October 14, 1998.  Wednesday.  No time.

   Day 15.  No miles.  Checked out of the San Remo Hotel sometime around
11:00 pm.  My dad forgot to cash in $30 in chip, so he played at a table
while I checked us out.  When I was done, we had about $15 left at a $2
minimum table, and I asked him to bet all of it so we could leave.  We
lost.
   The previous night, my dad won $50 or so dollars.  Our whole trip in
Las Vegas, including room, board, and gambling cost approximately $240.
   So we left Las Vegas via Las Vegas Boulevard and Interstate 5.  Our
first stop?  Who really knows.  I decided to drive into Nevada, a little
bit north, instead of heading southeast.  I knew from an earlier 
roadtrip in 1990 that Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas is not a very
pretty drive because it's mostly dessert scenery.
   We made a stop in Mesquite, Nevada, near the border for lunch.  I
figured we could go in a Casino, have lunch, and maybe win a couple of dollars
for a free meal.  And we did just that!  We pulled into the Virgin
Casinos, which advertised rooms for a measily $18/night.  That is an
incredible rate for a hotel.  The other hotels/casino around this city
had similiar but higher rates.  The parking lot had some RVs.
   Mesquite is advertised (by one the billboards) as Nevada's fastest
growing city.  Looks to be built around gambling. 
   We got the ham and eggs specials for each one of us, and then hit the
blackjack table.  There was a lady dealer waiting for players, and we joined
that table.  My dad pulled out $20, and lost it all after a see-saw of
wins and losses.  So I decided I would try:  We couldn't lose forever.
We ended up winning approximately $30 (including the $20 just lost), 
and thought we should leave while we're up because that just payed for
our lunch and some gas money.
   The next stop was a rest stop in Utah on Highway 5 at the Arizona/Utah
border.  It was a very
clean rest stop, as most rest stop along state borders are, and the man
running the place was very nice.  Gave me some advice on directions, and
a map of Utah, granted, I had no intention of driving any further north.
I have never anyone working at a rest stop who wasn't nice.  It's always
a pleasure talking to these people.
   Our next destination was to drive through Zion National Park.  It's
a good thing I purchased the Golden Eagle Pass at Yosemite National Park
because the entrance fee here is also $20.  (The pass allows us to get
in free.)
   Zion National Park was a nice drive.  The road was a red carpet (red
dirt falling from the red hills).  We made a quick stop to throw out the
garbage, my dad had a smoke, and took a couple of pictures.  There were
only a few attractions during the windy drive which we saw:  the
checkerboard mesa, a 1 mile hack up stairs carved from the red rock,
a tunnel (not really an attraction), a river.
   The first city we drove in had some reasonable motel rates, but we
didn't rest here since we've only driven a short while.  Where we ended
up staying was free, but not too comfy.
   After driving till 2:00 am in the morning, we arrived in an Arizona
near the border and the town had 2 motels: a local place and Days Inn.
Both places wanted over $70 for a one bed room.  The lady at the local
place said she would give me a room for $60, but that was still way out
of our budget, plus we would have to check out at 11:00 am, which is only
nine hours.  My dad and I agreed to try the rest stop near the Arizona/
New Mexico border.
   After driving another 30 minutes, we arrived at the rest stop at the
border on the Arizona side.  Luckily the rest stop was packed with cars
and rigs.  We both slept in the front seats until morning.