable than the first week of driving a rental car.

The 201 from the Orleans to Excalibur was great.

The free Excalibur trams have me a bit confused. I rode to Mandalay Bay from Excalibur and then back to the Luxor. That may be the only way to do Excalibur to Luxor.

This is my first time taking numerous trips on the 109 that goes along Maryland. From Excalibur I took the WAX to the airport the 109 to my Air B and B. I took it back from the UNLV campus. I took it to the Onyx Theater on Sahara (a short walk) and back again. I found it comfortable and not too crowded. Fine with luggage. However, they did not announce the stops. I was going to this small stop on East Katie. I asked the driver to call it for me, but I saw it before he announced, and I suspect he forgot about me.

I never did miss it, but I had to watch carefully on my way back from the Sahara. There are good landmarks. That is the key to remembering a bus stop.

Also I got directions that indicated 10 stops.

I guess my phone would also have done it for me. Duhhhhhh!

I was going to take the 109 to the airport and then call for the free Palace Station shuttle, but that seemed a rather long way around and the Sahara bus seemed a better option. So I took it.
On my way from Palace Station to downtown I debated whether to take the free shuttle to the airport and the WAX downtown, or the Sahara Express to the strip and the Deuce downtown. I was very conflicted. It seemed so odd to go all the way South and then back North again.

However, the free shuttle and WAX was the right decision. I know that because I left in too much of a hurry and left a rubber banded pack of plastic cards, (player's cards and insurance cards and one expired credit card) and I had forgotten to redeem for my free shirt. So, once I settled downtown, I headed right back to Palace Station, this time on the SDX and then the Sahara Express.

Those buses were too crowded for luggage. I was happy I had gone the other route earlier.

That route did work out for shopping, however. On the way back downtown I went the Sahara Express to that large souvenir shop, bought some things, and then walked through the SDL to see that new casino and out the back door for the SDX stop there along Paradise.

And while forgetting things and having to go back seemed at first a hassle, it became a benefit because I played another couple hours of dime VP and used up my Palace Station points for a free buffet.