Impulse Cruising Again

We left the hotel at about 9:30 and headed east. Orchards all around us, then oil rigs, then wind generators as we left the valley and reached foothills. Two lanes and lots of trucks proved to make the trip a bit frustrating for Bill - trucks trying to pass trucks as they went uphill. We stopped at Barstow, which used to be on Route 66 before it was paved over as part of other highways. Parts of Route 66 are still driveable, but we haven't been on any of them yet. Barstow was known as a railroad junction.
Barstow Station is a group of train cars connected by a structure built around it. Inside is a food court and some vendors. We sat in a train car and ate lunch, fueled up ($4.99 a gallon!!) nearby, and got back on the road.
Driving through the Mojave Desert, we passed the tallest thermometer in the world! 134 feet tall to symbolize the highest temperature recorded in Death Valley. It read 107 degrees today - the car said it was 112. I just know it was pretty hot. We also passed a solar furnace - lots of mirrors reflecting the sun onto three towers where water turned to steam and ran turbines to generate electricity. I knew about these and talked to my students about them, but I had never seen them. Pretty impressive.
Finally in Las Vegas, we parked the car and checked in to Planet Hollywood. We couldn't carry all of our stuff in one trip, so we had to hike back to the parking lot again to get more. I guess we don't travel light, and we are too cheap to pay $72 for valet service...
Naptime for Bill, while I caught up on email and other stuff. When he was ready, we headed out to walk the Strip! We bought a monorail ticket and rode it for awhile, got off and walked to the Venetian to check it out. On the way back we stopped and had vodka and tonics ($15 each!) at Harrah's and listened to a band, then walked to our hotel. There was a wait for dinner at all of the restaurants but we finally were seated at Café Hollywood. The food was good, not great, but it filled our bellies. Back to the room for a glass of wine and then bedtime.