Day 2: LV to Lake Mead

*Some names and identifying characteristics have been changed.
Some sequences and details of events have been changed.
The author has made every effort to embellish as much as possible,
so as to take reader on good ride.

Wake up late – 10:20am because hotel calls to say "check out in 40 mins." Get breakfast at Coco's next door. Scary waitress moves so fast and automatic, we leave her 15%, a rarity for us 20%-ers.

Hit the highway wanting to buy a tripod, stop at Las Vegas outlet malls. On the way, call mom, say Hi Mommy! Happy Easter! She says 3x how happy she is for me getting to take this trip. I can hear her own personal love of adventure welling up in her throat. As we pull into the outlet parking lot, guy is on the phone to his mom. I imagine her side of the conversation. I know she's asking if we saw the "car show" in Vegas. Guy tells her, no we got too distracted by video poker. Big laughs, bigh laughs. I know next she is asking, did we get to Zion yet and guy says, Well we're on our way, but we got distracted by the outlet mall. More laughs and goodbye. Go into mall, get tripod, leave. Halfway to Hoover Dam we get in a sudden, terrible fight. Guy yells at me, I freeze up and stop thinking. All about reading the map correctly and me being a bad navigator. We pull over to get food, I say Let's fix this, he says It was wrong to yell. Not quite fixed, but good enough and we're on our way to Hoover. 4 miles out we decide against it and drive into Lake Mead area since the 4 miles out at Hoover is an actual line of cars waiting to get in. Mead is hot and dry, dusty and dull. We find somewhat ok, kind-of-not, but anyway campsite, set up, have some wine, build a fire, play scrabble, scrabble game sucks, guy is bored, we go to bed by 10:30p. Fortunately, me, the Legendary Insomniac falls asleep too.