Best Christmas EVAR!

12-25-2012 Christmas day.

We topped off the gas tank the night before as this trip will be through Nevada. http://mapq.st/Thnz52 There are only 4 places to stop for gas between Twin Falls, and Las Vegas. We cannot miss a fill up or we might have to use my dad's truck to go get some gas. With the mileage we are getting so far we can go about 278 miles on one tank of gas. Technically we could probably skip one town but I'm not going to chance it.

Breakfast was at a gas station someplace between Twin Falls, ID and Wells, NV as NOTHING was open at the time we left. The storm called Euclid had gone through this area some time prior to us leaving. As we got in to Nevada we encountered snow and ice. The snow covered pretty much the top 3/4 of the state with the northern parts seeing about 1 to 2 feet. If you have ever driven through Nevada on this stretch of highway it is BORING. The trip was mostly uneventful except for nephew entertaining himself by dumping water on the struts for the rear view mirrors to watch the water freeze.

Speaking of freezing. As we got closer to Wells we noticed what looked like lite fog over the town. When we arrived at the pilot station and got out to fill up and give the truck a once over we noticed (besides the intense cold) that there were tiny little ice crystals floating in the air (not AHSNOW!) but little ice crystals that looked like glitter. It might have been enchanting if it was not for the fact that the air was so cold that the something in our noses would freeze instantly with every intake of breath. We had to bury our faces in our shirts and coat to breath properly. Prior to this the coldest I had been in Phoenix was about 26°F and about 9°F when I was in college. The low that morning was -4°F (it's frickin' freezing Mr. Bigglesworth)

For the most part the remainder of the trip that day was uneventful, just miles and miles of AHSNOW! There was almost NO ONE else on the road. I think we saw maybe 2 or 3 other cars the entire day. One of which was some young and strangely dressed woman who would speed past us and disappear in to the distance only to stop at some point and talk on her phone or something, we would pass her and this would repeat about 3 or 4 times that day. We stopped at a rest area (I do not remember where). It was still ridiculously cold. There was a restroom there... Have you ever sat on a toilet that was at or around 0°F? Much Bill cursing went on.
Let me explain. Bill is a bit... prissy. He likes his comfort and does not like extremes of heat or cold. His main activity during the day is to sit in front of the TV with a giant laundry basket filled with misc little toys. He spend his time watching TV and transferring the toys (one at a time) from the basket to a pile on the ground and back again. Anything that interrupts this engenders a tirade of grunts. So you can guess that as kids we would take his toys and hide them (kids are mean).

So as a treat here is some video I took at the rest stop. In full HD (on selected monitors). You will hear Myself and my nephew complaining about the cold (in Bill talk), and then the inevitable admonition to Bill in regards to his complaints.
The rest of the days driving was of not much interest. Nephew wanted to drive in to Las Vegas so he took the helm somewhere outside. We had a bit of trouble finding the hotels I had picked as some of them seemed to have been torn down. We ended up at a Howard Johnson. There was almost no one there except some people from India. Dinner was at a Jack-in-the-box as nothing else was open that was close by. While making our order some black woman barged in and completely ignoring that we were ordering wanted change for some large bill. The manager admonished her for jumping the line and she left in a huff when he said they could not break her bill unless she bought something.

Why was it the best Christmas EVAR!? because I am tired of the Holidays. Nephew does not care for Christmas either, for reasons too long to explain.

Next Post:

"Finally home" and "The Syrup incident"