1799.04 miles Nevada - Wisconsin

Henderson, NV 89012
1: Start out going NORTHWEST on S ARROYO GRANDE BLVD toward W HORIZON RIDGE PKWY.

2: Turn RIGHT onto W HORIZON RIDGE PKWY.

3: Turn LEFT onto S STEPHANIE ST.

4: Merge onto I-215 E/NV-146 E/BRUCE WOODBURY BELT.

5: Merge onto I-515 N/US-93 N/US-95 N via EXIT 1 toward LAS VEGAS.

6: Merge onto I-15 N via EXIT 76B toward SALT LAKE CITY (Passing through ARIZONA, then crossing into UTAH).

7: Merge onto I-70 E via EXIT 132 toward RICHFIELD/DENVER (Crossing into COLORADO).

8: Keep LEFT to take I-76 E via EXIT 269B toward FT MORGAN (Crossing into NEBRASKA).

9: I-76 E becomes I-80 E (Crossing into IOWA).

10: Merge onto I-80 E via EXIT 123B toward CHICAGO/MINNEAPOLIS (Crossing into ILLINOIS).

11: Merge onto I-88 E via EXIT 4B toward STERLING/ROCK FALLS (Portions toll).

12: Merge onto I-39 N toward ROCKFORD (Portions toll) (Crossing into WISCONSIN).

13: Merge onto I-43 N via EXIT 185B toward MILWAUKEE.

14: Take the MOORLAND RD exit, EXIT 57.

15: Take the MOORLAND RD NORTH ramp.

16: Turn LEFT onto S MOORLAND RD/CR-O N. Continue to follow S MOORLAND RD.

17: Stay STRAIGHT to go onto PILGRIM PKWY/CR-YY N.

20: End at Brookfield, WI 53005
Estimated Time: 26.0 hours 3 minutes Estimated Distance: 1799.04 miles

Bellagio Flower Conseratory

The Bellagio has a beautiful Conservatory that is located just beyond the lobby. It is decorated 5 times a year. The current show called springtime and butterflies. The garden's display includes 16-foot-tall poppies in bright red, yellow and orange hues, oversized ladybugs and snail floral presentations, tulips, hyacinths and oversized watering cans. Each flower is replaced every two weeks or when they start to die. Click on each picture to see a larger version.

Shark Reef - Mandalay Bay

Yesterday the Mandalay Bay was offering a promotion for April 15 - Tax Day. If you drove into their parking lot and gave your envelope to local postal workers, you received two free complimentary tickets to see the Shark Reef. Usually these ticket sell for 16.95. We had never been there so we took advantage of the promotion. The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay encompasses nearly 2 million gallons of water and reaches depths of 22 feet. It is one of largest exhibits of its kind. It houses more than 1200 species of aquatic life including sharks, exotic fish, sea turtles and much more.
The piranha exhibit. Despite their deceptively serene appearance, piranhas can be very aggressive. They are capable of devouring a 100-pound animal in less than a minute. The piranhas at the Shark Reef are fed a combination of frozen fish, poultry and beef heart three times a day, as they begin to eat one another when they are hungry.
The next exhibit was to the heart of the shark reef disguised as a sunken treasure ship. It is set up so you have the feeling of being on the ocean floor. It was hard to take pictures in this darken area and the glass reflected people watching exactly what I was watching. Notice the lady in the glass.... On the other side of the glass are a number of sharks, sea turtles, manta rays, fish and more.

Tim going through one of the glass tunnels. Note - he is not on a cell phone. The tour included a listening device that you punch in a code that corresponds to the exhibit number and it talks about the exhibit.
This exhibit was just jellyfish. Did you know that jellyfish have no brains or backbones?

Finally crawling out of bed

On Monday, April 14, Mojave Max finally crawled out from his Red Rock Canyon burrow after a long winter's sleep. The Bureau of Land Management said that this hibernation was longer than usual for the desert tortoise. Max probably didn't want to leave his comfy burrow until he was sure that winter was over......Monday's temperature of 90+ probably convinced him that spring was finally here.

Fremont Street - Downtown Las Vegas

April is one of the nicest times to be in Nevada. The spring desert flowers are everywhere. Right now the nights are warm and it is nice to venture out and do some final tours of some of our favorite locations before we leave.

On Friday night we headed downtown to Fremont street. We stopped at Main Street Casino which has the best microbrewery in town, The Triple 777. If you ever have a chance to go downtown make sure you stop here. We ordered the beer sampler (5.00). It is 6, 8oz glasses of the following choices:

HIGH ROLLER GOLD

Triple-7's Flagship beer is produced for those who demand the very best. This light-bodied wheat beer, the most popular of our lineup, serves up cold and refreshing. The highest quality ingredients and brewing techniques are used in every batch to produce a beer worthy of our best customers.

ROYAL RED LAGER
Drinking a glass of Royal Red is almost as enjoyable as hitting a royal flush! Our Vienna-style lager has a distinctive toasted character balanced by "noble" hops. Crisp and delicious, this easy drinking lager will have you feeling like royalty.

MARKER PALE ALE
A beer made for the adventurous at heart. The aroma and flavor of fresh, American hops stimulate the taste buds while its clean bitterness cleanses the palate.› Not for the weak hearted, our pale ale has the highest alcohol content of any of our beers.

BLACKCHIP PORTER
Only a porter this good deserves to be named after gaming's $100 black chip. Its smooth, roasted character puts it in a class of its own. Designed for dark beer lovers, the blend of five malts give it a complex flavor with chocolate and toffee undertones.

TRIPLE-7 BREWMASTER SPECIAL
This Brewmaster Special features a monthly rotation of some ot the finest creations ever developed.› Among the favorites are Raspberry Wheat, Triple-7, Hefe-weizen, Indian Pale Ale, and the famous Black Cherry Stout, a silver medalist at the 1997 Great American Beer Festival. Our sampler was the Hefe-weizen.

All the beers tasted great. We both decided to go with the Porter. Tim thought this tasted better than Guinness. I love the full flavor of the Porter. We decided to order an appetizer and I picked the crab artichoke dip served with toasted bread. I think secretly Tim questioned my choice of appetizers but once he tasted it he wanted me to find out how to make it.... Tim's second beer choice was The Higher Roller Gold.

Friday and Saturday nights, Fremont street is full of a lot of activity. The night we were there they had a couple of live bands performing. Great free music entertainment. I think I was having more fun just watching the people......

College field trip....... The Chicken Ranch

Eleven female students from Randolph College in Lynchburg Virginia traveled to Pahrump Nevada(located around 45 minutes from Vegas) to visit the Chicken Ranch. Now you might be thinking, don't they have chicken ranches closer to home to visit? Well apparently not like this one ...... Pahrump's Chicken Ranch is a famous "legal" brothel.

On Thursday the brothel opened its doors to the group of students and lectured them on the brothel industry by the people who work it. It was a great way for the students to hear about the business from the working girls. After the lecture and tour the students were asked what they thought of the brothel business and many said it was hard to condemn the industry and women after seeing it in person.

A prostitute who goes by the name Alicia, left, shows her room to Johna, a student at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Va.

The visit to the Chicken Ranch was one part of a an eight day tour through Nevada. The students also toured Hoover Dam, met with ranchers, and went back stage at a Las Vegas show. The field trip was part of a 12 credit semester long American Culture Program at the school.

The Chicken Ranch was mostly quiet during the Thursday field trip. A lone customer showed up a few minutes before the students were to arrive. He nervously glanced at all the folding chairs and camera tripods set up in the parlor and high tailed it out. He must have thought it was one of those Dateline sex traps.

Mint 400 - The Great American Desert Race

Last Saturday we went to the Mint 400 off road race. During its heyday from 1968 - 1988 it was considered the most famous desert race in the world. It attracted Indianapolis 500 winners such as Parnelli Jones, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears, off-road racing pioneers Mickey Thompson, Walker Evans and Ivan Stewart, actors James Garner and Steve McQueen and astronaut Gordon Cooper.

Twenty years later, thanks to a local volunteer group of desert racers, the race was revived. Working with the Bureau of Land Management a 96 mile section of desert road was set aside for the race. It ran from Jean to Primm Nevada.

The event started on Thursday and Friday with all 325 cars showing up on Fremont Street downtown for tech inspections. Each car had to pass inspection before it can race on Saturday. Followed by music and drivers signing autographs. We got a few pictures of some of the cars on display.







Nice painted hood of this car. I'm sure this car was just for show and not part of the race.



The race started at 7 on Saturday morning. We heard the best place to view the race was behind Buffalo Bills Casino in Primm. I took a number of pictures but I wasn't able to capture the essences of the race. On the straight aways cars were going over 140 miles an hour. On the turns they were going around 60 miles and hour. We saw one car take a turn sharply and turn over. Race fans, on the side, ran out to the car and flipped it back into position. The car restarted its engine and took off. We were so close to the action that you could feel the power of the engines as they flew past.So instead of showing my pictures of cars frozen in time I'm showing this video I found on utube.



The view from one of the drivers:


We have never watch desert racing before. This was so exciting that I hope we have another opportunity to watch another race.

Kristin's visit in pictures

I would rather show our pictures of Kristin's visit rather than writing a lot of words. I'm sure she will be doing a lot of writing on her blog which you can read.

We did a lot of window shopping while Kristin was here. She did manage to find this beautiful hat to wear at the Kentucky Derby in May.





Taking advantage of the condo pool. Nice way to get rid of the Wisconsin pasty coloring.....


Kristin is training for the Boston Marathon which is in April. On Saturday she had to run 19 miles. Nineteen miles is a lot when you have some rather big hills to go up and down. Gets her ready for "heart break hill" in Boston.



We must have hit his coffee shop at least three times while Kristin was here.


Flowers by the District


Saturday night at El Jeffe's Mexican restaurant.






Dessert from Layers Bakery


Sunday - Calico Basin - Red Springs