..........out of California, passing through Nevada and Arizona, and into Utah.

It was really hard to leave the sights and sounds of Barstow, California; but, we were able to push ourselves accordingly. We headed up I15 toward Las Vegas this morning. We got into Vegas at lunch time, and ate a burger at the In-N-Out burger joint. Those things are all over the southwest. It was a pretty good burger - the "stars" love them in LA. After lunch, we went down the Las Vegas Strip to see some of the big resorts. It was 109 degrees in Las Vegas today - that was the air temp. The temp on the road was much higher. The car started getting a little warm for our liking, so we headed out before we got to the end of the strip. Let me give all of you a travel tip - if you ever go to a place like LA or Las Vegas; don't plan to just drive through and see the sights. Number one, the roads aren't marked well at all. Number two, the indeginous personnel are not really tolerant with tourist drivers. Number three, maps won't solve many of your problems. My suggestion - get into town and go on one of those tours - you're not driving and they know where they're going. After leaving the Las Vegas strip, we got back on I15 North and aimed the car toward Utah. We had to pass though a small portion of Arizona on the way. We'll be back into Arizona to see the Grand Canyon later in the week. We lost an hour when we left Nevada and into Arizona. We got into Utah later in the afternoon. We decided to wait until tomorrow morning to see Zion State Park. The motel we are at tonight is right next to the park. The views from here are great. I haven't been keeping up with the daily mileage as was my original plan - yeah that was a bit anal for a vacation. We have traveled over 5,000 miles as of today. Here's a few pictures from today's journey.............

.........a beautiful mountain behind our motel in Zion State Park, Utah.

............some Arizona hills and desert.

........more from Arizona.

..............more scenes from Arizona.

.........yet even more rocks, hills, and desert from Arizona.

............a Utah mountain.

...........the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

..........the New York, New York resort in Las Vegas.

.........the Luxor resort in Las Vegas.

...........Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas.

.........one of our last views of the California desert just outside of Barstow.

........more California desert. This is what the terrain looks like to our troops that train at Ft. Irwin before they are deployed to the Middle East.

..........more California Mojave desert.

...........even more Mojave desert.

..........some cool plant life in Arizona. What are those? Are the cacti or a type of tree?

...........Hooters resort in Las Vegas. I bet all of the "gentlemen" who stay here hope that What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas!!!