We had to start somewhere. Mark and Sue drove up from Pacific Grove and we flew down from Kalispell and met up at a Hampton Inn. Exiting the airport was a labyrinthine nightmare, the city is a monument to over-the-top neon opulence, and the picture in our bathroom at the Inn was of a roulette wheel.

Flying into Las Vegas at night, I couldn’t help but think that none of this should even be here in the middle of a lovely desert.

We left early the next morning, and that’s all I have to say about that.