5in29: Day 25-29

2025-1-4 ~ 1-8. LA to Las Vegas to Syracuse

Special Moment #1: Day 25 - Lunch with Michelle

• Michelle and I went through the same doctoral program together at the University of Texas at Austin. She was originally from Taiwan and we shared many cultural norms including language struggles. We also had the same advisor and graduated the same year — same struggles in surviving the doctoral life, job hunting, getting started as a fresh academic, etc. In a nutshell, we understood each other more than anyone else could. She was my solid rock during those rocky years and we became best friends for life.

• Michelle lives in LA. Our last meeting was 2014! We attended the major conference in our field in New Zealand. There was a crime happening on the day Michelle was making a connection in Sydney, Australia. I lost contact with her and worried so much that I called the U.S. Embassy in Australia! Together in Auckland and trying to figure out the map, we learned that “North is not north anymore!” During that trip, we also put a Fiji stamp on our passports—we spent 24 hours in the island country just in case we might never have a chance to visit such an isolated place again. After the conference, I spent a few days at her home to visit many of her animals: birds, goats, dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, and the pony house (she got two soon after my visit).

• Death Valley is so close to her that I had to see her! We drove down to meet her for lunch, then drove back to Vegas that evening.

• Michelle still looks like the old days, never changed! We had such a fun time catching up and enjoying Taiwanese dishes.

Attraction #1: Route 66 Museum in Victorville, CA

• This museum has multiple rooms of humongous collections and is the largest Route 66 museum I have visited so far.

• Its large yard and surroundings are full of interesting images.

Attraction #2: Jimmy Kimmel L8 Night Show, Vegas

• JK is a household name, and I like him as a late-night host. So, when I saw the show ad, I immediately said “Let’s go tonight!” We booked the tickets online: $18/person for 11:30 PM. What a deal!

• A total of 6 comedians showed up, one of them was a lady. All of them were unknown to me, but I am not familiar with many comedians any way.

• The last comedian was my favorite. He had a corporate job with a 6-figure salary. Gave that up five years ago as a full time standup comedian. He was testing out his new writings in such a way that he quickly checked his notebook, told the story with full energy, then said “Oh good!” or “That sucked, not working” depending on the audience’s reactions. It was kind of refreshing to see how the comedian worked. He also joked he was so broken he’d sell golf balls when not working—and quickly took out a golf ball from his pocket to show us. I thought that was funny. But by the end of the show, he said “see you down stairs” and rushed out, and there he was by the door selling golf balls! I believe they were not just any regular golf balls but had some special print on them.

• My conclusion: the L8 Nite show was just like Funny Bones in Destiny USA in Syracuse, but in a place named by a famous late-night host. Cannot beat the price though!

Attraction #3: Cirque Du Soleil at KA Theater

• Combining aerobics with storytelling! It was a wonderful show, with fascinating costumes and stage designs, as well as performances.

• The entire theater was designed for the show and it has been on going for decades.

Special Moment #2: Day 29 - Las Vegas Intl. Airport

• “Ah, the Rabbit!” As we turned to catch the train to Gates D, the rabbit status was there.

• That rabbit captured my girls’ excitement 20 years ago when I brought them to visit Vegas while I was attending a conference.

• At that time in 2005, there were several other animal statues with the rabbits (see the Turtle behind the Rabbits). But I didn’t see them this time. Hmm. I noticed the rabbit has changed its location too.

Van Life in Vegas

• Counting fingers: we spent 6 nights in Vegas! Not intentional but it just happened. Partially because Vegas was our “hub” of the trip.

• The first night was when we just arrived at Vegas and picked up our van.

• The second night was when we came back for the New Year celebration. Both nights, we boondocked on the street in front of Marco’s house.

• After we finished visiting all major nature places, the last being Death Valley, we returned to Vegas, hoping to spend some time to enjoy the city.

• Many locals told us, “Don’t drive to the Strip. Take an Uber.” In our case, we still need to find a “home” parking spot for our van from where to take an Uber.

• For the first night in town after returning from Death Valley, we didn’t have a home spot yet for the night.

• We drove around the Strip surrounding areas, hoping to find a free parking spot, be it in a neighborhood or anywhere that allowed us to park, even some hotels or shopping areas. After several arounds, just when we were about to give up—if we did, we’d park the van in an RV Park for that night and take a Uber to the late show—we saw a sign “Self Parking” not far from the Sphere and the High Roller Observatory Wheel, very close to LINQ where the JK Night Show would be.

• The sign says “$35 for 0-24 hours.” We decided to park there for the show.

• By the time we returned to the van after the show, the parking lot was almost full. It occurred to me that we could boonduck here! We paid for the 24 hour anyway. Once inside the van, no one could tell we were sleeping there, and we would bother no one.

• As it turned out, that parking lot was our home for three nights! It was the best ever parking spot one could have to visit the Strip because it is close to the center of the Strip. We walked toward both ends of the Strip, went on for other shows and interesting events, and visited other big hotels, all within walking distance. We also worked inside the van. I worked on my Week 0 of the Spring semester: got my teaching materials ready, released Blackboard courses, and sent out welcome announcements to my students.

• For the last night of our trip, we needed to prepare the van to return. This meant we needed to empty the gray water and toilet, refill the propane and fresh water, plus washing and cleaning the van inside and out. Parking on a RV park was necessary. There was one KOA inside Vegas city. That’s where we spent our last night in the van. It was located at Sam’s Town area on the southeast side of Vegas.

• We were still learning about the van. During cleaning up, we found more power outlets to charge devices and more spaces for storage. And we both still bumped our heads a few times!

~~~~ End of the 5in29 (or 7in29) Travelogue ~~~~

What is Next? #1

• The emails you received are the drafty drafts—I apologize for the rough format, typos, and uneven photos. It took time to get each post ready—selecting representative photos for each spot from hundreds of photos was the most challenging.

• The posts on AABB website will be enhanced with more details, more photos, and better format. You won’t get notices on such revisions and would have to visit the website to read any additions.

What is Next? #2

• I am working on a summary of the trip and will share it in a later post—I need time to gather all the info to put things in a nice format.

• Besides the emotional journey to track back my steps from 35 years ago, this trip has been such a learning experience on so many levels and in so many aspects.

• Do you know the differences among the following? I didn’t know but I do now. I’ll report how many of each we visited during this trip:

  • National Park

  • National Monument

  • National Historical Park

  • National Forest

  • National Museum

  • National Wildlife Refuge

  • National Conservation Area

• Which of the above are covered by the National Park Pass (or “American the Beautiful Pass”)? Hint: not all of them.

• How many miles did we drive?

• How much did we deviate from our plan?

• How much did we spend for the whole trip? What about the break downs?

• What would we pack if we were to do it again?

• And more!

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Thank you for traveling with me! I hope you enjoyed the travelogue. Let me know what you think. Do you have suggestions or comments for future travelogues?