When I had first planned to go see my family in Artesia, I was expecting to go back to San Diego through Las Vegas. Again, this was before I knew that Kelz was going to be accompanying me. Her coming along didn't really affect anything. Usually, I didn't prepare for my visits to Vegas. I would just show up, find a good hotel for a good price and hit the casinos.
I don't remember too much about driving to Nevada. I know that we stopped somewhere in Arizona (maybe Flagstaff) and ate at Denny's. Kelz ordered a shrimp dinner, which was one of the more expensive items on the menu. Up to this point, Kelz had a few episodes of vomiting because of the pregnancy. After we got out to the car, she threw up in the parking lot. I remember getting mad that I had spent all that money and it just wound up on the asphalt. (However, I didn't yell at her for that.)
We had been driving all day. When we got to Kingman, AZ, I felt like I couldn't handle driving another hour and half and decided to go to Laughlin instead. (It's only 30 minutes away.) I don't know how Kelz felt about the sudden change in plans (because Laughlin is SO not Vegas), but I'm certain she was glad that she would have a bed to sleep in pretty soon.
One hotel advertised that it had free rooms. We parked in their lot. We were waiting in line. I saw a sign that explained how someone would qualify for a free room. We met all of the qualifications. However, the front desk clerk informed us they had filled all the free rooms, but they had a room for $30. I remembered the hotel next door advertised $20 rooms, so I told the clerk we would pass.
We went next door. Kelz commented that there was no way a hotel would have rooms for $20, especially after we couldn't get a free one. We got to the front desk. I asked if they had $20 rooms available, AND THEY DID! We checked in and went to our room. Kelz changed her clothes and put on the long nightgown Mom bought her in Carlsbad. I told her I was going to go down and gamble and asked her if she had brought her fake ID. (Kelz was 19 at the time. I assumed she had a fake ID because she did so much other stuff that was criminal.) She said she had one and we went downstairs. At this point, I noticed that she wasn't wearing a bra and even though nothing inappropriate was hanging out, it was VERY obvious she wasn't.
I gave her some money to use on the slot machines and started looking for the Blackjack tables. A few minutes later, Kelz came up to me and told me she was ordered to leave the floor. I guess security was able to figure out she wasn't 21 AND she did mot possess a fake ID. This meant that I would have to go back to the hotel room with her and keep her company. I wasn't going to get to gamble at that time. I was going to have to wait for her to fall asleep. I remember we watched an episode of "Seinfeld." We both conked out.
I woke up first and went down to the casino. I didn't have a whole lot of luck. I was hoping to win enough money for us to drive up to Las Vegas and spend some time there, but it wasn't in the cards. I went back to the room. Kelz was awake and watching TV. We went downstairs and ate the breakfast buffet. We went back and stayed in the room until it was time to check out.
This was the middle of August and I recalled the last time I drove to San Diego from Nevada in the middle of the day. We didn't have a choice. Before we left town, I made sure we had plenty of cold water and sodas to last until we got out of the desert.
We arrived in San Diego about six hours later. I stopped at the ARCO to fill up with gas. Kelz wanted to get something to snack on, so I gave her a dollar. When I went in to get my change, the "snack" she wanted was a PowerBar. It cost $3. I pulled out two more dollars and paid for it. I don't know what she was expecting when she picked it, but after we got in the car, she took one bite and didn't eat any more. ARGH! More money wasted!
The end of that trip was the beginning of the next phase of our relationship. I have several more phases left to go.
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