Broken down in Vegas

To summarize, our year-long circuit of the country took us across the lower US states through Texas and Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle and down into the Florida Keys, then back up along the East Coast through the Carolinas and the New England states into Canada all the way to Prince Edward Island, then back down to Maine and across upstate New York and Vermont to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and down through Wisconsin and across Iowa and Nebraska to the mountains of Colorado and the parks of Utah.

And finally it's time to head back to Santa Cruz.  Our first stop on the way home (Am I allowed to call Santa Cruz home, when we no longer own a house there?) is at the Las Vegas RV Resort.

Our motorhome has three slideouts.  Slideouts are extensions which at the touch of a switch slide outward to create more interior space or inward when it's time to hit the road.  The biggest slideout on our coach has been balky for some time, so I took the opportunity to call in a repair technician to see if it could be fixed.  Unfortunately, that guy wasn't too knowledgeable, and by the time he left, the motor that moves that slide had stopped working entirely.

This isn't good.  It's unsafe to drive a motorhome with any slide extended, as this one is, not only because of the increased width but because the rear-view mirror on that side of the coach will be blocked.  And believe me, driving a big rig without being able to see what's on your right and left would be suicidal.

So we're stuck here until we get the slide back in.  Luckily I found a mobile mechanic with slideout expertise.  He was able to determine that the slide motor's gearbox had seized up and had to be replaced.  He ordered parts from the manufacturer but it will be several days before they arrive.

And so we're stuck here in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Will there be enough going on in this town to entertain us until we are roadworthy?

The internet and brochures from the campground office tell us that there are casinos and restaurants in Las Vegas!  Who knew?  So maybe we won't be bored by our forced time here.

The Las Vegas strip was about twenty minutes away from our campground.  We drove there one afternoon and found space in the parking garage of the Venetian Hotel and Casino.  We spent several hours exploring the shops and restaurants of that one hotel/casino and were struck with the absolutely incredible amount of money that had been invested in building and developing it.  One could take an indoor gondola ride if so inclined.  (Nancy and I passed.)

The interior architecture radiating from the casino area was impressive.

There were five or six restaurants in the Venetian catacombs that looked awfully enticing, including some headed by celebrity chefs.  Nancy is not a professional shopper, but if she were, high-end stores lined the walkways for what seemed like miles.

And when we stepped outside, there were many other casinos visible along the street as far as the eye could see.

On the following evening we returned to the strip, and this time we used Uber.  We've always found Uber to be dependable and reasonably priced, and the Vegas version was no exception.  On this visit we chose Caesar's Palace as our focus.  Google tells me that it isn't the largest casino/hotel on the strip, but it looks truly enormous from the outside, and the interior goes on and on.  But as fancy as Caesar's was, we were less impressed there than we had been by the Venetian.

We walked along the crowded streets past casinos and stores of all kinds and restaurants both fancy and modest.  Teams of bosomy "models" in skimpy and spectacular dress asked men to pose with them (and who knows what else).  Vans drove by advertising girls who would be sent to your rooms.  One difference we noticed from our previous visits to Las Vegas was the absence this time of hawkers handing out brochures of lovely young ladies available for massage and other services at your hotel.  I suppose the city fathers had decided to outlaw such activity as beneath the dignity and morality of that great city.  (Not the service, just the sidewalk advertising of it.)  We dropped into several other casinos, including Paris Las Vegas (which seemed a bit faded), but ended up back at the Venetian for dinner.

After extensive study, we selected Bouchon, whose executive chef is Thomas Keller, the owner and chef of Napa Valley's French Laundry and the legendary Per Se in New York City.  It's a beautiful venue on an upper level of the Venetian.  This is the opulent hallway leading to the restaurant.

And this is Bouchon itself.

Our table was outside, looking up into the sky .. although no stars were bright enough to be visible in competition with the Las Vegas lights.  Bouchon, unlike Keller's flagship restaurants, is meant to represent simpler French bistro fare.  I'm sorry to say that the food, wine, and service were more good than great.  Still, it was a lovely and enjoyable evening.

Our Uber ride back to the campground was memorable in that our driver, Huntington, talked honest-to-God non-stop during the half-hour drive to the campground and regaled us with the story of an intoxicated lady who as he described it "went number one" on her seat, which was disgusting to the passenger who followed her.  Ah, Las Vegas.