Las Vegas

When morning arrived the house with busting with energy. Grandma Lois was in the kitchen making her famous Coyote Waffles. They were everybody’s favorite. She wanted us to have full stomachs for the first leg of the trip. We quickly ate our breakfast, packed up some snacks for the road and headed to the front yard to get into the truck to leave. My Mother and Grandma Lois were sitting in the front of the truck so that they could take turns driving because we had a lot of ground to cover in only a couple of weeks. As for Dallas, Devon and myself we were going to be riding in he camper on the back of the truck. Dallas and I would ride on the upper bed that was above the cab of the truck and Devon rode in the little nook beside the window that looked through to the cab of the truck. He would spend hours all folded up like a pretzel, in his Spiderman PJ’s, watching out the window as we drove.

We drove straight through for the first twelve hours before we stopped for a break. My Mother and Grandma were exhausted at this point and needed to sleep for a bit. We stopped at a campground that had a pool and a restaurant. I was old enough and responsible enough to take my two younger cousins to the pool while the adults slept for a bit. If I had any problems with them, I was to come back to the camper and tell Grandma immediately.

Fortunately, we got along great at the pool. We were also glad to have stopped. Being stuck in the back of the camper for the last 12 hours with each other was getting on all of our nerves. We needed a break to stretch our legs and to be out of a moving vehicle. The three of all spent about three hours lazing around the water. Either swimming or relaxing on the beach chairs that were poolside. Once Dallas, Devon and I were all swelled up like prunes we decided to go and wake my Mother and Grandmother. We were hungry after all. Especially for something that did not come out of a bag or the cooler. Real food. We could smell it coming from the patio of the restaurant as we walked by from the pool on the way back to our room.

After dinner, we went to bed early so that way we could get back on the road early in the morning. Grandma Lois wanted to get the Vegas, so we were going to dive the next six-teen hours straight to get there. She was ready for a buffet and some slot machines. Grandma went to Vegas quite often. She loved it there. By three am, we were on the road. It was exciting to think that by the end of the day we would be in Vegas. I had never been somewhere so exotic. Grandma’s stories about her vacations made it sound like it was a fun place. Full of excitement. A city that never sleeps. She was going to take us to one of her favorite casinos, Circus Circus. Through out the casino there were circus acts. In the main area, there was a giant circus ring with a high wire high up over everyone’s heads. I could not wait to see if what I had pictured in my mind would match from the descriptions Grandma explained to what I would be seeing tomorrow night. The excitement of getting there was going to make the drive feel like it was taking forever. There was not very much to do inside the camper. The day slowly drug by until we stopped for lunch.

Right after lunch, we were back on the road again until we hit about two hours out of Vegas. Then we stopped to stretch and organize the camper a bit before he headed into town. That way we could check into the hotel and go for supper on the strip. Devon, Dallas and I changed into going out clothes and combed out hair at the rest stop. All three of us bouncing with excitement jumped back into the camper and settled in for the last leg of the first part of our vacation.

Devon let us know as soon as we reached the city. When he did, Dallas and I opened the curtains on the upper window of the camper. We could not believe our eyes. There were so many buildings and lights. There were people everywhere. We pulled off the strip into parking lot of a motel that was right across the street from the Stardust Hotel. My Mother parked the truck as Grandma went into the office to check us into our rooms. The moment the truck was still, the three of us came busting out the back of the camper to look at the street.  We were mesmerised by the site of the Las Vegas Strip. We were standing there silent just looking until Devon pointed out the McDonald’s sign all lite up just down the street. As Grandma came back out of the motel office, she asked us to help her unload the camper in exchange for going for a walk on the strip. In an instant, we all dashed in her direction to help.