Vegas
Topic: The States
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Hello. Here is my next installment of my travels in the States!
On Dec. 30, my parents and Ryan and I caravaned to Las Vegas. They were on their way to Laughlin, and Ryan and I were on our way to Larry's Dad's house in Vegas. It was really nice to have company on the road most of the way. We each had cell phones in our cars, so we could communicate back and forth. It definitely made the long drive go back more quickly. That is, until we hit the mother of all traffic jams.
I knew that close to New Year's is always a bad time to try to drive to Vegas. However, we thought we might be able to get away with it if we left early enough in the day. We didn't count on an accident that would back things up for miles... and hours!
We were (I think) about twenty five miles out from Baker. Traffic was stopped. What really blew my mind, was the atmosphere on the road. People were getting out of their cars - to look around, to let their dogs out to pee, to let their kids out to walk around. Across from me there was a caravan of three cars, and they had busted out their red plastic cups and were starting their party right on the road! (These same people had been making friends with Ryan, earlier!) The atmosphere became that of a huge street party. I even let Ryan out to stretch his legs a bit. I'd never been in a traffic situation like that. My Dad wandered out to the center divider to see what he could see. Someone in a vehicle traveling the other direction shouted, "Turn around!!! Go back!"
Traffic could be seen far enough ahead, so when it started moving again, everyone jumped back in their cars like at the end of a Chinese fire drill. Ryan was NOT happy to be rushed back into his car seat. It was all for naught though, since everyone made a mad rush to travel only a few yards. Things quickly came to a stop, and people were out of their cars again.
It'd been like this for a while, and people were starting to get antsy. People were trying to drive on the far right side of the road (my Mom gave a passing car a telling off to be proud of!), and down the divider. To the right of the road, there was a barbed wire fence separating the highway from a service road. My parents and I noticed a couple of people trying to look casual as they walked to the fence. One enterprising person had a pair of wire cutters. They made short work of the fence. What to do, what to do. Cars began literally pouring through the newly made gap, and onto the service road. I saw my Dad turn and go through, so I did too! My Mom called me on the cell and said, "If anyone asks, we've been on this road since Yermo!" :P
There was still heavy traffic to contend with once back on the interstate, however, I do believe the detour saved us a decent amount of time.
We stopped in Baker, per usual when driving to Vegas. My parents and I said our goodbyes, since we'd be going our separate ways from there after a few miles.
My parents left the interstate somewhere before State Line, and Ryan and I were on our own. Everything was fine, until somewhere not far outside of Las Vegas. It was dark. There was stop and go traffic. I'd been on the road for about six hours. I thought I was paying attention when suddenly I realized I'd rear-ended the car in front of me. Luckily, there was no real damage to the other car. The people were really nice. The first thing they said to me was, "Are you alright?" We exchanged names and numbers and they moved on. I sat there and cried. No one was hurt, but I was shaken up. I couldn't believe I'd let that happen. I felt awful.
I managed to get to Larry's Dad's house ok. It had been a very long day. I have to say that Ryan was great. He did really well being in the car that long.
It was great to see Larry Sr., and Grandma Layman! Ryan and I were there from Dec. 30th until Jan. 3. We also got to spend time with Larry's uncle Barry. While we were there, I took Ryan to two different playgrounds. I was starting to think of our trip to the States as Ryan's Whirlwind Tour of Playgrounds! I took him to eight different ones during our Stateside visit! Luckily, the weather in CA, NV, and FL was such that we could do that. Ryan is such an active boy, that he needed to be able to run around. He seemed to enjoy the playgrounds!
While in Vegas we mostly just relaxed and spent time with family. We got to visit our friends Toya and Greg, and their kids, which was great!
I took Ryan with me and went to one of the outlet malls in Vegas. I always have to hit the Nike outlet, and now of course Carter's. :) I fell victim to another member of the Eastern European Salesmanship Hit Squad! I wound up buying some cute nail design stuff that I have yet to actually use. Oh well!
Unfortunately, towards the end, Ryan was starting to have difficulties. We co-slept, since the bed in the room we were staying in is huge, and I didn't want to take the big cushion we were using as a bed for Ryan with me to Vegas. That may have been a mistake. It got to where Ryan would NOT sleep unless I was in bed with him. That was rather inconvenient! If I put him in bed, he would stay there, but he'd just cry and cry. I thought he'd eventually fall asleep, but he'd keep it up for quite a long time. After a while, I'd give up and either bring him back out to the living room, or simply go to bed myself.
Other than that though, we had a very nice visit!
Posted by hkvlayman
at 12:09 AM GMT
Updated: Tuesday, 6 February 2007 4:20 PM GMT