Flying to Texas

Okay.  So Granpa has decided that we are going to rent a car, leave it at the airport in Vegas, fly to DFW, rent a car and drive to Tyler.  We're going to babysit the livestock while our son and his family go to a graduation in Florida, then we'll drive Granpa's old pickup-with-a-new-engine back to Arizona so that when the contract is up we can load the loveseat we bought into it and get it back to Texas.  Whew!

I'm a strong believer in the 6 P's - previous precise planning prevents poor production.  So, we agree to do a test run to find the Vegas airport and discover where to turn the rent car in.  (Granpa has a secret scheme to go to a Fry's Electronic store and Best Buy, too.)

We input what we believe to be the correct address for the rental place, and off we go.  Lovely drive up, beautiful Black Canyon, Hoover Dam and lake, mid-morning on a Thursday very little traffic in Vegas ... and that was the end of the good day.

The freeway splits in two but continues to run parallel.  We discover that we should be on the other side of the barrier - and miss our exit.  No worries, we'll just take the next available one.  We find we need to be on the freeway side of the barrier not the expressway side.  Ultimately we find our way to the freeway side while listening to Lil' Miss GPS freak out the whole time.  She regains her bearings, and we begin to backtrack.

She says, "You have arrived," only there is no sign of any rent car place.  Round and round the blocks we go, but she refuses to change her mind as to the location of our destination.  Granpa pulls into a hotel parking lot, I get on the phone to the rental agency and discover that I had been given the wrong address in the first place.  Entering new data we head out again, and are VERY glad that we chose to do a test run!

She says, "You have arrived," and there is a huge sign that says "Rental Car Return."  Success!

Now, surprise, surprise, we have passed a Fry's during our roundy-rounds.  We attempt to relocate it. Easy peasy.  But -- we can't get there from where we are.  In our attempts to, we end up back on the expressway side of the barrier!  At least we know where the exit is this time...

I get on the phone, get an address, puts it into Lil' Miss GPS and ... miss the turn into Fry's.  Around another block we go.  (Can you believe that Granpa has not lost his patience yet?!)  (But he is beginning to twitch.)  Somehow he finds the right curb-cut and in we go.

Granpa has a grand time shopping, and he comes out with a DVD burner for half the price he expected to pay.  Perhaps the day is looking up.

While all is calm and satisfied, I decide it's the right time for lunch.  Granpa, as usual, has researched restaurants he'd like to try out, and once again Lil' Miss GPS is put to the test.  This time there were no interstates, freeways or expressways involved.  Hallelujah!  The meal was wonderful and nerves are smooth as silk.

Next GPS challenge is to find a Best Buy.  She puts us back on the Interstate - and we end up on the wrong side of the barrier again.  Aargh!  You know, they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results...  I suppose that that means we are now, by definition, insane.

We do prevail though, and she is once again saying, "You have arrived."  Granpa does his shopping, and it's nearly 3 p.m.  Close enough for us to throw in the towel and GPS our hotel as Granpa has decided we will spend the night and mosey around Red Rock Canyon on the way home tomorrow.

The good Lord must have known we needed a special place after this harrowing day of GPS SNAFU's, because Granpa has found a special price at a really, really nice place - Embassy Suites by Marriott.  Check in is easy - and then we discover this from our fourth-floor room:

See the two swans in the water?  That's Elvis and Priscilla.  Later on, Elvis goes into stealth mode:

Look!  There he goes again!