The Las Vegas Saga Continues...

This morning we were feeling better when we woke up.

We took our time and finally got ourselves moving and checked out at 9:30-ish. I still felt very, very bad at denying Sarah of the one thing of this vacation trip that she wanted to do: Experience Las Vegas. I decided to drive us around town so Sarah could take all the pictures she wanted. After about an hour, I noticed a smell coming from somewhere, and at the same time noticed that the temp gauge was rising quickly and I had a coolant level alarm light on. I took a few quick turns around the corners to get us off the main drag, and ended up on a small road behind the strip. I investigated it and found the coolant bottle was empty. A bicycle-riding security guard from the Hooters casino (we were parked behind their place) came by and gave me some water, then went for more. Then a Mexican guy that was working on a project nearby came over and gave me water. Between the two of them, the car got cooled down, but was still losing water. I decided I would head onto the freeway to see if it would cool down... Gambling on the chance that the leak would only let the water leak "so far down" before stopping. Wrong. I made it about a mile before the light came back on, and the gauge pegged out again. I barely made it off the exit and shut the engine off, coasting to a stop in a safe place within a pylon protected area of a new road lane that hadn't been opened yet.

I was beside myself. A feeling of total helplessness overwhelmed me. Here I was in a strange town with a car that was broken down. I had no idea what was wrong, no idea who to call, and no idea what to do next. It was close to 95 or so out, so Sarah and I walked two blocks or so to a Jack in the Box so I could gather my wits. My AARP card had some numbers on it, so a call to them gave me the number of a local repair company. The repair company gave me the number of a towing company. The tow truck driver recommended a different repair company--One that was closer, but yet had a good reputation. I went with it.

Still fearing the worst. I kept thinking, "What do you do when you are 1000 miles from home, and are hit with a major repair that is more than the car is worth?" Do you have it fixed regardless? Do you sell it for a good price on the spot? See, I feared something bad like a blown head gasket, or cracked head. Another issue: If they could fix it but it would take a week, what to do? Fly home and fly back next week? Sure, just add that to the cost of the whole thing. My mind was reeling.

It was a pretty good sized shop and the guys were pretty nice to deal with. They did a check on it and found that it appeared to be a simple fix but would have to delve into it a bit deeper. In the meantime, Sarah and I walked over to a local El Pollo Loco restaurant and ate lunch. After returning and waiting for a while, they informed us that it was simply a factory "quick-connect" plug that had come undone under the engine. They repaired it, refilled it, and checked it out well before handing it back to us $84 later. I felt so relieved.

We hit the road.

I hoped to hit a convenience store on the way to the freeway. I wanted to buy some more ice and drinking water, and Sarah wanted to get a Las Vegas postcard. We were on a road paralleling the freeway, about 10 minutes out of town, when Sarah turned to me and asked how far I was going to go before turning around and going back closer to town for a convenience store. I drove a bit longer before turning around. On the way back she said, "Couldn't we stay one more night? I don't want to get to Los Angeles at 10 o'clock tonight." The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like the right thing to do.

I had an epiphany and turned around. After all, had it not been for Sarah wanting me to drive us around to take pictures this morning, we would have been a good hour or so out of town before it burst... Way out in the desert. That would have been one hefty towing bill! I figured that it was a sign so here we are at the same motel that we had last night. The difference is, this time we arrived early enough to take advantage of the free motel shuttle to The Strip.

We're hitting the town in a few minutes!