A long time ago I started driving trucks and mixers were my first, after that came computers. Well I tried going back to driving a Mixer for 3D Concrete in the last week and it was so much fun knowing I didn’t forget how and I could still do it. My body was sore for a day or 2 but I will live.
As for 3D Concrete, they are hurting for drivers but after a few days, they wanted me to finish an 8 hr shift at 2PM and wanted me to come back in at midnight that same day for another shift. This should not be legal and I know it’s not safe driving a 60 to 70-thousand-pound truck half asleep.
With the cost of travel going up and up we have had to look into more domestic vacations or should I call them “staycations”. My wife had planned a trip to Greece for her birthday but thanks to Expedia.com and British Airlines they screwed that up big time.
So late July we decided the grandson wanted to go visit his uncle in Arizona, with the cost of airline tickets we thought it would be a better idea to make it a Grandpa and Grandson road trip. Now to save fuel I chose to take my 2011 Mini Cooper at 45MPG this would be best for fuel mileage.
Things I had to think about,it had 80K miles plus miles would it make it, the cooling system had just been rebuilt and I just put new tires on it so I said let,s give it a try. From Reno, I knew it was going to be getting hotter the farther south we drove.
Plan was Reno, Tonopah,Las Vegas,Phonix then Tuson AZ. My daughter came home from work with the covid so it was a pack and go so we didn’t get it. If you have ever driven from Reno to Vegas you know there is not much to see.
Clown Motel
Our first stop was the clown motel and they have the option of getting an EMT device to look for ghosts. After looking around the town we waited for the sun to go down to go to the cemetery they have next door to the motel. Donta was looking around with the device and saw that there was a ghost nearby and all the adults nearby watching yelled”because you are standing on his grave” that was funny.
Our next stop was Las Vegas somewhere Donta had never been, I let him know it was going to be boring until he turned 21. I like Freemont St for the light show and the Casino so we stayed down there. It was not planned for us to leave so early so we had a few days in Vegas. He was not that impressed with the light show on Freemont ( teenagers ). He did get to ride on the “Deuce” the double-decker bus while surfing on his phone so he liked that.
The next day we took the “Dam tour” and just like my kids he liked making the “Dam jokes”
Hover Dam
Now we had been in Vegas for 2 days and I still didn’t need gas in the car that I filled up in Reno, but on the way back from the Hover Dam we fueled up. It’s been anywhere from 106 to 110 degrees since we got into Vegas. We tried the pool at the hotel but the white tile around the pool was so hot we couldn’t get to it.
After talking with the wife ( Grandma ) she said it would be ok to do the night Helicopter tour of the strip before we left. I don’t know why I have never done this before but it was so cool. Youtube video can be found at https://youtu.be/pfK0B_KcE4w
Next stop Williams AZ, oh and have I told you the roads in AZ suck, potholes the size of my car. Now I have never driven this route before and leaving Las Vegas for Arizona was just what I expected, desert and a lot of nothing. As we passed Kingman AZ we started to climb and once we got up In the hills everything started turning green. The temperature started to drop, and I was wondering why anyone would anywhere else in Arizona. The town was so small and cute and route 66 is right in the middle.
After this it was into more heat and Phonix to drop him off at my son’s house for a week.
This Fucking place is useless there are so many flights that we have tried to get out of here that have been canceled you might as well get out the day before and wait on you’re connection.
So the wife saw I was going crazy at home all day long and decided to book us into the Peppermill Casino for the weekend. Now this is a normal stomping ground so the rooms were free so I can not complain about that. I know with all that’s going on it was going to be different, but I didn’t expect it to be that bad. ..it was.
I did get to do some people watching and the view was not to bad, it was different so that was a good thing.Looking out the window on the 16th floor and seeing the world go buy knowing that it still goes on is a uplifting feeling. I guess you just have to get out of your own space once in a while to feel better.
If I had the option one night on the casino would be enough for me as I don’t gamble to much,but the wife likes it and as long as she is happy.
The vacation started with a drive from Reno to San Francisco,we didn’t need to be there till 10 pm at night for our flight so it was a nice easy drive,no need to rush. Rented a car for the one way trip and ended up getting a Jeep, very nice ride and I had never driven one before.
Rental Jeep
The flight was a little over 10 hours and before we boarded we had a few glass’s of wine and a great meat and cheese platter. Also I picked up some NyQuil tablets with the intention of sleeping on the flight. And boy did I sleep,wife said I was out for like 5 hours. Only the 2nd time I slept on a plane.
After the flight
Customs wasn’t to long it took a while for the luggage to come out and the area they have to collect it was packed with people at 4:45 am local time.We had arranged transportation from the airport to The View Villa’s on the coral coast of the island.I didn’t know that the villas were 92 km’s away,the driver was taking the coastal road and there were a “few” villages we would pass through.This would have a slow down to 30 km per hour or less for the speed bumps and by villages I mean shacks on the side of the road.
View from our room
After the hour and a half tip on the van from the airport we got to villas and they have so exceeded my expectations. The View Fiji The view you get from the villa’s is awesome there are only 4 villa’s at the resort,so you only have less people to deal with.When we got here there was only one other couple here.The villa we got has the private pool and the outdoor shower (don’t know why we don’t do this more in the US) I loved the outdoor shower.
Private pool
This was the vacation I was looking for, we had only one trip planned to a private island but the rest of the week was us doing nothing.
Some of the views from the beach on the south coast.
Found out the day we were leaving the resort is closing for good. The owner is going to turn it into his home and retire. Its to bad it was a wonderful place and the staff he had could not have been nicer.
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