We made it to Las Vegas. The trip was relatively easy, about 170 miles door to door. The trip took us through the Virgin River Gorge. Interstate 15 makes its way through the gorge which had rock walls rising, it seems, over 1,000 feet over the roadway. At times, it seems that the width of the gorge can barely contain the highway. The Virgin River Gorge also marks our departure from the mountains and plateaus of Utah. We dropped roughly 3,000 feet to the valley containing Las Vegas and its suburbs. The drop in elevation had a corresponding rise in temperature which registered 106 degrees F.

The Monsoons are continuing in the southwest. We were hit by a few thundershowers as we made our way to Las Vegas. When these storms hit, we have seen the temperature drop as much as 30 degrees. When we were about 40 miles northeast of Las Vegas, we observed a thunderstorm to the east of us that had a lot of cloud to ground lightening. One of these lightening strikes started a fire because we observed smoke where there was none before. People have an image of this area being hot and dry this time of year. As we drove around, we could see storms all over the valley, but none struck us. The local news reports told of flash flooding in the area.

Las Vegas is quite a place. I really don't know how to describe it. It is part circus, part Broadway show and all glitz. Susie had not been in Las Vegas in almost 40 years and was amazed, and, at times, overwhelmed by what she saw. I haven't been here in about 2 1/2 years and was amazed at the changes. Las Vegas is constantly expanding and renewing itself. In the past couple of years additional casinos have been added and more are under construction. Our campground is about 2 miles south of the last major hotel on Las Vegas Blvd. (The Strip). It seems that in time, it will be surrounded by these casinos and upscale shopping malls.

As you drive into the suburbs, all you see is new developments and strip malls. My first business trip to Las Vegas was in the late 1970s and the company I visited was located in Henderson, south of the city. At the time, there were a number of industrial facilities in the town and few homes. In subsequent visits I saw expansion of Henderson to the point where the homes were crowding out the industrial facilities. The same is true of other suburbs in the area. You have to wonder how long this expansion is going to go on and how the environment can support it. One of my contacts in my first visit had moved to this area from Los Angeles. He told me that when he wanted some stress relief, he would get into his pick up and drive into the desert until he couldn't see the lights and just sit and look at the stars until he felt better. These days he would have to drive a long way before he could not longer see the lights of Las Vegas and its suburbs.