Vegas trip August 25th- September 3rd
My best friend and I took a trip down to Vegas using my mom's van and it was a really wicked experience being able to gamble in the states (I'm officially legal in every country in the world).
On the way down, we stayed at a Motel 6 in Ontario, Oregon. On the first day we drove for 10 hours to get to from my place to our first stop. The next day, we drove for about an hour to Boise, Idaho to stop for a coffee and a bite to eat at Starbucks. We then drove for another few hours and decided that we would cancel the other Motel 6 and continue through to Las Vegas which took us about 11 hours from Starbucks.
Once we got to the point when we saw lights I looked and I asked my friend "Is this Vegas ahead of us?" and he said "I don't think so...haha." At that point we were about an hour and a half from Vegas. Every time I put my arm outside the window I felt like it was getting warmer and I knew we were getting close. The GPS guided us down a back road. As we began to become surrounded by BRIGHT lights I knew we were in Vegas.
We were staying at the Excalibur hotel, right on the strip. They had valet parking which we used when we arrived. I got out of the car and felt the extreme warmth at 11 o'clock at night, it must of been 31 degrees. WOW it was hot and I was so tired from the looooong drive. Despite our exhaustion we stayed up late the first night, and every subsequent night, gambling and drinking. It probably sounds like it's really bad but it's really not as bad as it seems, because we didn't drink to the extent of being drunk and throwing up. I drank to the point where I was happy and content.
We started our drive home on September 1st and something ridiculously scary happened about half an hour from our first destination at the Motel 6 in Elko, Nevada. We had the experience of hitting a cow going 60 mhp in a 70 zone. While I saw nothing, Chris managed to see the whites of the cow's eyes and swerve to the left on the opposite shoulder. I ended up screaming with my eyes closed for about 5 minutes because I thought I was eating some of the cow. It turned out that it was the powder from the airbags which had deployed on both sides, luckily for us. Chris was trying to calm me down and explain that it was a cow and for me not to worry but as much as he tried, I still screamed. I eventually opened my eyes and saw that the airbag was out, my side window was completely smashed, and the windshield was cracked from left to right.
Both Chris and I didn't have cell reception because we were in the middle of the desert, so he had to wave his cell and gps hoping that someone would stop and give us a hand. We were beyond thankful that a couple in a pickup truck stopped and helped us get everything out of the van including my power chair. Once we transfered everything from my van to the pickup, we went back and saw where we hit the cow. We threw him in the ditch, dead. The guy told us that it was about 1400 pounds. Luckily we didn't hit it straight on. The couple with their daughter drove us to our motel and took us to the local hospital to get checked out. Chris tried to hire a wheelchair accessible cab to take us back to the motel but there wasn't one at that time of the night. The family waited for us for four hours while we waited for CT scans of my face and head (Chris was okay because he got the airbag in his chest while I got it in my face).
When we left the hospital it was about 3:30 in the morning. The family dropped us off and said if we needed anything, "just call us and we will come help you out with whatever you need help with." So of course we had to call the sherif and make a report the next day. We slept for a couple of hours, went to go get something to eat and come back to the room and figured we would have to fly back to Vancouver because driving would be as expensive as flying. We then booked our flight and talked to the family about the plan we had and they took us out for dinner the next night before we were to fly back. The family then came and picked us up to take us to the airport at 4 am
This whole cow situation has taught me, more so than before, that there are amazing people in this world that are willing to help as much as they possibly can. So I would like to say a big thank you to their family for helping us out as much as you did and Chris and I do not know what we would have done without you.
Thank you!!!
