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In Ely (another mining town but much bigger than Pioche) we have checked into the Steptoe Vally Inn - really pretty - www.steptoevalleyinn.com - they have a BBQ place next door so looks like it's ribs again tonight!!
Next stop - even smaller places with tiny motels so we're not sure what to expect other than more fun!
Well a pleasant evening after spending the night in Caliente at the Hot Springs Motel, in a hot tub room, with natural hot springs in the hot tub.
We went for grub at the Brandin Iron, which was ok, nice Philly Steak sandwich each.
This morning we drove up to Pioche and on the way decided to hike the 4 miles in the Cathederal Gorge Canyon, nice and warm at about 84 degrees, pleasant scenery and a picnic near the caves, very nice indeed.
So tonight we will be spending the night in the Overland Motel at Pioche (the only motel in the town) and eating at the only eatery in town.
Very pleasant people and very nice scenery. Have to say that Craig isn't missing work at all (hurrah).
So thats it for today.
We drove up this road last year on our way out of Vegas and to Rachel Nevada, except this time at the top of the road we will be turning right and away from Rachel to Caliente. We are hoping to find a local cafe in a few minutes for some lunch and then will resume our trip for the evening.
Last night we ate at a restaurant called Carley's in Overton, what a true surprise. We expected greasy smallville cafe and got cheery gourmet food and loads of it - We stuffed ourselves on chicken wings (Craig had 10 of them!) and garlic mushrooms for starters, had to wait an hour to settle the food and then off we went and had huge main dishes. Craig's seafood platter beat him, should have seen how full he was. My Rasberry chicken with asparagus was a really good offering and again, huge portions.
So last night was spent trying to settle our dinners, Craig snoring loudly on the bed and me watching some films on the TV. A relaxing evening. Still, we forced ourselves to go have breakfast this morning in the hotel (free you see).
Next stop Caliente and hopefully some accomodation for the night.
Here we are in Overton, Nevada which is about 70 miles from Las Vegas.
After a very pleasant flight over in Virgin Premium Economy (2 glasses of champagne, 1 red wine and 4 Baileys later and that was just Craig's), we joined the queue at Las Vegas passport control for about 30 minutes, before joining a queue to pickup our hire car from Dollar. We stopped the night at the Luxor, with excellent views, but a 45 minute checkin time.
Best bit of the trip for fans of the Fast Show, was that Mark Williams ("You Aint Seen Me, Right" and Jessie's Diet, "This week I'll mostly be eaten Virgin Grub") was on the flight.
The hire car, well a Chrysler Seabring, not bad (22MPG) and aircon which is nice!!
The temperature, a moderate 94 Degrees (oh my god). So we went down to the Hilton and Quarks Bar (in the Star Trek Experience) and this time Craig managed 2 Warp Core Breaches (only with 5 shots of Rum in each).
A very pleasant day today, checked in to a hotel in Overton and about to look for some grub.
Hi to Stu and Jen, hope you liked the Chinese, but I can guarantee that Craig's flaming Ribs of Targ (from Quarks Bar) took some beating.
Tomorrow, we will be on the road to Caliente and Library permitting we will do an update.
Tommorrow we board the plane bound for Las Vegas and we cannot wait for the adventure to start now.
Thanks to Mum & Dad for driving us to York this morning, it beats taking the pensioner express bus!
So shortly we shall visit the restaurant, have some food and retire for the evening ready for our journey.
By 10:45 tommorrow morning we will be in the air and on our way - next update could be from Vegas.
Here we are in Scarborough with the Folks, after leaving West Yorkshire and finally getting shot of the Virgin Active contract (farce that was, never sign up for a Diamond Membership, you can never get out of it).
So all our belongings in the little ole Punto, suspension dragging on the floor. Poor old Spike is in the cattery for the next 8 months (he looked so so sad). We have one day left before we catch the train to London and then across to the airport for the first leg of fun - Nevada. We will be visiting Area 51 again (aliens watch out) then Roger and Nancy on their ranch, and a nice relaxing drive around Reno, Lake Tahoe.
We will post updates when we get to Holiday Inns or Libraries in the US.
Take care all and drop us a line here and we will add your comments on to the website when we can.
Thinking of all you poor people in the daily grind.
I would like to thank everyone for the card and for the contribution to the collection. I really could not think of a single thing that I needed or wanted, so I asked Michelle to arrange for this to be given to the Manorlands Hospice in Keighley (which is a very worthy cause). So again a very big thank you and the bottle of Champagne was very welcome indeed.
I really did not want to stay for any kind of presentation on leaving (never have been that good with these). I would like to say it has been a pleasure working with some really good people at Visualfiles, who are very dedicated to providing a high quality of service.
So a big thanks to Starsky, Murph, Zoe and Tracey for making it a really good night at the Japanese (even thought Dave was hammered after 3 pints of extra strength falling down juice and lugging his laptop around town and then struggling with the learner chopsticks, p.s Dave you don’t use chopsticks with Mizo soup) and Murph celebrated his "birthday" by tossing eggs, unsuccessfully I may add.
Anyway all the best to everyone:
- Andy M - don’t let them grind you down, not even Miaggi
- Ben
- David Hartley - congrats to you and the Mrs on sprog 2
- Andy C - get better soon
- Starsky - the only man I know who can get hammered and wake up sober
- Zoe - all the best for the future
- Tracey - keep playing the game (m,m,s)
- Lynda - never forget which mode of transport you use to get to site again
- Martyn "Chippie No Chance" - nice working with you, all the best to Kateeeeeeee (go on draw me a picture of an aviary) and thanks for the champagne
- Georgina - NICE HAIR!!!!
And to the rest of the consultants that I have had the pleasure to work with, thank you for all of your assistance and support over the years.
Come back from time to time and see the updates that we make to the site. Next stop Nevada and Cattle Ranching.
So that’s it really, our new life is about to begin.
My sister Claire and her husband Andrew sent us some recommendations through for what to see in Japan from a friend - so thanks for that - we had some on our list already but its nice to get tips for the places we are going to.
Unfortunately I've been suffering from some nasty virus for the past week so we are crossing fingers that it will be gone in time for our first trip - Nevada here we come!!!
Counting down already...
Our beloved cat, Spike, seems to know something is up (ok, so he got a big clue when we sold the house), but his adventure starts soon with a prolonged stay in the local cattery. Oh how guilty do we feel, but we hope eventually to make it up to him by providing a sunny terrace somewhere for him to lay!
We are down to the last 4 weeks in West Yorkshire and I'm frantically trying to finalise all the travel itineraries, routes, tickets etc since we have such little time between trips.
Nevada promises to be sooo exciting, with a brief 1 day rest and then on to somewhere I have always wanted to travel to - Japan, via Hong Kong. We are hoping to squeeze in a mini adventure between Japan and our trip to Greece - so watch this space as to what we opt for - suggestions welcome.
As ever we are keen to know who is reading our updates, drop us an email and let us know who you are, say hello. Tell us of any trips you are making and we'll put something on the website.
We always say hello back!
Well at the end of April Craig finishes work for good and we take a few weeks/ months of chilling out, away from the UK IT industry altogether.
So where are we going? well let's see:
- Nevada for just over 3 weeks, back to the Little Aleinn and time for more close encounters in the fantastic little town of Rachel. Then its off to meet up with Roger the cowboy and Nancy at www.wildhorsecountry.com (with the chance to be real city slickers, roping, steering and branding).
- Back to dear old blighty for a few days before we go to the opposite side of the world and do a few weeks touring around Kyoto, Tokyo, Mnt Fuji and Hong Kong
- Back to England for one last time before we head off to Greece and who knows what.
Stay tuned and see where we are and what we are up to.
Feel free to drop us an email, we will respond when we can - theallans@ouronebigadventure.com.