USA 2009 – Nevada

From Meadview, state of Arizona, to Las Vegas, state of Nevada, km. 180.

We arrive in Las Vegas, in the morning around 11.00. The campsite is in the center of the city, to get there, finally, we see roads and junctions that we had seen in movies, very intricate but with clear signs. Once the campers are settled in this all-asphalt campsite, we get ready for our appointment with the guide in the afternoon at 18.

After lunch a well-deserved rest, we were supposed to meet with PL at 16.30 to discuss a complaint to send to CC Italia and Hotelplan, we had just lain down when PL knocks and tells us that the meeting is brought forward, it will be at 15, we would later learn that this move was due to the request of one of the group who, wanting to visit the city on his own, wanted to bring the meeting forward to have more time available, to achieve this, he did not take into account the people who like us were already in bed resting, those who were in the pool and those who were about to go out early to return at the appointed time.

PL listened to just one person without thinking about the various plans of the others, this created bad mood in the group and Tina in particular reacted in a hardly orthodox way with the person in question who, instead of apologizing for his behavior, accused her of words never said that unreliable people had reported to him. After the discussion we moved on to drafting the letters: a list of failings on the part of the agency, both for the vehicles and in the assistance. A useless letter. In my opinion, the participants have always had to deal with CC Italia, to which the amount of 12,500 euros was paid and to which the complaints should have been addressed, Hotelplan comes in second. Probably PL wanted and requested this letter to cover his...... The bus arrives and the guide, a nice lady who will accompany us in the visit of the various hotels and casinos.

She will take us to get drunk on all that is fiction, spectacle, seduction, gambling. Here the stars do not exist, the main star is her, capable of lighting up the sky as bright as day. The gangster Bugsy Segal had imagined it, when in 1964, he had opened the first casino there. Las Vegas, Sin City, the city of sin and a thousand temptations, is the cathedral built by America in the middle of a desert, in honor of the god money. A moment is enough to lose yourself inside it, you are stunned by the intensity of the hot air, enveloped by the spectacle of the big hotels of the Strip which, at dusk, shines like an immense amusement park. We start from The Venetian, an artificial Venice, where gondoliers intone Neapolitan melodies, proceeding slowly along the canals. The sky is surmounted by a wonderful moon, this time (a case more unique than rare) authentic.

The Eiffel Tower towers imposingly upward, at the Paris. On one side there is the Mirage, on the other the pirate show of Treasure Island, complete with cannon shots and actors improvising battles that we didn't see because it was past the scheduled time. Immediately after, the Caesar Palace dominates the scene, shining in all its aura of ancient Rome. Beside it, streams of water emerge, as if by magic, from the small lake of the Bellagio, dancing to the rhythm of classical music or jazz. In the background we glimpse the Excalibur castle shining with a thousand colors, with its red and blue roofs that look like marzipan. In the distance, instead, one can make out the profile of the spectacular pyramid of Luxor, with its sphinx that at night seems almost phosphorescent, where we will have dinner at a self-service, you pay before entering and you eat what and as much as you want.

In Downtown the atmosphere is much less glamorous and touristy, except along the Glitter Gulch with the Fremont Street Experience, where videos and light installations with special effects are projected for a stupendous spectacle. The sky above our heads is artificial: colors, images and flashes run across it at a frantic pace. However, what reigns supreme in Las Vegas are the casinos, with their roulettes, the thousands of slot machines, the poker and baccarat tables. You just have to walk along the Strip to hear everywhere the noise of coins dropping from the money-eating machines. People who at the bar, while drinking a drink, get their shoulders massaged, stiff from the continuous movement of the arm, which after inserting the coin, must pull down the lever and this continuously always in the hope of seeing a shower of winning coins.

Inside, the windows of the casinos are camouflaged to make you lose track of time, they are always the same, always identical whether it is day or night, they don't let the sunlight through, for an artificial and totally deceptive atmosphere. The trick lies in making sure that even the most die-hard gambler doesn't notice the passing of the hours. We too would have liked to try the thrill of gambling, but we lacked the time, in the end we realized that we had won because we hadn't lost. Returning to the campsite, we seek silence. Las Vegas Circus Koa Campsite – N 36 08 31 W 115 09 57.

From Las Vegas to Furnace Creek, state of Nevada, Km. 336 and more

We leave Las Vegas which already in the morning is alive and swarming with people. Or maybe they are the ones from the night who still haven't gone to sleep? We head toward Death Valley National Park. the imposing multiform rocks of Artist Palette and the salt flats of Badwater (N 36 13 47 - W 116 46 01) at 86 m. below sea level. We reach Furnace Creek (N 36 13 15 - W 116 43 35), 55 m. below sea level. We find ourselves before a magical place, as only truly hostile places can be. It's not that many people live there habitually and in summer, everything empties out because of the high temperatures, around and above 50°. After an hour, the red gives way to an intense brown, and as the day advances the colors of Death Valley become ever brighter and sharper. The light and the colors are part of the arcane charm of this place which, for many days of the year, is the hottest on the planet.

Death Valley is not really all that different from much of the rest of the desert areas. It is a crypto depression that is part of the Great Basin. It is just a little deeper, a little hotter and a little drier. Still a few miles, and the Dante's View Road branches off to the right of Highway 190 (m. 1525) (N 36 13 15 - W 16 43 35) from which you enjoy incredible panoramas of the whole valley with the dark peaks rising from the salt flats. In particular, you get an excellent view of Badwater, the lowest point in North America, at 86 meters, below sea level. Two miles south of Furnace Creek, on Highway 190 we can admire the Golden Canyon (N 36 25 13 - W 116 50 51), a short gorge that cuts through the sandstone rock in the most colorful shades of orange, red and gold which, with the contrast of the blue of the horizon, reveal themselves even more intense.

A glance at the thermometer and we see it already reads 47° degrees in the shade. We proceed toward the quiet and solitary Zabriskie Point, known for the beauty of the landscape. It is of sedimentary, volcanic and subsequently erosive origin. Michelangelo Antonioni shot here, in the Gower Gulch, the film of the same name. Most of the earth has the color of sand, except for some hills to the north, with reddish-brown shades. Here the day's route should end, we head for the Death Valley Furnace Creek campsite (N 36 27 52 - W 116 52 09) but we find it closed, after several phone calls we find one much further ahead and so we continue on the route we should have done tomorrow morning.

From ??? state of Nevada to Visalia state of California about 500 km

At wake-up time, ready to leave, nobody shows up, it is decided to set off without paying. Today a long transfer stage. Arrived at the campsite it is decided to have a nice barbecue all together, each brings the meat he has and Giovanni will take care of cooking it on a beautiful brazier made available by the campsite, needless to say: I made a cake, but this too was supplied by the community, one had the flour, one the butter, another had the sugar, besides the jam having nothing else, I garnished it with raisins and colored sprinkles from who knows whom, anyway, as usual it was liked and eaten. Visalia Koa Campsite – N 36 20 57 W 119 24 22.

Conclusion

So much effort and so much fatigue for this journey that gave us emotions difficult to describe. Every day was unique, unmissable, extraordinary, thanks also to the commitment and the will of all our adventure companions. What do we remember most? Hard to say. Every place, in its own way, was wonderful. This journey will be memorable.

Our thoughts go, in order, to the impetuous charm of Niagara Falls; to the badlands of the Badlands; to the faces of the Presidents carved into the mountain; to the magnificent Devil's Tower, to the exciting Old Faithful and to the whole of Yellowstone Park (even though we didn't see Yogi Bear and Boo Boo), to Monument Valley, and its delicate arches and its spires; to the light filtered through Antelope Canyon; to the legendary Lake Powell with the Glen Canyon Dam; to the superb, the great, the most beautiful, the breathtaking Grand Canyon; to the lights, the sounds of Las Vegas; to the very hot Badwater in Death Valley; to the very old and very big General Sherman and the unexpected snowfall at Sequoia National Park; to the wonderful Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline seen from romantic Sausalito; and finally, to the immense New York, its skyscrapers, Central Park, the Bro

oklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty (seen from afar). There would have been so many other things to tell that we haven't included in this text. Others that we could have mentioned but that are found in all the tourist guides. Still others, like the most intimate feelings and emotions....that can never be described but that will remain prisoners forever within us. Now it really is all over. It's time to return home, see friends again, continue our usual life, waiting for another wonderful journey to enjoy together.