Day 23

After last nights drinking and gambling, all we wanted this morning was to stay in bed. No such luck, we had to check out by 11am. Dreary eyed and slightly delicate, the place not to be was a casino. The bells and whistles of gambling occurring was a cacophony of sound, and the ever lingering stench of tobacco hung in a permanent cloud. With a cup of tea, and a Krispy Kreme doughnut we battled on through. Before heading back to the car, we had a stop to make on the strip. Despite the relatively early hour, the street was still swarming with people and their flyers - presiding you to come to this club tonight, or that show. Also out, people dressed as super heros. A guide is read had told me if you get a photography of these guys its considered expected to tip, as this its their livelihood. Standing in the streets off Vegas in costume and hoping to get paid for it.

Luckily, M&M world was close to the hotel and while it didn't offer the whole tour desk we got at the Jelly Belly factory, they did have every flavour and colour m&m under the sun, and a 3 story shop to sell them out of. Soon, it was time to leave. Vegas is definitely a night city. Just like a cheap actress wearing to much make up, it looks flashy and pretty under the neon lights but when the sun comes out it looks cheap and abused. No wonder the casinos do their best to keep you inside and the entertainment outdoors is limited mainly to the evening and nights.

Back in the car, we set of. Having driven 500 miles to get out here yesterday, today we were driving 300 miles onwards to LA. We'd originally hoped to get out to Malibu and camp down on the beach, but a weather warning of severe thunderstorms made us re plan. Instead, we'd head in and stay closer to the city, and go to see Hollywood in the morning. The hotel we'd looked at was fairly cheap, and offered a free shuttle downtown where it would be easy to make our way around.

It was a long drive, and after the might we'd had we found ourselves needing to stop. Fed up of the McDonalds junk, we mannered to find a 50's style diner on the roadside. Looking everything like a diner should from the film representations, they made the most amazing milkshakes! Definitely with stopping for. Continuing on, the predicted storm could be seen building in the distance. By the time we reached the outskirts of LA, the rain was nearly torrential and visibility was next to non existent. This foul weather apparently did nothing to effect the driving habits of the locals, and the 5 lanes in 1 direction of the highways soon became a mass of dancing red lights - with no discernable distance between each car, and so many of then zigging and zagging around, it was dangerous to try and manoeuvre. Not that this stopped anyone. The last 20 miles of our journey took nearly 2 hours, so by the time we reached the road the hotel was on, we were ready to stop. The car park out front was full so Clare went on in to deal with the paperwork. It wasn't long before she came back out. They didn't do a shuttle to town, the rooms were twice as expensive as advertised and it looked like a dump. There was a possibility this wasn't the right place - the name on the sign didn't quite match up with what we were expecting, so we carried on down the road, finally spotting a McDonalds. There had been no sign of any other possibility of our hotel.

Jacking into the wifi from the car park, we quickly confirmed we had been at the right place and set about searching for an alternative bed for the night. We came up with one, and keeping the page loaded on my phone in case of dispute on price we drove to it. There was a difference in price to what was advertised, it was cheaper. We'd have to work out getting to the sights we wanted, but here at least was a cheap, decent bed. We'd set aside the night thought for repacking and preparing for the end of our travels. All going well, we'd be camping for the next 2 nights, and wouldn't want to spend our final night in the country packing. It was a long and bring task, and the hotel probably hated the bin bags of discarded food and clothes, but we were at least sorted!