Month: June 2014

After a fitful night of sleep for both us (too much excitement), we arose at 5:30am to start our cross country road trip! It was quite appropriate that our rental car license plate is a Nevada plate, as our first stop (and likely the longest drive we’ll take for the entire trip) was Las Vegas:

Our rental car is super nice!
The drive was uneventful and quite nice overall. Jeffrey drove the whole way, despite my offering to take over, and I was able to enjoy a little nap.
We stopped in Mojave for lunch, at a place called Stoken Donuts and Deli, which Jeffrey described as “cute as heck.” He had a hot dog with pulled pork, I had a grilled sandwich with turkey, cheese, and mustard.

Delicious! We didn’t leave enough room for donuts, sadly.
The last stretch of drive into Vegas was a lot of desert, unsurprisingly: We arrived at the Bellagio without a hitch. Beautiful hotel with that famous ceiling:

We lounged by the pool and swam for a bit, indulged in some ridiculous blended alcohol beverages from the pool bar, walked around the hotel, then went to dinner at Picasso, which was fantastic.
A great first day!
Hours driven: 8.5
Day 1 playlist:

• Jeffrey’s 3-5 star iTunes playlist (highlight: Fatboy Slim’s “Rockafeller Skank”)
• David Sedaris’ ‘We Are Engulfed in Flames’ (audiobook)
• Kumail Nanjiani’s ‘Beta Male’
• Patton Oswalt’s ‘Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time’

Thanks to perks from my company, we got a crazy good deal on our rental car – $600 to drive a shmancy 2014 Ford Focus (31 MPG) across the country. And we will be doing just that, starting tomorrow morning!
Our first stop will be the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I know! And we only have to drive through the Mojave Desert to get there! Fortunately, every car made within the last few decades has air conditioning, so I think we’ll survive. And we’ll survive in style with some mad stylings from David Sedaris. We probably have enough audiobooks to last us three trips across the country (fortunately (?), we’re flying back).
Tonight, we’re saying our goodbyes to the cat, celebrating with some homemade pizza and Biere de Chocolat, and probably getting one or two more rounds of Mario Kart 8 in before we’re cut off. Until next time!