We embarked on our journey Saturday morning, December 30th. We left around 11AM from southern California just about an hour north of San Diego on the 15. We opted to take the Bronco rather than the Tesla X Plaid, while we absolutely love the Tesla on road trips. Decided on the Bronco only because we were planning to hit some offroad trails on the way back.
There wasn't really traffic but it was congested until we got to Barstow and we noticed there was a lot of traffic after Barstow... Dark red on the Google Maps. So we got off Lenwood and went north to Highway 58. As 58 got closer to reconnecting to the 15, the 58 was backing up and while we were stopped I noticed Meadow Grove Road, a non-paved road... Turned off and we were off!
This was a beautiful road, it was out of the way, but we were having fun! Average speed was 35-40 MPH it was great!
The plan was to take that road to something else we could connect to Yermo Road to get to another trail that would take us all the way to Nevada. We got past Eddy World using this dirt road and we hopped on to Yermo road. Here is where the clusterfuck really began. Yermo Road (2 lane road) was a complete standstill. We noticed a sand road or wash next to Yermo road so hopped on that until the next place we needed to get to get to this longer route... Harvard Road. There was a 4 way stop sign that no one was stopping at, it was just a constant flow of people trying to turn left from Yermo to Harvard and people going north on Harvard both trying to get back on the 15 parking lot. Since we were on the sand road portion we skipped all the main Yermo road traffic. We got north of the 15 again going up and around Harvard road to Powerline Road.
Harvard was a great sandy road we were flying over. Now to this point I've been in 2-Wheel Drive since its all been pretty easy roads. I completely wasn't thinking when we turned onto powerline but it was a huge puddle and I was slowly coming to a standstill and I said "Shit I'm in 2WD" I stop to not dig us too deep, throw it into 4WD and go back and forth and get us out of this mud pit. I was inches from being stuck...
We got out and I was thrilled! I wasn't going to stop as the entire portion of this road was soft so we just kept going! 50-60 MPH it was great!
Then it turned to more gravel and sand we slowed down a bit and kept enjoying no traffic...
This eventually took us back to Yermo road where we to go further south to a road I can't recall the name of, but when we got back to Yermo, there was a train parked blocking us from getting south of Yermo road! We had no choice but to backtrack slightly on Yermo road back to Harvard as Yermo was closed going east.
When we got back to Harvard the plan was to go south. Absolutely no one was going south. For miles while we were going south on Harvard the TWO LANE ROAD was turned into people sitting in traffic and others going north on Harvard in the south lane full speed. We ended up just driving in the dirt there were too many people who turned the two way two lane road into a one way street.
We took Harvard down to Route 66 and headed East.
It was an absolutely beautiful drive! We could have taken the 40, but Route 66 was completely empty and we were probably going the same speed we would have on the 40.
We ended up taking Route 66 to 95 and went north into Vegas.
Basically encountered no cars until the 95 and it was smooth sailing the entire way.
We got to Green Valley Ranch at about 8PM. I've been stuck on the 15 for more than 8 hours with similar looking traffic and this was a much more enjoyable way to spend that time.
Got to our comped room and settled in. Kiddo was in the car all day so dropped him off at Kid Quest to run around a bit (Our main reason for staying at Stations properties).
I had $100 free play so took it over to the Video Poker with the wife. She loaded up $40 cash playing $0.25 Bonus and I was playing $0.50 Bonus. I hit 4x4's for $100 and cashed out like $180. She hit a small 4OAK and cashed out $60.
We went over the blackjack which I just started playing... I've never been a blackjack player, neither was my father. I can't count to 21....
First dealer was so freaking fast I couldn't take it. Thankfully she only dealt like 3 hands till the next dealer came in. We were playing double deck. This dealer was nice and helped out a bit. I started betting $25 a hand and quickly moved up to $100-$400 a hand. Hit a couple black jacks with $400 even! I think I did alright. I know I made some stands where I should have bet where the dealer was showing a 10 but I only had 15. I figured there was a good chance the dealer didn't have a 17 and I was right some of the time and the dealer busted. Ended up making a about $2k profit. Placed some nice tips for the dealer I think he was happy. Got the kiddo and went up to the room.
Our original plan was to leave on Tuesday January 2nd, but with all the traffic we experienced I decided to book a stay at Durango from the 2nd till the 4th to avoid some going home traffic. We also booked an "Awakening" show for the 2nd...
In the morning, tried out a new Vegan spot we heard about "The Modern Vegan" and OMG was their breakfast amazing!
Pancakes with Sausage, Tofu Scramble and Potatoes.
French Toast with Fruit and Walnuts.
Plan was to go back for Dinner.
After breakfast we went to this park in Boulder where Bighorn Sheep are known to hang out.
After the park we headed over to the Hoover Dam to do a Dam tour.
We ended up being in the last Dam tour of 2023 so that was pretty cool!
After the dam tour we went to dinner...
Ended up going to this vegan Italian restaurant. I can't remember the name, it was OK....
After dinner, dropped kiddo off at the play place, I went to play a little. It was quite busy... I was afraid to play blackjack as there were other people at the table and I don't know my shit... The face-up pai gow was running and only had one or two sets open and I didn't feel like playing at a busy game (this is important to make note of). So just walked around a bit then noticed that pai gow table was now empty and the dealer was up pushing in chairs.
So I walked up to the table and asked the dealer "Are you closing up or just doing some housekeeping" in a joking manner as I like to interact with dealers and tip if they have a good attitude and we are winning... No response from the dealer... So I sit down.... Now note, the night before was my first time playing blackjack or a table game at Green Valley. I only played craps here one other time. I was getting green but mainly bets of $50 - $100 and up... if I got a blackjack It was not paying me dollar chips, I never seen a dollar chip here... The last time I played craps here was over a year ago... So I asked, how much the light was (the bet for the big jackpot) he said $2. So I gave him $500 in cash, and he cut out 450 in green, 8 x $5 for $40 in reds and then 5 of another chip. Now where I play Pai Gow the light is $2 and they use $1 chips. I said, you're short 5 chips.... no response. He calls out change $500 for the floor person, she verifies, and I said again, its short $5... He pushes the chips to me, and I said again its short $5, and he says "Its not short those are $2 chips" I said how am I supposed to know that I've never seen one before.... I gave him back the chips, to color up and left. He could have not been such a dick about it, How am I supposed to know they are $2 chips... He could have simply said "these are two dollars" and not be a dick about it.
Anyway... After that I didn't want to place a single bet in the place... Don't even feel like staying at Green Valley again.
So was time to get kiddo from the play place and go to our spot for New Years fireworks.
We went to the top of a parking structure at UNLV and had a full panoramic view of the strip and even got to watch the sphere count down the new year.
Went back to the hotel and went to sleep.
to be continued.................
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