UMTravels

Well — who’d have thought I’d end up at the Virgin River Casino in Mesquite, Nevada — just over the border from that place called Arizona. Turns out you can get clean modern rooms for $29 a night. Seems odd that this small town has three huge neon lit casinos (and probably more.

Of course, you also get a smoke filled casino and a glutenous buffet — which was 2-for-1 with a coupon. Was too tired for the 2-for-1 cocktails — so I really must be tired from the 8 hour drive.

Here is a picture from our afternoon pee stop:

After this, and before the casino — we pasted a plant in the middle of the dessert which I thought was a small concrete plant — which seemed weird, until a mile later, at a turn we needed to make — a HUGE new development Coyote Springs (which means that they have drilled tons of wells into the aquifer).

Water issues abound: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060604/news_1h04desert.html and there are lawsuits to get the records of the lawmakers who approved the project which includes a Jack Nicklaus designed golf course.

From another site, this quote:

The Coyote Springs development area is currently the largest single private landholding in southern Nevada, located approximately 50 miles northwest of Las Vegas. It consists of 42,800 acres in northern Clark County and adjacent southern Lincoln County. The only infrastructure at the site prior to 2005 was a single water well.

The link to the whole article.

Well, that’s enough for tonight. Another four hours driving to the put-in site. Check in with the ranger is at noon. Probably no real entry for tomorrow.