Las Vegas to Death Valley Trip.

click on images to enlarge. LEADVILLE, CA
LEAVING TITUS CANYON, CA


GREAT MEAL:

L.E. rarely endorses, when he does so it is high praise indeed and worthy of note. During L.E.'s trip to Death Valley this last weekend he had the great fortune to partake of Sunday brunch (together with wife and good friends) at the Furnace Creek Inn.

The meal was superlative, the setting was perfect, the service good and the cost remarkable. http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/.

The meal commenced with delicious fruit including some of the best berries (blackberry, raspberry and blueberry) L.E. has ever had the pleasure to consume. A choice of salad ingredients, all of which were enticing and an omelet station together with various pork products and vegetables and cheeses were further choices available.

As well as the above, a further selection of entrees was served to order-such as corned beef, eggs Benedict and tuna sushi/sashimi (L.E. partook of this choice and the tuna was of excellent quality and ate like butter).

The desert selection was magnificent also and included cream puffs which were covered with real chocolate and appeared to be filled with real cream. Even though disallowed by L.E.'s current diet he consumed two of these items with gusto and relish. Other delicious choices included orange cream tartlets, also seemingly filled with real cream with a hint of orange.

L.E. applauds the folk who provided this meal-it was superlative and, in L.E.'s opinion, is of a far higher standard than that of our local casino offerings. Even more amazing is that this fare is provided in Death Valley-far from civilization as we know it.

The best of all is that this delicious feast cost a mere $19.95 per person, which is amazing value.

L.E. encourages you to make the approximately 120 mile trip (from Las Vegas), take in the sights and enjoy this very special treat.

GAS PRICES:

Still on the rise. In Parump we paid $3.49, a couple of cents less than Las Vegas equivalents. In Death Valley one must add one Dollar to those prices, so fill up when leaving Las Vegas (or fill up in Parump top save a little). www.automotive.com/gas-prices.

FUEL ECONOMY TIPS-L.E. FANT DISCOVERED...:

L.E. recently gave some fuel economy tips. He took his own advice and checked the tire pressures of his vehicle before leaving for Death Valley (a task he generally relies upon others to perform). He found that the rear tires were 10 psi lower than specified by the vehicle manufacturer. Adding the required air definitely improved the gas mileage of L.E.'s vehicle. Previously the best average mileage was 15 mpg-after the addition of air this figure improved to 17 mpg even with very stiff headwinds on the return journey. L.E. shall now check the tire pressures regularly.

TAXI DRIVERS IGNORE TRAFFIC LAWS WITH IMPUNITY--WHY IS THIS BEHAVIOR ALLOWED-ARE OUR LAWS BEING APPLIED DISCRIMINATELY?

For the second time in as many trips to our airport L.E.'s vehicle's progress was impeded by taxi operators' bad behavior (parking in a travel lane) which behavior L.E. considers to be ignorant, unnecessary, disrespectful, discourteous and unlawful.

When dropping off his friends at the terminal L.E.'s progress was halted by a taxi operator suddenly stopping his vehicle to drop off passengers. The operator (on both occasions) stopped and parked in the second lane from the kerb (even though there was space adjacent to the kerb for them to use. L.E. has even witnessed taxis stopping in the third lane causing havoc and great danger for other airport road users.

The taxi operators appear to believe that it is their right to do so. Our police/taxicab authority officers at the airport appear to encourage the taxi operators in that belief as they do nothing to correct the traffic flow (and in fact threatened to cite L.E. when he legally sounded his horn (as warning of his approach) to encourage a taxi operator to move out of a travel lane where he had parked to conclude his business with his fare.

L.E. understands that our economy largely depends upon tourism, however, he believes that our traffic laws should be enforced uniformly (as should any and all laws) as surely the laws were enacted for good reason? To make our roads as safe as possible for use by all of us. Imagine the chaos should we stop our vehicles in any lane when we visit Starbucks or other facilities or ignore other road rules?

AIR VEHICLE POLL RESULTS:

70% of respondents will consider purchasing an air powered vehicle. L.E. is with them and has high hopes for this propulsion method. http://zeropollutionmotors.us/