Sunday night 10th October Las Vegas (pop 1.3 Million) We walk out of the Luxor and onto the street!! As i look up into the sky above i see that we have a ray of light being beamed out the point of our pyramid into the night sky. Looks cool and it will shine the way home if we get lost which i doubt. Only another hundred yards walk and we are standing at the far end of the famous Vegas Strip looking down at the dazzling lights and LED screens that cover the strip. We hauled off to the New York New York hotel and casino and didnt mess around and before we knew it we were jumping straight onto the roller Coaster that dips and curves its way around the hotel roof and casino. ... read more

Sunday 10th Ocotber Flagstaff (Arizona) - Las Vegas (Nevada) - 255 miles. We left Flagstaff (pop59,900) and drove along parts of Route 66 on our way to the main freeway that took us up through Arizona and into the Nevada desert. On the way to Vegas we stopped at Hoover Dam which is just inside Arizona State on one side and as we passed over the other side we entered Nevada State. It was really busy with traffic as they are still completing the new flyover bridge which has been built to stop congestion here. Also it didn't help with the security checks on each vehicle before crossing the Dam. We were held up on the highway at 25mph for about twenty miles as the scale of the bypass construction and bridge is astronomical!! Hoover Dam, ... read more

Friday 8th October Yellowstone (Wyoming) - through Utah to Grand Junction (Colorado) - 524 miles We checked out the hotel and did a quick stop at the post office here to buy stamps for postcards. I asked for stamps at the counter and the elderly gentleman goes 'ah, scottish' yes i replied, before i could say anything else he says ' i bet you are from somewhere between Aberdeen and Inverness'. Aye i was speechless, turns out he had friends from Banchory and placed my accent easily. A nice start to the day i guess. Well ten miles south out of Yellowstone the inevitable happened.....Snow!!!! We drove through a blizzard for about another ten miles and then it stopped as quick as it started leaving a slight covering on the hills and roadside before us. Its ... read more

Wednesday 6th October Well we didn't meet a grisly death through the night so we packed up our stuff and got going again as we were going to be driving round the grand loop road which would eventually lead us to the Old Faithful Inn. The grand loop road is about 80 miles in total and circles around the national park with lots of interesting stops ranging from hot springs, geysers and waterfalls. We obviously wouldn't manage all of the sights but we're going to at least do the top locations as described in our handbook. We drove through the lovely Blacktail Deer Plateau and stopped at a viewpoint and across the road we could see more Bison's roaming free. Just a short distance from here is the Petrified Tree which is a fossilized tree from ... read more

Friday 1st October l We arrived into San Francisco international airport late last night and stAyed at an airport hotel not to far from the arrival terminal. In the morning we caught the B.A.R.T train into Powell Street which is in the centre of San Fran (pop 3,000,000). The hostel was only a couple of hundred yards away on Mason Street from the station so we quickly dumped the bags and took a walk uphill to the top of Mason Street till we arrived at Lombard street where the famous crooked street is. A few photos later we then moved on to Fisherman's wharf which was another mile walk downhill through the beautiful streets of San Francisco. San Fran has a very cosy feel about it and is very clean for a large city. When ... read more